Wednesday, December 21, 2005

House rules

I am still experimenting blog-wise. I'm also having some difficulties with the layout as the right side of my page keeps sliding down instead of remaining on top next to the most recent posted message. But those minor bugs won't deter my initiative.

I mentioned in an earlier message that the idea of the blog came to me when I decided to share pictures with old friends from my school days. This I will start doing today. But beyond the photographs, this blog will also feature some of my points of interest. These - in no particular - order include:


  • travel
  • music: jazz in particular, but also blues, classical music, some forms of world music, French singers/poets such as Brassens, Barbara, Reggiani, Ferré, and Brel (the latter being Belgian...)
  • history
  • wine tasting
  • comic books (first and foremost Hergé/Tintin, but also a few other Belgian writers/artists such as Jacobs, Shuitten and Peeters)
  • sports cars old and new
  • design
  • advertising
  • literature (both french and english)
  • cinema
  • tennis
  • lanscaping
  • and whatever new discoveries I make

And now some house rules I'd like to share with you:

  • I will not post my e-mail on this site - I get my fair share of junk mail already. My potential readers are friends - they know how to reach me.
  • I will write in both english and french.
  • I will not mention anybody's full name, but will use either the first or family name. Those who know the people I'm writing about will recognize them anyway. The others don't have to know.
  • I will not publish jokes.
  • I won't necessarily write evey day. In fact, I'm sure I won't.
  • If my friends get too bored reading me, it's because they're not sending me their own stories, news and pictures to publish.

Below, is the first of the series of pictures which started this blog project. The photograph was taken in May 1955.

The teacher was Mr. Ramzi. We're about six years old and many of the fellows in the picture attended this school till they went to university. The school is called "Collège de la Salle" and when time permits, I never miss an opportunity to visit its large grounds and chapel whenever I go to Cairo.

Fifty years later, I still see occasionally some of the guys in the picture: Awad, Habib, Malouf, Eid, Hajjar and Saada. My 50 classmates now live in no less than 12 different countries and probably less than a quarter of them are still living in Cairo. By the way, I'm at the extreme right of the top row. Here's a close-up...

Monday, December 19, 2005

Le matin des Cantons

C'est une région du Québec que j'affectionne particulièrement. Depuis vingt ans que je roule régulièrement sur la "10" - l'Autoroute des Cantons de l'Est - pour me rendre à notre maison de campagne, je ne me lasse jamais d'admirer la beauté du paysage quelque soit la saison. Ce matin, parti de Montréal avant sept heures, j'eus droit à un superbe lever de soleil hivernal.
Sur la route, peu d'autos. La neige tombée abondament ces derniers jours commence à fondre et donne au bitume un brillant irréel. En quittant l'autoroute, je traverse de petits villages familiers qui se réveillent tranquillement.

Les ouvriers de la construction et les fermiers matinaux sont déjà attablés "Chez Guy" et sirotent leur premier café accompagnant les oeufs au bacon. Je commande mon café et me met au courant des dernières nouvelles: la jument de Peter a mis bas, le tracteur de MacKenzie a glissé dans le fossé et l'équipe des ouvriers embauchés pour la construction du nouveau développement immobilier dans la montagne, n'aime pas du tout son nouveau contremaitre. Enrichi de tant d'informations, je salue les gars et reprend la route. Devant la ferme MacKenzie, le tracteur a déjà été retiré du fossé et tout semble être rentré dans l'ordre. Les pieds de vigne sur le chemin Brome ont été couverts de jutte pour les protéger du froid. La témérité des vignerons du Québec commence à porter fruits et le "Côteau des Cantons" cuvée 2004 est passablement buvable. Admirable, pour mon pays de six mois de neige (plutôt cinq)avec une tradition vinicole de moins de quinze ans. Le Lac Brome est gelé mais la couche de glace est encore mince. Il faudra attendre Février pour voir les camionnettes des pécheurs s'y promener à la recherche du meilleur coin ou ils iront taquiner l'achigan.
Sur la montée de Tibbits Hill, je roule au pas pour éviter les chevreuils nombreux par ici.
C'est sur cette colline que je coule des jours tranquilles entre deux voyages à l'autre bout de la planète. La commune de Knowlton dont Tibbits Hill fait partie, m'offre une quiétude à nulle autre pareille.
À chacun son havre - le mien depuis vingt ans s'appele Les Cantons de l'Est.


Pour plus d'informations, cliquez:
www.cantonsdelest.com et
www.knowltonquebec.ca

Saturday, December 17, 2005

Cairo reunion, forty years after.


A couple of weeks ago, I was in Egypt on business. Sherif, a very dear friend since childhood, had the great idea of gathering a few school friends I hadn't seen for more than forty years. Cesare, one of the guys I was about to see, had built a solid career in hospitality management and was actually the Sales and Marketing Director for several hotels of a large international chain operating in Egypt. The other friends: Abouzeid, Debsia, Roushdy, Arakelian - as well as Sherif - were all successful engineers. Having been through similar experiences before, I was wondering whether any of them would recognize me. Above is how I looked like when I knew them and here's how I look today. I've changed a bit since...
Most importantly, I was apprehensive about the whole thing. Forty years later, what common interests could we have?
Cesare had organized the dinner at one of the hotels he managed. Obviously, the whole thing was quite emotional and at times, one could feel this strange mix of familiarity and ditance. Forty years is a long time, but all things considered, the reunion was a real success. Beyond up-dating each other on what happened in our lives and sharing hundreds of memories from our school days, it was obvious that our friendship had resisted the test of time.
I promised everybody that I will forward some old school photographs and copies from shool publications I had kept preciously. I've had the pictures scanned and decided to start this blog instead of forwarding the material individually.
Of course, now that the blog is officially launched, I'll add other stories and pictures, recount my numerous travels and use it to keep in touch with friends...Clearly, the more those friends keep me abreast of their own stories, the richer this blog will get. So I'm really counting on my readers to forward their own news, pictures and stories to build a broader community. And we'll see how this goes...

Friday, December 16, 2005

Welcome aboard!

Aujourd'hui, alors qu'une sérieuse tempête de neige paralyse Montréal, un nouveau blog est né. Oui, bien sûr, ce n'est qu'un autre qui à son tour devra se battre pour sa survie, menacé dès sa naissance par les pires des dangers: la proverbiale tendance de son auteur à différer tout ce qui peut attendre (j'aime mieux "procrastinate" en anglais) et l'apathie potentielle de ses lecteurs.
L'affaire a d'ailleurs démarré d'une manière plutôt cahoteuse. Convaincu d'avoir été le premier à trouver ce brillant jeu de mots, je m'empressai de nommer mon blog "blogapart", pour découvrir avec effroi que la subtile appelation était déjà partagée avec plus de 4000 internautes!


C'est donc avec beaucoup d'humilité que j'opte pour un blog à mon nom, certainement moins créatif comme titre, mais avec plus de chance d'exclusivité. Quoique...