Au Cochonnet Marin

Yesterday in San Francisco, in a tournament sponsored by La Boule d’Or, the Pétanque Marinière players came and conquered.

In a series of 3 games played after lunch, five of our local players emerged at the top of the heap and took home the big bucks.

The attendance was unfortunately limited.
As the oldest Pétanque club in the Bay Area, La Boule d’Or deserves better and all the local clubs should make an extra effort to attend these tournaments more frequently.

Kudos by the way to Etienne Rijkheer, Antoine and Eva and Minou and Minette who travelled a long way to participate in this event.

Among the players wearing our colors, comrade Tamara Semionovna didn’t appear on the podium with the rest of the top dogs.
But she had a good excuse for that.

Saturday, while doing wheelies on her bike, she fell and injured her elbow.
Taken to Emergency, she was promptly sewn together with fifteen stitches and told to go forth.
In a spirit reminiscent of Stalingrad, she agreed to come to San Francisco and fight for our colors in spite of her injuries.
Just for this, she deserves a medal.

Unusual for a San Francisco winter, the day was warm and enjoyable, and as far as I know nobody was wearing flannel panties.

A Galette des Rois was brought by Jean-Claude Bunand and enjoyed by all.

A great day for pétanque and much glory for our club!

Alain

 

It is unfortunate, but it seems that the number of people that I dislike vastly outnumbers those that I like. Is it just me?
We dislike some people for various reasons, but personally there is nothing I hate more than braggadocio, an arrogant kind of behavior.

Nobody likes a braggart, and the best thing that such individuals could do, would be to keep their mouth shut, for as the saying goes “A shut mouth catches no flies.”
But the fear of flies might not be enough to stop those individuals from flapping their gums.

On the pétanque field, it annoys me to no end to hear one individual boasting “regardless of who I play with, I always win”.
This infantile bragging makes me (and everybody else) more determined than ever to make him eat his words.

I like modesty and humility in my heroes. “Speak softly and carry a big stick” is more in my style.
It is far better to surprise people with a homerun than to trumpet promises that you often cannot keep.

I always liked Winston Churchill’s quote about modesty.
“Mr. Attlee is a very modest man. Indeed he has a lot to be modest about.”

And the aforementioned individual has indeed a lot to be modest about.

As long as I am in a quoting mood, I would like to conclude with:
“Be nice to people on your way up because you’ll meet them again on your way down.”
Wilson Mizner

Have good day, and don’t forget to “turn your tongue seven times in your mouth before saying anything that will ultimately embarrass you” (and make everybody else snicker).

Alain

Thanks to Pascal Gravier, the best f****g” forecast I ever heard!

One of my oldest friends just passed away.
I had been told recently that he was suffering from a debilitating affliction but his demise a few days ago took me entirely by surprise.
I had talked to him about two weeks earlier and he sounded ebullient and optimistic.
His sudden departure was totally unexpected and greatly shocked me.

Even though his passing deeply saddens me, I am glad that he didn’t linger on.
He passed away very quickly and as far as I know without suffering too much; an ideal curtain call that many people wish for.

I met my friend and his wife a long time ago, probably around 1964, shortly after my arrival in San Francisco.
He was then a struggling but very talented young designer and we clicked right away.
We went on picnics, sailing parties and bike rides together.
He also designed the T-shirts and the posters that I used to promote a radio program that I was then hosting.

When I met him, he was in his Buddhist phase, a thing that was foreign to me and also deeply worried his Norman catholic mother.
But the Buddhist interlude passed and my friend regained his bearings.
A first child was born. I became the godfather of this cute little girl and I carried her in my arms when she was baptized.

Unfortunately, our paths parted fairly early when my friend decided to move back to France, and later to New York City.
In the Big Apple he thrived and became the CEO and motivational speaker of a very successful think tank called Emotional Branding LLC.

After this, I saw him only occasionally for he was a very busy person travelling far and wide.
Luckily I saw my godchild more frequently since she worked (with her father) and lived in Los Angeles.

Friends are a rare gift, and you should hold them dear because as you will soon discover, our time on the planet is frighteningly ephemeral.

 

 

I will miss my friend, but through the miracle of photography I still can him today as I saw him 50 years ago.
Young, vibrant and fun.

Rest in peace dear Marc.

Alain

 

PS: Although the pictures that you see on this blog appear sometimes small, you can visualize them full-size by double-clicking on a particular image.