Category: Fourre-tout

A little bit of everything

Le Facteur AWOL

Yesterday, La Pétanque Marinière hosted its annual Mother’s Day tournament.

Due to this popular holiday, participants were in short supply, but everything nevertheless went according to plan.
Almost everything.

Before talking about the tournament, I would like to acknowledge the people who made this event possible.

Lately, after a few good soakings, our pétanque field started to look like a croquet lawn and with a tournament fast approaching it became urgent to dispose of the wild weeds that had colonized our field.

We appealed for volunteers but many doubted that anybody would show for Volunteers are shy, capricious creatures rarely seen in public.

Fortunately we have in our midst what Jules Romains called “des hommes de bonne volonté”, men (and women) of good will.
Last Thursday I came across such people.

They were Henry Wessel, Calvert Barron, Roger and Sabine Mattei, Claudie Chourré, Charlie Davantes and Liv Kraft.
They toiled for hours to make the field presentable.
On Saturday, Christine, Monique Bricca and Helga Facchini also joined our chained gang and helped to complete the task.
I particularly want to recognize Charlie and Liv, and Henry and Calvert who have been extraordinarily helpful.
If the field looked decent last Sunday, you owe it to all these people.

Back to the tournament.

On Sunday, the following people showed up to compete.

  1. Frosty Sabo & Teri Sirico
  2. Kevin Evoy & Hans Kurz
  3. Alain Efron & Sabine Mattei
  4. Etienne Rijkheer & Bill Hansen
  5. Adair Hasting & Jack Cannard
  6. Colette Van Der Meulen & Monique VDM
  7. Larry Cragg & Christine Cragg
  8. Francois Moser & Helga Facchini
  9. Jean-Claude Etallaz & Le Facteur
  10. Henry Wessel & Calvert Barron
  11. Ken Lee & Jean-Claude Bunand
  12. Steve Jones & Christine Jones
  13. Jean Bartkowiak & Charles Davantes

Four (4) timed games (45 minutes) were first played to determine who would compete in the Concours and who would play in the Consolante.

After the tryouts, the following teams qualified for the Concours:

  • Jean-Claude Etallaz & Le Facteur
  • Steve Jones & Christine Jones
  • Jean Bartkowiak & Charles Davantes
  • Kevin Evoy & Hans Kurz
  • Fosty Sabo & Teri Sirico
  • Adair Hastings & Jack Cannard
  • Ken Lee & Jean-Claude Bunand
  • Etienne Rijkheer & Bill Hansen

The following teams were assigned to the Consolante:

  • Francois Moser & Helga Facchini
  • Larry Cragg & Christine Cragg
  • Henry Wessel & Calvert Barron
  • Colette Van Der Meulen & Monique VDM
  • Alain Efron & Sabine Mattei

In this particular tournament, I teamed up with Sabine Mattei (a very decent pointer) and things should have worked out pretty well.
But they didn’t.

  • In our first encounter of the day we lost 6/13 to Etienne and Bill Hansen
  • We won the second game 13/9 against Steve and Christine Jones
  • We lost 10/12 (time constraint) against Colette and Monique
  • After leading all the way, we lost our fourth game 10/12 to Francois and Helga
  • through a disastrous blunder of mine.

Then we lost a consolante game 12/13 against Henry and Calvert through a lucky break that allowed them to score the 5 final winning points.
Drat!

I didn’t play well for sure, but I must have done something to offend the Gods (I didn’t sacrifice a chicken) for they slapped me silly repeatedly.

The weather was good most of the day, but after 4:30 p.m. gusts of wind and clouds of dust made playing unpleasant.

In the Concours semi-finals:

  • Jean-Claude Etallaz & Le Facteur defeated Steve & Christine Jones 13/3
  • Kevin Evoy & Hans Kurz beat Jean Bartkowiak & Charles Davantes 13/4
  • Adair Hasting & Jack Cannard overcame Frosty Sabo & Teri Sirico 13/12
  • Etienne Rijkheer & Bill Hansen got the best of Ken Lee & Jean-Claude Bunand 13/10

In the finals, the unthinkable happened!
Before the beginning of the final game Le Facteur left the field to attend a dinner engagement, forcing Jean-Claude Etallaz to face Adair Hasting & Jack Cannard by himself and armed only with 3 boules.
He naturally lost but still managed to score 5 points.

This type of behavior should not be condoned!
Even though Jean-Michel had told Jean-Claude beforehand that he might have to leave, this is a serious breach of etiquette and sportsmanship.
To ensure that this won’t happen again, the club should declare Jean-Michel AWOL (Absent Without Official Leave) and officially reprimand him.

When you sign up for a tournament, you commit yourself for the duration.
Except for a dire emergency, a player cannot leave a tournament before he has completed his playing engagement.

Despite this flagrant “faux pas”, please join me in wishing Jean-Michel a happy 60th birthday (May 13).

In the Consolante, after miraculously defeating Sabine and myself 13/12, Henry and Calvert lost to Larry and Christine Cragg 12/13.

Final results:

IMG_4070

Concours:

1st place: Adair Hastings and Jack Cannard: $29.00 each
2nd place: Jean-Claude Etallaz: $21.00 each
3rd place: Kevin Evoy & Hans Kurz: $13:00 each

Consolante:

1st place: Larry and Christine Cragg: $12.50 each
2nd place: Henry Wessel and Calvert Barron: $8.50 each

Alain

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

 

Blah, blah, blah…

Nothing frustrates me more than a bad communicator, a person seemingly unable to correctly convey a simple message.

A bad communicator is akin to a bad executioner. He has to wield his ax several times to finally separates the head from the body, or the facts from fiction.
And this is painful to watch or to hear.

A good communicator on the other hand is a person who does not have to answer any superfluous questions after an announcement. Everything that needed to be said was said.

Jan & Alain 1If you want to communicate effectively, you need to be methodical and mind the 4 W’s: Who, What, When, Where.
Who did it? What did he do? When did he do it, and where did it occur?
If you can do this concisely, you will be respected by your peers.
If you can’t, it will re-enforce your image of an untrustworthy individual.

I surmise that bad communication might also have something to do with speed.
In their haste to “scoop” competition, many people neglect accuracy for speed.
Forgetting or omitting details can often derail the true meaning of a document.

Texting (the favorite tool of high school dropouts) does not help either!
Grammar, syntax and accuracy are giving very short shrift and the lack of punctuation can significantly alter the meaning of a sentence.

Communication without accuracy can lead to misunderstanding, and misunderstanding can easily degenerate into conflicts.
An altered (edited) document (the Ems Dispatch) actually triggered the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and its disastrous consequences.

Demagogues are fond and make good use of half-truths. They are not bad communicators; they are selective communicators.
What they are not saying is as important as what they are saying, but it would be detrimental to their political career to be totally candid.

Before rushing to propagate a rumor, try to double-check its provenance and its accuracy. If (like Joseph McCarty) you cry wolf too many times, your credibility will be affected, questioned and ultimately censured.

If you have something to say, say it quickly, completely and accurately.
If you have nothing to say, don’t say anything, because it has been found (surprise) that no news is vastly superior to half-baked news!

Alain

If you have got it, flaunt it…?

“To live happy, live hidden” Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian (1788)

The other day I came across a lightly clad young woman. She was wearing a light tank top showing her arms and her midriff, and a pair of sweatpants showcasing her booty.
She looked good, but it was a cold blustery day and her outfit seemed oddly inadequate for the prevailing weather conditions.
I remember thinking, even if my physique was up to par, would I risk pneumonia for the sake of vanity?

IMG_8542But it seems that people who have got it (it being anything desirable) cannot resist the urge of flaunting it, regardless of the circumstances.
Look at me they implore… Look at my butt… look at my boobs… look at my shoes, muscles, gold chains… look at my car… look at me for crying out loud… I beg you.
And the social media are chockfull of selfie queens promoting their wares
It is rather pathetic.

I wonder,  if I had it (I am not saying that I don’t),  would I flaunt it.
Nah… I don’t think so… It is not in my nature.
I treasure anonymity too much to risk attracting undue attention. I enjoy the immense privilege of going anywhere unnoticed and I intend to keep it that way.

For there is always a price to pay for being the center of attention.
Someday you will have to pay the piper.

Once fame is achieved, it can become as poisonous as the Shirt of Nessus
The once highly prized celebrity status can become toxic and lead to many nasty confrontations with the very same people who catapulted them to fame.

When caught in an unfavorable light, many celebrities claim an invasion of privacy.
But when you become a public figure, you relinquish the cloak of anonymity.

Fame is like a Trojan horse hauled into the walls of your privacy. It is often the prelude of a rapid downfall.

Beware of what you are asking for, you might get it.
And fate is playing for keeps.

As for me, if you see me anywhere wearing dark shades, don’t even ask. I don’t sign autographs or give interviews!

Alain