Au Cochonnet Marin

Contrarily to what you might think, when sitting behind the wheel of your car the most dangerous place to be is not the freeway.
It is the parking lot.
It is when you are backing out of a parking space that you are most likely to be plowed into.

Hindered by the car on their right and the car on their left, and with a limited rear vision, most of the people find it extremely hazardous to extricate themselves from their parking space.
The danger is cars whizzing by at unsafe speeds.

When leaving the garage, many people don’t seem to have a minute to spare.
They are in such a hurry that they are unwilling to stop, even when they see a car pulling out.

The most common courtesy would dictate that upon noticing somebody trying to back out, one would stop and allow the other person to complete his maneuver.
But such is not the case.
I am not sure if it is selfishness or recklessness, but these oafs are clearly unwilling to stop and let you through.

Probably pressured by the car lobby, it seems that officials are only too willing to issue driving licenses to anybody who ask for it.

When cars sported manual transmissions, it took longer for beginners the tame the beast. But now, with most American cars equipped with automatic gearboxes, it seems that anybody can get behind the wheel and immediately operate a two-ton urban warfare vehicle.

This is why future cars will be equipped with front and rear cameras… and upon my personal request, a truck’s air horn.
When somebody will refuse to yield, I will have the option to blast him or her with an ear-splitting toot.
I feel pretty confident that this forceful argument will stop even the most uncooperative driver.

In Russia, due to drivers’ vodka fueled shenanigans, many people have installed dashboard cameras.
In case of an accident, the camera will clearly document what happened, and who was at fault.

The Russians are distinctly ahead of us in this respect and you should not be surprised to find this option on your next new car.

In the meantime, enjoy the video clip below (filmed with Dash Cams) and be glad that you are driving on American freeways instead of Mother Russia’s roads.

Alain

So, how was it yesterday?
I will sum it up in one word: HOT!
It was f*****g hot! Hacía mucho calor my friends!

The mercury rose to 90 degrees and if it would not have been for our trees, only mad dogs, Englishmen and Sonomans would have ventured on the field.
In Marin, we entertain a love/hate relationship with our trees, something a little similar to the love story I once had with a cat.
Antoine was a splendid feline that I loved dearly, but unfortunately he shed faster than a Vegas stripper. I constantly had to clean after him.

Same thing with our trees. They also shed a lot and we continuously have to sweep under them. But we love them, especially when it gets unbearably hot.

The weather bureau had predicted this turn of events and I tried to prepare for it. Instead of donning my habitual long pants (and to the surprise of many) I exceptionally wore shorts and laid my legs bare.
I think that I heard a few gasps in the crowd but I ignored them.

I also elected not to play in the tournament. Everybody knows how good I am and I had nothing to prove. So I devoted myself exclusively to taking pictures of our jocks in action.

But back to the main event.
The following hearty souls signed up to play in the tournament:

1. Steve Jones/Christine Jones/Jean-Claude Mallan
2. Blaise West/Sabine Mattei/Monique Mallan
3. Henry Wessel/Liliane Sebban/Colette Van Der Meulen
4. Charlie Davantes/Tamara Efron/Minette Etallaz
5. Louis Toulon/Francois Moser/Eva Lofaro
6. Jean-Claude Etallaz/Claudie Chourre/Calvert Barron
7. Ken Lee/Jean-Claude Bunand/Susan Hobbart
8. Wright Kunkle/Jean-Michel Poulnot/Heidi Rytter
9. Frosty Sabo/Mireille Di Maio/Sally Kunkle
10. Bernard Passmar/Verena Rytter/John Morrisson
11. Steve Van Vieck/David Stallwood/Alex Craft

Before playing though, everybody partook in a picnic prepared by the following people:

In the brass section, Alain Marchand, Antoine Lofaro and Jean-Claude Etallaz shopped for the food and prepared the steaks and the beans.
In the string section, Claudie Chourré, Genevieve Etallaz and Mireille Di Maio assembled and handed out the salad, cheese and bread.

I don’t want to forget mentioning the people who also cleaned the field, mainly Mireille and Charlie Davantes who did a tremendous job a few days before the tournament.

The tournament (3 games, mêlée format) started after lunch and ended around 5:00 p.m. By then, I was too pooped to pop and headed home before the finals results were published.

If Verena is kind enough to send me those, I will add them to this report. In the meantime, look at and enjoy the pictures that I took under very difficult conditions.

Ta ta for now!

Alain (la Foudre)

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.

http://youtu.be/q1wPhjbqbWs

“Civility costs nothing and buys everything.”
Mary Wortley Montague

Pétanque is a pastime, an activity that someone does regularly for enjoyment.
One enjoys a game when taking pleasure in it. But sometimes, due to a bothersome player, one participates in a game without enjoying it.

Therefore, like the Soup Nazi of Seinfeld’s fame, I reserve the right to refuse serving soup, or playing pétanque with anyone.

Being a club member doesn’t give anybody any special privilege. It just gives you the opportunity to interact with other club members.

It is an individual’s attitude, on and off the field, that will dictate if this person will be readily invited to join a casual game or not.
Arguing and contesting every point makes an individual particularly undesirable.
When disagreeing, there are civilized ways to settle an argument, and being belligerent is not one of them.

Winning a game can also turn into a pyrrhic victory. A victory won at too great a cost to be worthwhile.
You might win a game, but permanently alienate the other players.

In life (or in pétanque) one needs to be generous, magnanimous.
If you win gracefully, people will admire you. If you win unpleasantly people will resent you.

“Good manners: the noise you don’t make when eating soup”.
Bennett Cerf

Equally good manners:
The noise you don’t make when playing pétanque.

Moral of the story:
If you want to be accepted, be mellow.
Before, during and after.

That’s the way I see it.

Alain