Not really a big surprise

This morning, at the Campus des métiers et de l'entreprise in Bobigny, Emmanuel Macron stated that he was a presidential candidate. The name of his political party is two words followed by an exclamation mark : En marche ! That means they’ve set foot. Since I’m more or less bluffed by this smart fellow, you might consider me as a potential Enmarchiste ! It sounds smarter than "Socialiste". Infinitely less Trumpian than "Républicain". I think it's the sign at the end that adds all the sexy smartness to Macron's ethereal party. Besides, his surname makes him sound in English like a piece of smart software. In fact, I think he is.

Deux touristes français meurent en Australie

#Australia

Un homme et une femme, tous les deux plus de 70 ans, sont morts mystérieusement au cours de plongées touristiques à Michaelmas Cay prés de Cairns.

Il y avait probablement des fautes au niveau de leur équipement technique. Cliquer ici et ici pour des articles dans la presse locale.

It can be chilly here in France

A recent survey reveals that 75% of French people say that their homes are excessively cold in winter.

Well, this is not the case for me at Gamone. My installation of a large wood-burning stove has proven to be ideal. I hasten to point out that this success is based upon several additional factors:

• I’ve got into the habit of ordering a stock of high-quality firewood in summer.

• I store this firewood in a large and sturdy woodshed alongside my house.

• I’ve learnt the skill of lighting up the stove of an afternoon, using a tiny quantity of pine wood chips.

• Finally, the cold stove must be cleaned of ashes the following morning.

My house is well insulated on all sides. Besides, if ever the presence of snow made it difficult to go outside to fetch firewood, there’s a stock inside the old stone cave behind the ground-floor level of the house.

In my upper-floor bedroom, study and bathroom, electric radiators switch themselves on automatically when the temperature drops. The use of firewood as my principal fuel means that I would not be in danger in the case of an electricity blackout. And I’ve got a stock of candles. So, the general situation at Gamone is comfortable and reassuring. This is a must when you live on the edge of the French Alps.

Adam Cohen speaks of his father

Ma sœur et moi venons juste d’enterrer notre père à Montréal avec seulement la présence de la famille proche et de quelques amis. Il a été porté en terre dans un cercueil en pin sans fioritures près de son père et de sa mère, exactement comme il l’avait demandé.

Alors que j’écris cela, je pense à mon père, à son mélange unique d’autodérision, de dignité, d’élégance et de charisme naturel, à sa distinction à l’ancienne et à l’œuvre qu’il a forgée de sa main.

Il y a tellement de choses pour lesquelles je pourrais le remercier. Je le remercie pour ce confort dont il nous a pourvus et cette sagesse qu’il nous a transmise, pour ces  conversations marathons, pour sa vivacité d’esprit et son humour. Je le remercie pour m’avoir appris à aimer Montréal et la Grèce et pour la musique, celle qui m’a séduit alors que j’étais un petit garçon, celle qu’il m’a encouragé à composer et celle que j’ai eu le privilège de faire avec lui. Merci pour tous vos messages, vos témoignages de sympathie et l’amour que vous portez à mon père.

Gamone super moon

Gamone, Choranche (France). November 15, 2016 at 20 h 15.

It's hardly spectacular, but I've done my best...

Moon-watchers

Today, many people all over the globe are looking up at the Moon, because it's exceptionally close to our planet. Never before has a still-existing human seen the Moon at such a short distance. That's why it's referred to as a Super Moon.

Unfortunately, I live at a place on the edge of the French Alps that is not particularly good for moon-watching. At the present moment, when I look upwards, all I see is a super-damp sky full of super-gray clouds. So, instead of showing you any super photos, let me take advantage of the fact that I'm talking about the Moon to skip to the interesting subject of lunatics, who have strange ideas about our heavenly neighbor.

Certain lunatics believe that earthly clouds can drift behind the Moon.

 

In former times, Moon-Watchers (as imagined by Stanley Kubrick) made fabulous discoveries. Some things—such as the arrival of a metal slab from space—don't seem to have ever happened again. Other things discovered by the Moon-Watchers—such as murder—have remained with us forever.

 

Silly Twitter word

#Trending #TrendingTopics #Milkanoël

This morning, when I opened up my Twitter account, I discovered a reference to a certain US multinational famous for its milk and cocoa products, Milka.

The Twitter message I read indicated that a certain Milka hashtag was "trending”. I imagined for a moment that the proverbial cow was, at last, coming home. I wondered immediately why this item of world-shaking news about a dullish Trumpland company had hit the Twitter headlines. The answer was elementary. The purple cow was being fed on a variety of green grass called dollars. But what interested me far more than the state of the Milka cow was the linguistic absurdity of the the verb “trending”. Popular among French folk who like to give the impression that they understand English, this silly verb appears to have originated on the other side of the Atlantic.

Click the text block to enlarge it slightly

Once upon a time, even innocent kids in English-speaking communities would have known that a trend can be either up or down, positive or negative. It doesn't necessarily imply that things are getting better. For example: “There’s a nasty trend among children in slum schools to become bullies.” Or, more succinctly: “In slum schools, bulliness is trending.” Just like Milka. Or Trump, on that fateful election day.

Like a candle in the water

Yesterday evening, at a ceremony in remembrance of the terrible events of 13 November 2015, a fleet of tiny blue-white-red candles glided slowly—softly and silently—across the dark waters of the Saint-Martin Canal in the neighborhood of the Bastille in Paris.

Patrick Jardin had lost his daughter Nathalie, in charge of lighting at the Bataclan. But he was absent from yesterday’s ceremonies. His explanations were terse: “One doesn’t react to kalashnikovs with candles on the water and plaques on the wall.”

He was right in some ways, but wrong in others. Of course we have to track down terrorists and prevent them from harming our societies. This means the use of deadly weapons, not candles. But it doesn’t mean pure vengeance. In any case, yesterday, the people of Paris were not searching for terrorists to be eliminated. Nor were they thinking of criticizing Paris authorities who had not been able to protect all the citizens of the City of Light, including the young lady of the Bataclan lighting. They were simply celebrating in dignity and silence, by means of lit candles, the memory of Nathalie and the other innocent victims of 13 November 2015.

#13Novembre2015 #ParisAttacks

Anti-Trump America wakes up

Their slogan is ludicrous: "Not my president". No matter what they say, Donald Trump is indeed their president, whether they like it or not. At least for a while...

But they seem to be waking up all over the land, as if they're emerging from a nightmare. In fact, they are... even though the nightmare is still going on.

Elections don't affect God's inexistence

Thank Goodness God can't be elected in or out !

New signpost in Paris

The attacks of 15 November 2016 killed 130 people,
89 of whom died at the Bataclan.
7 attackers were destroyed.

#13Novembre2015 #ParisAttacks

Tsunami in the Antipodes

An earthquake of 7.4 magnitude has just struck New Zealand, 90 km away from Christchurch, causing a tsunami. For the moment, no victims have been found. The tremor occurred on Sunday evening at 23 hours, three and a half hours ago.

New Zealand is located near the edge of the tectonic plates of Australia and the Pacific, at a place known as the Ring of Fire, where 15,000 earthquakes are recorded every year.

Click images to enlarge slightly

#NouvelleZélande #NewZealand #earthquake

Plot of earth in Montreal

Cohen family plot at the Shaar Hashomayim
Cemetery on Friday in Montreal. 

(Giovanni Capriotti / for the Toronto Star)

Cohen at home, Los Angeles. September 24, 2016.
No more touring ahead. Cohen now concentrates
upon his family, friends and the work at hand. 
[photo by Graeme Mitchell for The New Yorker]

Sting has reopened the Bataclan

We shall always remember the
victims of 13 November 2015.

#Bataclan

La culture sera la plus forte !

Click to enlarge slightly

For whom is this blog written?

That’s a good question, and I thank you very much for asking it. On Saturday, 9 December 2006, my very first blog post asked a similar question.

Why have I created this blog?

I often find myself saying more or less the same everyday things in e-mails to several friends. Consequently, this blog could be a good way of avoiding such repetition. This doesn't mean that I intend to abandon the idea of sending e-mails to friends. It merely means that certain stuff can be outlined here publicly in my blog, and I can then talk about specific behind-the-scenes things in my personal e-mails. Another down-to-earth reason for this blog is that some of my friends have faulty e-mail systems, which often block my messages because they're judged to be spam. [This is notably the case for Australian customers of Big Pond.] Finally, another good reason for this blog is the possibility of my being able to express freely my feelings in domains that some of my friends judge to be taboo: for example, Aussie politics. So, I'm hoping that this new vector of expression (new for me, that is) will prove to be effective and pleasant to use.

Alas, I didn't have the courage at that time to provide my forthcoming readers with the proverbial truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. It's not easy for me to reply, but let's see if I can be a little more honest today. First, I'll give you a hint. A few nights ago, I was intrigued by an unexpected early-morning dream. I found myself informing my readers that the name of my Antipodes blog would be replaced by a new title : The Notebook of William de Gamone. Readers who know me well will recognize instantly what's behind this choice.

• It's pure Rilke, associated with The Notebook of Malte Laurids Brigge.

• The author's name has been mildly Frenchified in a noble fashion by the addition of "de Gamone".

Let's no longer beat around the bush. Right from the start, ten years ago, my Antipodes blog has always been written primarily for myself. It's simply my on-screen notebook, for saving various ideas, and testing my ability to say various things in certain ways. Readers may have noticed that I've rarely gone out of my way to attract readers and their comments. Often they annoyed me, especially when I found them quarrelsome.

So, let me be perfectly clear. For whom is this blog written? Primarily, for a French-speaking fellow named William who lives at Gamone. Who has always been enchanted by the writings of Rainer Maria Rilke.

You merely wanted to catch a plane

In fact, you ended up catching a nasty bacterial infection at the level of your tail end. According to a study conducted by researchers of the University Hospital of Münster, that kind of affliction is a likely possibility in the toilets of 136 airports in 59 countries. Traces of Staphylococcus aureus were found on 5.5 % of samples from 400 door handles of toilets. To put it bluntly, disgusting data like that is enough to give you the shits.

Cohen song that's hard to understand

Leonard Cohen, 1976, in France

                                                           [photo Istvan Bajzat/Alliances]

The Cohen song Hallelujah was started in 1980, but wasn’t finally written until 1984. Naive listeners might fail to understand that it’s a highly erotic song.

An explicitly sensual version was brought out by Jeff Buckley.
Switch to YouTube to access the original Buckley's performance.

It's a song inspired by the singer's sexual relationship with a lady.

Democracy is leaving the USA

It's weird that Leonard Cohen should leave us at a moment when US democracy seems to be heading in the wrong direction. It's weird, too, that I'm celebrating memories of this great man on a public holiday in France: the 11th day of the 11th month, Armistice Day.

Towards the end of my Israel-inspired novel All the Earth is Mine [lookup in Amazon], I included an excerpt from Cohen's song. In my tale, the entire land of Israel is transformed by modern technology into a gigantic floating island, which spends its new existence sailing around the planet Earth.

Sail on, sail on, oh mighty ship of state

To the shores of need, past the reefs of greed


Though the squalls of hate


Sail on, sail on, sail on...

     

— Leonard Cohen, Democracy

Two angels and a holy man

The holy man has just left us in painful solitude.

Many years ago, in a Paris concert hall, I had the privilege of seeing
blonde Julie Christensen and dark Pearla Batella

accompanying Leonard Cohen.

They appeared to me as a pair of female angels surrounding a holy man.

Leonard Cohen on Chelsea Hotel