Au Cochonnet Marin

 

“The light you see at the end of the tunnel is the front of an oncoming train.” David Lee Roth

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We have right now in America all the makings of a spectacular Hollywood train wreck. The convoy is going too fast and the conductor is blithely ignoring advice and signals from railroad workers. It is a confusing situation for observers who know that something terrible is going to happen but cannot look away.

I have never witnessed a train wreck, but I have seen pictures of it. It can be horrifically spectacular.
But how could this happen in the first place? Didn’t the conductor realize he was going too fast? Did he misread the signals? Or worse, ignore the signals? Did he inhale some prohibited substance? Was he texting or twitting? Or (gasp) was he unqualified to drive that train?

No responsible grownup would behave that way… but does a grownup always reach an advanced stage of mental or emotional development? Not always it seems.

A train is only as safe as his conductor’s good judgment. Ignoring even a single signal puts the entire train and its passengers in jeopardy.

A good conductor does not scream at people to get out of his way. Neither does he threaten to run them over if they don’t move. He slows down, even stops to get a better appraisal of the situation.

But it seems that sometimes a George Custer syndrome is afflicting a train conductor. In a relentless pursuit of self-aggrandizement he disregards any warnings and forge full speed ahead toward a disaster waiting to happen.

Some lucid passengers noticing the reckless speed of train bail out as soon as they can. But it takes guts to jump off a speeding train (especially when some passengers personally vouched for that conductor) and some VIPs hesitate. They secretly hope for a divine intervention, but it is well known that God only helps those who help themselves.

Sometimes a mad train can  has to be stopped.

In Hollywood fashion gutsy stuntmen board the train (maybe by helicopter) and forcefully remove the engineer who is subsequently sent to Longwood House, St Helena to mull over his narcissistic past.

Is this going to happen to the American Mad Train? Many people are starting to lean toward this James Bondish denouement.

Alain

 

As you all know yesterday was Mother’s Day and that most probably accounted for the fairly low attendance of the Marin tournament.
In spite of this, eight select triplettes trekked to our field and they were:

1. Henry Wessel/Calvert Barron/Sandra Shirkey
2. Jean-Michel Poulnot/J-C Etallaz/Dello Cueno
3. Bob Crossley/Akira Okawa/ Stephan
4. Hans Kurz/Honor Woodard/Dave Katz
5. Patrick Vaslet/Shannon Bowman/Hallie
6. Charlie Davantes/ Brigitte Moran/Herb Moran
7. Peter Mathis/Wolfie Kurz/David Lanter
8. Teri Sirico/Nancy Jencks/ Evan Falcone

Marin fielded only 2 teams.
Personally, I declined to play due to a stubborn backache. To remain in your good graces, I endeavored to take plenty of photographs. I hope that you will like them.

Sunday morning was unusually chilly with a cold wind that persisted until late in the afternoon.
The field was impeccably groomed due I surmise to Henry Wessel and Calvert Barron, Mark and Sandra Shirkey and as always Charlie Davantes.

In the absence of our president who is at the moment gallivanting in France, Mark Shirkey (vice-president) carried the atomic football and ran the tournament with the help of Liv Kraft.

Two games were played before lunch, followed by elimination games in the afternoon. Sonoma fielded two very strong teams while Marin did its best to fight the intruders with weaker forces.

Both Sonoma teams reached the finals and ultimately the Mathis team prevailed over the Vaslet team by 13/8. A very honorable loss.
Both teams played very well, but Sonoma fielded stronger artillery.

The 3rd place was highly contested with finally the Sirico team prevailing over the Kurz team by a very slight margin.

Final scoreboard:

1^st place: Peter Mathis/Wolfie Kurz/David Lanter
2^nd place: Patrick Vaslet/Shannon Bowman/Hallie Cohen
3^rd place: Teri Sirico/Nancy Jencks/ Evan Falcone
4^th place: Hans Kurz/Honor Woodard/Dave Katz

Alain ?

 To look at photos of this event, click on the “My Photos” link located on the right side of this page. For best viewing, go Full Screen. No more music, sorry.

 

“Freedom lies in being bold.” –Robert Frost

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What is the difference between a herd of cows and airline passengers?
Practically none. They are all rounded up, confined and mistreated.

Flying used to be fun and glamorous. We had plenty of legroom, free meals, free drinks and pretty, smiling flight attendants to please us. Not anymore. All these time-honored perks are gone.

For most of us flying is now an ordeal (historically an ancient test of guilt or innocence by subjection of the accused to severe pain, survival of which was taken as divine proof of innocence”)

Since most of us survive this unpleasant experience, it convincingly proves that we are innocent and should be treated as victims rather than offenders.

Lately we have witnessed, personally or on television, a string of incidents featuring flying rage. Passengers are becoming increasingly unruly and fight with flight attendants or other passengers at the slightest provocation.
It is hardly surprising since caged animals are seldom in a jolly mood. Put a bunch of beasties in a cramped area, and you can bet your bippy that fights will break out.

I have flown in all kinds of aircrafts, but it seems that over the years (probably due to climate change) the legroom between passenger’s seats has melted at an alarming pace. I am a rather small fellow and I should not feel constricted when flying “economy class”. But I damn do!

Like a fair-minded citizen I was naively thinking that, since aircrafts are becoming larger and larger, the legroom allotted to each passenger would also increase accordingly.
Fat chance!
I forgot “profit”, the Holy Grail so ardently pursued by airlines executives.
“Let them eat cake” is their secret slogan!

I am a capitalist. I believe in profits… but decent profits. Gobermouch CEO’s should not swindle passengers to pay themselves exorbitant salaries. And what about those obscene “golden parachutes”?

I feel that the time has come for the sons and daughters of the Boston Tea Party to board airplanes and throw excessive seats on the tarmac.This is the only way to convince airlines’ honchos to be more reasonable and put passengers’ well being ahead of that doggone “profit”.

Don’t be helpless lemmings anymore and complain, loudly. Flood airlines headquarters with forceful demands for increased legroom and comfort.
You would be amazed by the steep decrease of fighting aboard airplanes.

Have you ever seen fights in First Class? I rest my case.

Alain

Never kick a cow chip on a hot day. Will Rogers