Category: Fourre-tout

“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.” –Anatole France

La donna è mobile…Thalia, my favorite muse, is capricious and fickle. When she visits, don’t expect her to stay patiently by your side until you get what she is trying to convey. She comes carried by a light breeze and is gone before you even notice.  You need to be attentive and attuned to her presence.

When I seek her help, I lie quietly under my yum-yum tree and wait for her to inspire me… and I think that she just did it.

There are terrible things presently happening in the world and I am tired of hearing and writing about them. Man’s inhumanity to man seems to be endemic and endless, but occasionally you hear about some good deeds performed by humans to protect our furry friends.

I just read in the Economist that France is actively building freeway overpasses to reduce roadkill, and it warms my heart. I am an unconditional animal advocate, and I will always take the side of four-legged creatures over man’s greed or indifference.

These “écoponts” are sorely needed everywhere, and Europe seems to be a leader in this field. Freeways present unsurmountable obstacles to all species and we owe animals the protection they need to survive and thrive. Can you imagine for a minute a world without wildlife? How terribly sad it would be.

The few measly dollars spent for these good deeds look ridiculously small when compared to what man spends for wars and annihilating his own specie.

“A study for Vinci, another French motorway operator, found that between 2011 and 2015 each of its green bridges was used each year on average by 1,086 red deer, 150 wild boar, 104 roe deer, 48 foxes, eight badgers, four weasels, one hedgehog, and one wolf. “

 In Marin County, it is not unusual to see deer on the side of the freeway and you just shudder thinking of what might happen. Overpasses would be a great blessing.

Animals, like humans, have feelings and emotions and they can be a great comfort to humans. They are now commonly used in hospitals and retirement homes to comfort those in need of sympathy. In France, they are known as “animaux de compagnie” and they are always welcome everywhere.

If you are looking for a mate, always make sure that this person likes animals. If he/she does not, keep away; these people are selfish and mean.

Alain

America, the land of the free, the home of the brave… and his beloved guns.

Today, two calamities are laying waste to America: a pandemic and a shooting epidemic… and they are both equally deadly. I am fully aware that I wrote about this subject many times before, but it needs repeating, even hammering for people to finally wake up from their torpor.

As far as I know, everything possible has been done for controlling the pandemic, but very little about stopping the sickening regularity of mass shootings.

Nothing annoys me more than the prayers, vigils, speeches, the official homilies after each carnage, while absolutely nobody seems to notice the elephant in the room. Voting individuals should picket and mercilessly harass any elected official who refuses to even talk about the subject. Some pro-lifers are picketing abortion clinics… if they are pro-life as they say, why don’t they picket gun stores instead… it would yield much better results.

I understand that a person might want to buy a handgun for home protection, but an AK-15 Kalashnikov with 30 rounds magazines? Who is he expecting to attack? Hordes of living dead? Commies? Transgenders?
Such a thing has no place in a civilized society.

Why would anybody want to buy such a killing machine, but for the only purpose of harming people? In Texas, it is easier to buy an AK-15 than a simple handgun. Does it make any sense?

It is not people who are doing the killing… it is GUNS! And don’t talk to me about background checks. There are just insignificant band-aids applied to out-of-control hemorrhages… You don’t have to be mentally deranged to want to kill somebody… A laid-off person can sometimes be more dangerous than any sicko, and he can buy an automatic weapon anytime he wants.

As long as anybody can purchase military-style semiautomatic weapons and assault rifles, the killings won’t stop.

In 2019, New Zealand showed much more backbone than America when, after the killings in Christchurch, it permanently banned the sale of all automatic weapons.

America is not Russia. We still can speak our minds without fear of retribution. Put pressure on the Congress’s fat cats and shine a bright light on their cozy relationship with the NRA. It might nudge them into becoming responsible human beings.

I can just imagine the state of mind of school children today. No matter what they are told, they won’t rest easy. They know that big bad wolves are lurking in the shadow and that they are very vulnerable.

Do you want the killings to stop? Don’t pray, light any candles, or listen to any baloney! Demand results. Ban automatic guns, your life depends on it.

Alain

I first started driving a car when John Ford launched his Model T… or so it seems.

My initiation to this mode of transportation took place in France just after I reached the very mature age of 18. After a few weeks of arduous training in “une auto-école”, I was granted the right to pilot one of these machines and let loose in Paris.

Driving in France then seemed like a poker game. The best bluffer won and it took nerves of steel to meet the challenge. Going through Place Charles de Gaulle (where 12 avenues converge) for instance was once one of the greatest challenges any young driver could face.

I learned to drive in a Renault Dauphine, a cute little car with a very simple setup. A speedometer and a “compteur kilométrique”. That was about all showing on the dashboard. The car was, of course, a stick shift model, and this was the most difficult part to master. But it was a rite of passage that almost every young Frenchman was eager to pass (very few women drove then) and I did it.

Since then, I have been driving many different cars, some with stick shifts and some automatic models and I never had second thoughts about it. When you drive, you usually do it in a semi-automatic mode, with very little to worry about.

My last car was a Toyota Camry and I loved it. A solid workhorse that never balked at any task. I kept it for close to 10 years and I was always very happy with it.

Then came the pandemic and this blasted immoral, inhuman, monstrous war in Ukraine, and suddenly the price of gas took off and affected everybody’s wallet.

What is the average fellow to do? Keep a tight upper lip and pay through the nose… or do something to mitigate the damages. Many people switched to electric cars or hybrids, and I finally did it too.

After all these years, I thought I could handle any car, but new models are a very different breed. When you have been driving a 10-year-old car and switch to a new one, you just cannot sit behind the wheel of a new model and hit the road.

Before venturing into the blue yonder, you better take the time to study the manual. A very fat one for that. New cars are so feature-rich that it leaves you scratching your head. Buttons are everywhere and you need to know what to do before taking off.

You just cannot learn while driving, it would be foolhardy and dangerous. So I downloaded the owner’s manual on my computer and tried to master it that way, but it is very difficult. You need to actually sit in the car and experiment to get positive results.

This long preamble is to let you know that I am doing my bit for the environment, and for my wallet. But if you happen to see me in my new wheels, don’t come too close because I am still flying by the seat of my pants. I could inadvertently launch some anti-tank rocket without realizing it.

Thank you for your understanding.

Alain