Category: Fourre-tout

Monday must have been a very slow news day.
The media went into a frenzy to cover the demise of Robin Williams.

Suddenly he was the greatest comic genius the world had ever seen.
With all due respect to his family, I don’t share this opinion.
Robin Williams could be occasionally funny, but a “comic genius” he was not.
I never liked “shticks” and he used too many of them.
I had a soft spot for him in “serious” roles like in Good Will Hunting.

But it is not easy to be tagged a “funnyman”. You have to constantly prove that you are witty and it is more often a burden than an advantage.
Personally, if I had to pick a funny man, it would choose John Cleese of Monty Python fame or Jerry Seinfeld.

But with the world ablaze with hatred and destruction, I cannot understand why news departments everywhere chose to devote most of the day to report the passing of a comedian.

Excuse my French, but right now I am more concerned with what’s happening in Iraq where a bunch of Islamic fanatics are maiming or killing anybody who don’t share the same twisted beliefs.

I am worried about Ukraine where Putin might ignite Word War Three.
Who thought that the killing of Archduke Franz Ferdinand would start WWI?

I am worried about Israel, the last sane, pro-western bastion in the Middle East cauldron.

I am worried about Turkey where sinister “mildly Islamist” Recep Erdogan was just elected president.

I am worried about Afghanistan, the resurgence of the Taliban and the fate of women in that cursed country.

I am worried about Syria, Libya, Nigeria, Sudan, etc. and the rise of extremism everywhere…

I am worried about the spawning of radical zealots in Europe.

So excuse me for not showing extraordinarily concern about the passing of a mere troubled “funny man”.

Alain

 

The rules of the game stipulated that in this event, one of the partners should be over 65 years old and the other one under that age.
Well, easier said than done!

With only 10% of our club membership under the age of retirement, the pickings were extremely slim and some people struggled (and bitched) to find a partner.
Tamara (one of the young chicks) was naturally in great demand, and for a fleeting moment I considered auctioning her off, but sanity prevailed and I opted to use her services instead.

Eighteen (18) geezers/youngsters “doublettes” registered to play. Some formations looked formidable but Lady Luck is notoriously capricious and unpredictable.
You never know what her passing fancy will be.
As it turned out, the winners were not those most of the people picked to succeed.

The competing teams were as follows:

1. Alain Efron and Tamara Efron
2. Mike Cooper and Narin Garret
3. Patrick Vaslet and Holly Sammons
4. Pierre Bremont and Marie-Anne Curley
5. Bill Miller and Barbara Hall
6. Peter Mathis and Simone Furlan
7. Henry Wessel and Calvert Barron
8. Jean-Claude Etallaz and Colette Van Der Meulen
9. Ed Porto and Carolina Jones
10. Mickey Coughlin and Antonia Paulsen
11. Carlos Couto and Minette Etallaz
12. Joe La Torre and Susan Holbert
13. Eldon Moilanen and Alwyn      Falkenberg
14. Etienne Rijkheer and Dolores Austin
15. Jean-Michel Poulnot and Claudie Chourré
16. Steve Jones and Christine Jones
17. Jean-Claude Bunand and Mireille Di Maio
18. Luc Pouget and Sabine Mattei

Coffee and croissants were available.
The weather was cool in the morning and a little windy in the afternoon.
Antoine Lofaro was the official umpire.

Three timed 13 points games were played before lunch to separate the top dogs from the mutts.

My teammate and I did fairly well:

We won our first game (13/9) against Joe La Torre and Susan Holbert
We lost our second game (8/13) against Luc Pouget & Sabine Mattei
We won our 3^rd game (13/10) against Patrick Vaslet and Holly Sammons

We therefore qualified for the Concours, which for dilettantes like us is a mixed blessing.
It is flattering to qualify but most of the time it is more like a death warrant, with very little chance of reprieve from the governor.
The good part of it is that it allows me to indulge in one of my other passion: catching people on film in the act of being themselves.

Sol Food, a local restaurant specializing in Puerto Rican cuisine, graciously donated the lunch.

In the afternoon we met Patrick Vaslet and Holly Sammons in the arena again and lost 7/13.
We were out of the game.
Caution: Patrick and Holly are cool customers never to be taken lightly.

In the Concours semi-finals Patrick and Holly defeated Peter Mathis and Simone Furlan 13/8
J-C Etallaz and Colette beat Mike Cooper and Narin Garrett.

In the finals Patrick and Holly defeated the gritty team of Jean-Claude and Colette 13/10.
I told you that Patrick was a cool dude!

In the Consolante finals, Le Facteur (probably weakened by love) did not complete his round and was sent packing by Eldon Moilanen and Alwyn Falkenberg with a final score of 13/9

Final results:

Concours

1^st place: Patrick Vaslet & Holly Sammons:  $72.00 each
2^nd place: Jean-Claude Etallaz & Colette Van Der Meulen:  $60.00 each
3^rd place: Mike Cooper & Narin Garrett:  $37.00 each

Consolante

1^st place: Eldon Moilanen and Alwyn Falkenberg:  $37.00 each
2^nd place: Jean-Michel Poulnot & Claudie Chourré:  $24.00 each
3^rd place: Steve Jones & Christine Jones:  $15.00 each

And that was the way I saw it on August 10, 2014.

Alain (aka La Foudre)

PS: To look at pictures of this event and listen to accompanying background music, turn your computer’s sound on, and click on “My Photos“.

 

I lived in the San Francisco Marina district for about twenty years.
In those days I commonly rode my bike on what is now known as the Golden Gate Promenade, or the Chrissy Field Trail.

Since I moved to Marin County I rarely venture to the City by the Bay, but once in a while I get the urge and I drive to San Francisco for a walk in the fog.
And I just did this yesterday.

Upon arriving on the Chrissy Field trail, I could not help but notice the extraordinary large amount of mutts (and mutt walkers) populating the path leading to the Golden Gate Bridge.
There were dogs galore by the seashore!
Dog walkers were out in force, often handling 5 or 6 dogs at a time. The pooches were on a leash, but further up the trail, they were leash-free and enjoying spirited tag games.

There were also lots of bikes.
Sixty years ago, pundits everywhere predicted the demise of the bicycle.
With everybody itching to drive, la Petite Reine (the little queen) was surely going to vanish.
Mais nenni mon ami! It seems that there are more bikes on the road today than a century ago.
On the Chrissy Field Trail, I observed a large contingent of (French) helmeted tourists riding rental bikes.They came in droves and almost outnumbered the dog population.

And talking about bikes… in the old days rich people were riding cars and poor folks were riding bicycles.
Today paradoxically low-income people drive cars while rich folks ride bicycles.

But back to dogs.
If I had known, instead of pursuing a technical career, I would have chosen to be a dog walker.
Unlike my old job it is a stress-free occupation, and for animal lovers it is an occupation made in heaven.
It is a line of work that keeps you fat (I meant fit) and sassy and off unemployment lines.
And the money is not bad either.

From what I could gather on the Internet, dog walkers charge between $22.00 and $30.00 an hour, and half that price for an additional dog.
For three hours of dog walking in the morning you could easily make two hundred bucks, and round up your income by running a software company in the afternoon.

After getting our fill of fog, dogs and Frogs, we drove to Sausalito for lunch.
We had heard about a local eating-place called Fish, and we wanted to check it out.
In spite of the glowing reports that I had heard about this place, I was not impressed.

Fish is nothing but a glorified fast-food fish joint.
And it is rather pricy. A crab sandwich set me back $25.00. It was copious but bland, and horror of horrors, it was served hot (yuck).

At Fish, you stand in line to place your order and you can only pay in cash.
You can eat on a deck facing the harbor, but you have to keep a watchful eye on your plates. If you don’t, kamikaze pigeons will dive on your food and snatch it.
It happened to us!

To sum it up, sixty dollars for a tuna salad, an ill-conceived crab sandwich, a beer and some java don’t leave a pleasant aftertaste in your mouth.
In spite of a large number of people flocking to it, Fish does not get my seal of approval.

Nice escapade to the city though.

Alain

PS: To look at photos of this event and listen to accompanying background music, turn the sound on, and click on the link “My Photos” located on the right side of this page.