Notre dernière journée à Monaco

The last guests have left, dishes in the dishwasher and we're settling on the terrace with a glass of chilled fruity white. The sun has set an hour ago, and the last boats enter the little marina below us... a serene and quiet evening. We'll call it an early night, ahead of tomorrow's dreaded flight back to London. We're counting the days when the chapter London is closed for good, and drab, smelly, filthy Britain a faint memory from another world.

 

En vertu de la parasols: Sabrina is studying the menu at Miami Plage, protected under a dozen of parasols, even though we had long made up our mind; about what to eat (Variations de Saumon), and everything else too... Oh, and we didn't terribly mind the cruise ship in the background either. It was another glorious day, hitting 28C.

Nous sommes maintenant à Monaco (ADL, Fontvieille)

Posting ahead of making it to brunch in an hour, sipping pink jus de pamplemousses + champagne (Mumm's knows best...) on the terrace at the ADL*) home, music on with a grand view of the blue Mediterrenean. Occasionally someone sultry walks by, no effort to keep her bathrob closed tight, just to allow me to breathe in her perfume. The remnants of the night before linger, and I won't stay on the terrace for too long...

Anyway, before I go I'd like to share a pic of Michael Jackson birthday celebration yesterday:

*) ADL, Avenue des Ligures, Fontvieille, MC)

Je l'écoute à ses lèvres

... even in Monte Carlo

Sabrina et moi sommes à Monaco jusqu'à mardi

  I am in Monaco until Tuesday
  Ich bin bis Dienstag in Monaco 

Oh Yeahs!

Love 'em!

Carnival in Chelsea

Notting Hill
Carnival


Europe's biggest street party, 2009 marks its 45th  anniversary.

August 30/31

I have to pass this year as I will be in Monaco the long weekend.

http://www.timeout.com/media/notting-hill-map-2009.pdf
For downloading map of area and events!

Ashes to Ashes

The excitement of Brits over winning a series against the Aussies is rather silly, considering it did nothing to help them in the ranking. England are trailing badly in Cricket (4th), Rugby (7th) and Football (7th) alike.

C R I C K E T
  C o u n t r y              Ratings
1. South Africa   127
2. India          126
3. Australia      119
4. England        111
5. New Zealand    110

R U G B Y
C o u n t r y              Rating Point
1. South Africa   91.19
2. New Zealand    90.36
3. Australia      84.91
4. Ireland        83.26
5. France         81.48
6. Argentina      81.29
7. England        81.23 

F O O T B A L L
C o u n t r y                 Points
1. Brazil         1,642
2. Spain          1,590
3. Netherlands    1,379
4. Germany        1,195
5. Italy          1,181
6. Russia         1,161
7. England        1,135

MeMe

You Are Chardonnay

Fresh, spirited, and classic - you have many facets to your personality. You can be sweet and light. Or deep and complex. You have a little bit of something to offer everyone... no wonder you're so popular. Approachable and never smug, you are easy to get to know (and love!). Deep down you are: Dependable and modest Your partying style: Understated and polite Your company is enjoyed best with: Cold or wild meat

What Kind of Wine Are You?

Edward 'Ted' M Kennedy, fellow Pisces

The veteran Democratic member of the US Senate since 1962 died this morning aged 77 at the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port, Mass

I have lived in the US for more than 20 years and witnessed first-hand the defining moments of Edward M Kennedy. I have watched the impact he had had, the influence and power he had wielded, have felt antagonized by his crusades at times and mesmerized at others, and always have respected the man for his intelligent grasp of issues and their resolve, and his pragmatism that allowed for last-ditch compromise in the wee hours of any day of his 47-year tenure in the US Senate.

I most vividly remember his keynote speech in 1980 at the Democratic National Convention, a fireworks of eloquence, at which he dealt fatal blows to the Carter presidency, positioned himself as the champion of causes for the millions of disenfranchised, weak and muted. But he failed at securing the presidential nomination for himself and secured the arrival of Republican President Ronald Reagan - all for the good of the country.

The social engagement of Kennedy, an unlikely twist of a character full of flaws, gave him a cause that would catapult him into the position of the most respected and most powerful senator in US history. Insofar he has done more for the bettering of the nation than any of his brothers, president and Attorney General included. If it hadn't been for this fateful July evening in 1969, when Ted Kennedy drove his presidential aspirations into a ditch, plunging into a flooded ravine and swimming away from the wreck (and the presidency), leaving the passenger Mary Jo Kopechny behind to drown, the Massachusetts senator would have become president of the US eventually. Instead, he became the godfather of Democratic presidents, from Bill Clinton to Barack Obama. Without Kennedy's nod and endorsement, Obama's candidacy in 2008 would have failed.

I also remember the late Kennedy patriarch as a man who supported for many years unification of Ireland and the withdrawal of British troops from the Province of Ulster. Only in the wake of massive global terrorism unleashed against the US did he reconsider his terrorist supporting agenda and withdrew his support for the terrorist IRA.

Rest in peace, Senator. You will be greatly missed on both sides of the aisle.

Phèdre

An evening of high drama and soothing drinks

Just in time before its last performance tomorrow I managed to see Racine's dramatic play Phèdre at the National Theatre. I am glad I was pursuaded to see it, and to overcome the pre-cast mindset of a Shakespearean-influenced bloke that I am. There is something endlessly intriguing and captivating, a starkly prolific black & white defiance of subtleness, that time and again lures me to French literature and plays. It feels refreshingly liberating at times to leave the tight corset of British traditionalism and American puritanism behind and jump overboard with the drama of love and death, intricately intertwined according to the world's greatest writers, and to feel swept away in a tsunami of emotions, sometimes of purest love, sometimes of sinister plotting.

Clearly, even after the post-show bubblies and the laughs with the gang of dear friends, I am still very much taken in by the play I watched. Weirdly enough, leaving the day job behind in exchange for artistic expressions, whether it be film, play or music, I often feel entering reality during such blissful moments of high culture, with the time of job and life blurred out and fading into a surreal obscurity.

A deeply moving evening indeed, in company of someone I have neglected far too often and for far too long.

A word (and video) about CAPE TOWN

L'art de se réveiller chaque matin

The art of waking up
each morning...
I have four alarm clocks, sort of ...


The first one, which works only sporadically and at variable times, is the sun. I deliberately open the blinds before falling asleep, as my bedroom window faces the quiet courtyard with palm trees. During the 'summer' months, I draw the drapes as I am not keen on being awakened by the rays of light at 4AM. Last night I forgot, and was up at 5:35, in time to enjoy the remaining three alarm clocks swing into operation...


At around 6AM my "inner clock" kicks in, usually beating my DAB radio clock (alarm #3) by 2 or 3 minutes. The weird thing is that even when I'm already up, I begin to function only when this inner clock tells me it is time to. I'm for not much else use than standing in the shower or making coffee before this inner clock moves me into heightened alert and into gear.


Finally, between 6:30 - 6:45 I receive a text message (alarm #4), advising me of the van to arrive which the bank sends out to my neck of the woods to pick up essential staff living in the area. It's a well greased operation, and the envy of colleagues. You can also literally set the time (or alarm clock) on it: it passes my home at 7:10 sharp, unless I have replied to the morning text message to decline the service for this particular day. It happens a few time each month, but I try to avoid it. Cab is £20 from here to there; the occasional use of The Tube serves mainly as a reminder just how fortunate I am not to have to rely on it.

Tout le monde

Get Your Own Map

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Blue=visited; red=lived in; green=aiming for

Brunch à Monaco: La Salière

Lockerbie:
Scots blasted even in Monaco eatery

We decided to have brunch today nearby instead of in the apartment: more choice, expert service and in company with other friends as well. So we took the 10 minute stroll through Fontvielle to the Italian gourmet temple La Salière on the tranquil Quai Jean-Charles Rey, out on the terrace. Amazingly, the usually apolitical crowd there - normally more preoccupied with sun, sea, boats coming and going and the scenery - quickly picked up on Scotland's collaboration with Libyan terrorism and the release of the convicted murderer of 259 people and 11 Scots after barely 8 years in a comfortable incarceration facility.

Americans at the table next to ours vented their outrage first, making sure that peeps even in the remotest corner of the terrace can follow the arguments. Our two tables quickly sided with the Americans (in our group were the South African, 3 Brits, 4 French, 2 Monegasques and 2 Swiss) and we re-arranged the tables into one huge one. The roundtable discussion caught the attention of other patrons and the staff, and to our sheer delight everyone blasted Scotland and the British government for their action.

Except for these two Irish hoodlums in the remote corner: pale, ginger hair and in their retarded local lingo, they defended the "human decision." Who'd be surprised that Irish fucks side with terrorists, eh? With a history like theirs...

Radio and TV news in France are full of the story and its aftermath. Clearly, Scotland is isolated and shunned, and hopefully economical sanctions by responsible global citizens will hurt Scotland - and Britain - where it hurts them most: sales, meaning money. Boycott Brit goods, we surmised, and hurt Scottish interests wherever and whenever you can.

Labour is mostly responsible for subordinating Britain to Libyan terrorists: it started with Blair's pilgrimage to Gadhafi's tent to obtain drilling rights and oil contracts, and ended 3 months ago in Rome when Gordon Brown promised Gadhafi the Scottish pardon for the Lockerbie terrorist. Libya paid £1.6 Billion for the atrocity.

Brits, used to spineless governments, can add Muammar Gadhafi to the list of villains with British support, from Hitler and Stalin, to Idi Amin, Saddam Hussein (until Margaret Thatcher stopped that infamy) and IRA thugs. Dutifully, Gadhafi thanked today "my friend Gordon Brown, for resolving the final hurdle in our relations with Britain." Praise from hell, Gordon!

Oh, and brunch was just fantastic, and the drinks kept flowing. Quick nap is in order, followed by a dash to the beach in the afternoon. Evening dinner at a cozy eatery, before heading out from the Heliport at 7AM tomorrow.

Zazie – Discover music, videos, concerts, & pictures at Elgar.FM

Zazie – Discover music, videos, concerts, & pictures at Elgar.FM

Monte Carlo at Dusk

Zoomed photo taken at dusk shows the steeples of the Casino building and further to the left the Opera House, designed by Garnier.


Dusk in Port Hercule. Looking at Avenue d'Ostende, the incline, which runs from Ste. Devote up to Casino Square. The yachts anchored in the back are all in the multi-million dollar price range.

Scottish atrocity of Lockerbie

(I posted this a week ago in another blogging site)

Lockerbie: Of vice and (Labour) men

A perplexed British people has learned that a Libyan man jailed for the Lockerbie airliner bombing in Scotland is expected to be set free on compassionate grounds.

Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, who has terminal prostate cancer, is serving a life sentence for blowing up a PanAm airliner over Lockerbie at Christmas 1988, killing 259 people, many of them American students returning home for the Christmas break, and also 11 local residents of Lockerbie.

Detailed preparations by the Labour government are being made to return him to Libya by the end of next week, although the Scottish government says no final decision has yet been made.

The conspiracy to release the mass-murderer before he has served his jail term shows the full range of the immoral stance by a government that from the day of Gordon Brown's premiership has lacked the support of the majority of people (currently Labour's support is 22%).

The false use of 'compassion' amounts to sympathy for the thugs in the world, whether they are Arab terrorists, British bank robbers or mass-murderers of the IRA. In all these instances the Brown regime - Jack Straw instigating - has obstructed justice, betrayed British interests and defied the will of the people. On a BBC website, 93% of comments expressed outrage, dismay and revulsion over the Labour regime's negotiations with Muammar Gadhafi which apparently has lead to the decision to release the Lockerbie bomber early.

For the civilized part of the world, boycotting British goods and hurting British interests seem to be a logical backlash of the London regime running wild. The argument to hurt Britain is compounded by the fact that Parliament is silent: not even the opposition Tories lift a finger to demand the enforcement of law and sentencing. After the scandal of fleecing the nation of benefits they did not deserve and the pledge of more transparence, Britain's parliamentarians still don't get it.

Is there anyone out there who supports the result from talks between Brown and the Libyan desert rat? For Guy Fawke's sake, something should be done about the Scots in government.

UPDATE
Since then the convicted mass-murderer has returned to Libya, on a plane sent for by the Libyan strongman Gadhafi, and welcomed by thousands of flag-waving Libyans who provided the feared hero's welcome.

The despicable fact about the Scots is: no matter what decision they took, it was a no-win situation they had boxed themselves in. The release on "compassionate grounds" is not credible nor viable. A man convicted of the murder of 270 people cannot - must not - be able to invoke anyone's compassion and no vicilized government's reprieve.

Which leads to the far more convincing reason for the man's early release: the man is innocent, and the Scottish (and British) governments know it and reversed a ferocious injustice done by a Scottish court 8 years ago. That, however, only compounds the indignant monstrosity of actions taken by Scots; government and courts alike. Scotland has reduced itself to the level of a lawless 3rd world country like Uganda, Congo and Mauretania.

Je suis à Monaco ce week-end

I am in Monaco this weekend

Trip to South Africa

I travelled to South Africa recently (July 20- Aug 9) and visited Cape Town, Durban, the Wine Country around Stellenbosch, the Cape, Namibia and Johannesburg.

Travel logs and pictures will follow...