calvisson-leblon

  Sadly, the night of December 31 was the low point of an otherwise very pleasant trip to Oman.  In a fluke, I decided to travel to the sunny sultanate to avoid hardships in France: transport strikes and energy shortages were predicted during the holidays.  Strikes there were but I managed to avoid them and the weather was far too warm to force power outages. Oman is about eight hours from Paris and the day flight over Anatolia was mesmerizing: Barren valleys and snowcapped mountains, the rugged sea coastline of the Black Sea.  We flew near the snowcapped Süphan Volcano and Lake Van.  What was equally fascinating was the dense air traffic.  In one hour, I counted 12 planes flying at different levels.  The war in Ukraine has forced many airlines to divert flights and use the Turkish airspace: President Erdoḡan is ripping a nice profit from these overflight fees.                           ...

Bargaining a taxi fare.                                                                                                                               Sharing a turkey meal with a homeless man.                                                                                    Petting a dog at the opera, and using a gender neutral toilet.  My luck! When in New York, the city was officially named the most expensive city in the world.  Even if tied with Singapo...

A Carnival of fake news! I landed in Rio de Janeiro on the eve of the first round of the presidential elections.   Jair Bolsonaro, the right-wing president lost to come-back kid Luiz Ign á cio Lula da Silva.   The incumbent had about six million votes less than Lula; but it was not the rout the polls had predicted.   This result made Brazilians either anxious or elated depending on one’s politics.    I was behind with my blogging and eager to write something, but the tense and poisonous situation worked as a creative block.   One month later inspiration returned:   Lula had won the runoff, but barely.   Alleluia all the same: Bolsonaro had been ousted.   Between the Bad and the Ugly, the Bad had won!   For the Good, Brazilians will have to wait a bit longer.   In Brazil (as in the United States) presidential elections take place every four years.   Until now, they played more like a soccer game with passionate fans and sp...

  Part I The roasting started early June when the first heat wave hit France.   We humans were being baked with average daily temperatures above 35 ⁰ C (95 ⁰ F), and commonly in the 40s during the afternoons.   To add insult to injury, not a drop of rain. This hellish situation is the new normal along the rim of the Mediterranean Sea.   Nimes, the capital of our county ( department in French bureaucracy) has earned the unsavory title of France’s hottest city: 60 days above 30 ⁰ . This is actually inaccurate: temperatures were above 35 ⁰ ! Consequently, wildfires were ravaging entire regions and water is so scarce that it is being rationed in many villages.   Blame global warming, climate change, people’s green gas emissions, run away and profligate consumption in industrialized countries, etc.., and you get this beastly cocktail which makes life in Provence feeling no longer Proven ç ale.   Even the Cicadae, the true symbol of Provence, were too stres...

By heroically defending themselves against the savage aggression of Russia, Ukrainians have earned the western world's admiration.  As a true servant of the people , Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, has galvanized his people and his bravery (and bravado) have won the esteem of us jaded Westerners.   It is a significant change of perception, as Ukraine started from a low bar, the country was known for its entrenched corruption.  According to Transparency International's 2021 Corruption Perception Index, a scale of least to most corrupt nations, Ukraine ranked 122nd out of 180 countries.  Incidentally, at 136, Russia is Europe's most corrupt country.  To quote the Scriptures, Ukrainians redeem themselves by blood.  Ukraine's bravery has convinced the leaders of the so-called free world to support its fight, by among other things, sending weapons and helping refugees.   The desperate but orderly exodus of whole families from their war-torn c...

Usually, I avoid Carnival by travelling somewhere else in Latin America.   In 2021, due to the Covid pandemic I could not travel and did not need to as Carnival was cancelled.   This year, the Carnival revelries were postponed by two months and Covid disruptions in France delayed the delivery of my new French passport.   Without a valid passport, I could not leave Brazil.   Our differed Carnival (April) was not as disruptive as usual, principally because the wild street Carnival groups had been moved to Rio’s empty downtown.   Autumn is usually less rainy than summer and the 2022 Carnival was dry.   The gallons of beer guzzled by the revelers ended splashed in the streets in the form of urine and there was no rain to wash it off.   The city stench was abominable.   I made the decision to leave in search of a more pleasant-smelling location. On a fluke, I chose the Amazon jungle.   I did not choose the forest solely for its sweet scent of hu...

  I was finishing Hilary Mantel’s Thomas Cromwell trilogy when my Google algorithm brought to my attention that one more film on Henry VIII’s wives was in the works.   If my calculation is correct, it will be the twenty-eighth film centering on the Tudors and by association the Scottish Stuarts.   It is worth mentioning that one of the earliest silent movies (1895) was The Execution of Mary Stuart .   The new Tudor film is a thriller titled Firebrand . It focuses on the survival skills of Catherine Parr, the bluebeard king’s sixth wife and widow.   I keep wondering: Has something new and titillating been uncovered to justify making another film on the Tudors?   As in previous films, famous actors will lend their talents to the central characters: Jude Law will play the aging king and Alicia Vikander his cool young wife.                                       ...