Au Cochonnet Marin

Tomorrow is le Premier Mai (May 1^st) and in France’ it is known as “la fête du muguet”.

 It is the day to present a few sprigs of Muguet (Lily of the Valley) to family, friends, and everybody dear to you. It is considered a lucky charm, and it would be an unforgivable mistake to forget to do so, especially between sweethearts. In the language of flowers, the lily of the valley symbolizes marital happiness.

“Le premier Mai c’est pas gai, Je trime, a dit le muguet,
Muguet, sois pas chicaneur, Car tu donnes du bonheur.” G. Brassens

On that day, “des brins de muguet“ (small bouquets) are sold everywhere on French streets by individuals and charitable organizations… and amazingly for France, you don’t need a license to do so. In my youth, a few friends and I used to bicycle to a little forest around Paris to collect some of these wildflowers. Today it is almost impossible to find any of those, and the muguet is mainly grown in greenhouses.

The origin of this tradition is likely pagan, but it became semi-official when “in the 1560s, King Charles IX of France was presented with du muguet by a knight named Louis de Girard de Maisonforte. The king enjoyed the gift so much that he began to present the ladies of his court with the flowers each year on the first of May.” 

 If you want to be cool, especially if you want to ingratiate yourself with some lady, offering some sprigs of muguet to her will definitely get you some extra points.

It is said to be way more powerful than a glass of the best Champagne and it will definitely knock the socks off of the person you are wooing.

Joyeuse fête du muguet a tous !

Alain

Yesterday, France’s sitting President Emmanuel Macron defeated challenger Marine Le Pen for a second time, and this is good news. Not only for France, but for the world as well.

This French referendum is more important than ever since the Russian ogre has awakened and is ravenous for more real estate. To be more accurate, it is more gluttony than hunger, since Russia is already the largest country in the world. It needs more land like I need a mega-yacht… The only powers that can stop Putin are the United States AND a united NATO.

If Le Pen would have won, NATO would have been weakened and Ukraine could possibly be lost. And if Ukraine falls, it will make Putin more belligerent. You cannot appease a tyrant with concessions. Just remember the Munich Agreement of 1938. The Sudetenland was just an appetizer for Adolf Hitler.

It is no secret that Marine le Pen intended to withdraw France from NATO and thus would have considerably weakened this crucial alliance. As an admirer of (and financed by) Putin, Le Pen would not hesitate to side with the person that she admires.

When a single man manages to take over a country and muzzles its press and its citizenry, that country is in trouble. Russia has already adopted a martial law policy, and its citizens are afraid to voice a negative opinion about the war “special military operation” in Ukraine. A still short war that has already made an inordinate number of victims, civilians, and combatants alike.

Stopping Russia in Ukraine is now as important as defeating the Nazi hordes during WWII. The fragile equilibrium existing between the Russian Federation and Western Europe must be maintained at all costs. Showing weakness would only embolden the aggressor to continue its rampage.

Emmanuel Macron is not somebody to be venerated, but he seems to be an intelligent, reasonable man… a middle-roader willing to improve the lot of his compatriots. And he has no desire to remain president for life through rigged elections… He will stay for 5 more years and leave quietly in 2027, as any civilized person would do.

It is for those reasons that I voted for Emmanuel Macron, and that I wish him the best in the years to come. To maintain a fragile World Peace, Putin must be defeated (best from within) and Macron (definitely not Le Pen) will help to achieve this goal.

Alain

I will never praise enough the protective and curative properties of laughter. Especially in our troubled times…

“Humor is a serious thing. I like to think of it as one of our greatest earliest natural resources, which must be preserved at all costs.” James Thurber

More than anything else, a good sense of humor is what you wish the good fairy would bestow on your cradle. It will be your survival kit, your shield, your flak jacket against the vicissitudes of life.

Never mind beauty; it is fleeting. Humor is what attracts the ladies, protects you against bullies, and will give you a pass to the best venues in the world.

It is Scheherazade Redux. Humor will give you at least 1000 days to extricate yourself from the toughest spots.

Humor allows you to take the edge off of once-taboo subjects such as sex, religion, and politics, and make it palatable to the uptight crowds. You can almost say anything about any subject if you season it properly with giggling spices.

Laughter is welcome by most but greatly feared by autocrats and religious zealots. For it is a formidable foe. You can pass laws forbidding people to talk about certain subjects, but no matter what you do, you cannot prevent people from laughing. And ultimately, the day belongs to the one who leaves you laughing.

There is only a single taboo against laughter. You cannot laugh at the expense of the weak or defenseless. It would be like killing baby seals. Absolutely detestable. Except for that, nothing and nobody is off-limits.

The only effective weapon against laughter is kryptonite. And kryptonite, ardently pursued by bullies of all kinds, is extremely rare and hard to find.

But a humorist also needs to have the ability to laugh at himself. It is when you are unable to do so that you become vulnerable, like all the unsmiling tyrants sitting edgily on their illegitimate thrones.

When somebody antagonizes his constituency, it is your duty to fight back by laughing at the offender, regardless of his rank and regardless of his wealth.

Eat, drink and laugh your head off for nobody knows what tomorrow will bring.

Alain