Weighty Issues.

Rang in the New Year overweight, as always, and, as always, Sad.  That was the main impetus for Dry January.  Well, that, and the fact that, if I shed problems like onion skins, I'd get to the root of Things.

Don't know that that's what's happening, but do know that not drinking alcohol leads to wanting to cut back on caffeine, which leads to a whole bunch of other things.

In one of my stronger, more inspired moments of late, opened a box containing a journal dating back from 2012, where I found myself 20 lbs lighter than I am now ... Fretting about how I needed to lose 10 lbs.

I've always been chunky.  I probably always will be.  Doesn't mean that I'm not healthy or athletic; just means that I am Bigger than what current aesthetics dictate.

Let's us not worry so much about weight / being thin, and worry more about the body chemistry issues.  Cholesterol is fine, but could be better.  Blood sugar is fine.  Blood pressure is only high when I stress out over going to get it checked.

This is me back in 2009 - same as in 2012, when I was all upset over things.  2018 me *loves* this portrait of me, chunky as I may be.

Unsustainable.

I'm guessing that an awful lot of 'true believers' in the neighborhood who hired landscapers to put food gardens in their lawns just couldn't keep up with the actual work it takes to grow food, given the number of such dilapidated beds I see on my daily walks. What kills me is, not so much the wasted work, but the wasted produce. Would consider gleaning the knocked-down unripe tomatoes for pickles, the squash, the haricots périmés, but I live in HLS territory and I don't want to have trespassing problems on my record*. Also don't know what the hired folks used as fertilizer. Then there's the problem of stuff being bitten into by potentially sick animals.

Such a waste.

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* Made my voting choices public when I was younger and stupider. Was swiftly and loudly denounced as a "Republican" by a career Leftist in Europe in a country where the label "Republican" can deny you entry (interestingly enough, is one European country where I actually do business, to add insult to injury). Now, sorry for the TMI, but I'm what's known as an Independent in the US - no such thing in Europe - I vote as I see fit, based on actually looking at the particulars (In financial/technology terms, it's called "drilling down"- essentially, you question the 'global,' then research the details that compose that view.) Not based on Party Loyalty or If It Feels Good. Unfortunately, an awful lot of Credentialed, but maybe not so emotionally mature folks think that this is threatening. I have to be careful of this now. This strikes me as paranoia and I really don't like this. Have enough hormone problems as it stands.

Some Dead Guy once said that, while America was always sliding into Fascism, Europe generally ended there.

Oh Dear.



Don't know if I should be laughing or be crouched in a corner rocking myself calm after this.

And now, the Frenchie's Tuesday ticket has magically transformed into one for Sunday next week. Amazing how that happens.

For him, it's been fairly easy, though disappointing: he's just been cooling his heels at home. I feel terrible for all the other folks trapped Heaven Knows Where depleting their bank accounts in Limbo.

Makes this news seem all the more Onion-esque.

The Frenchie's got a ticket for Tuesday, but is looking desperately for alternative airports. Taking a train to Madrid is actually starting to sound good, actually.

(sigh)

Well, no flights out of northern Europe until probably tomorrow now. The Frenchie, who was supposed arrive here this afternoon, managed to get a flight for next Tuesday. Given how the cloud's moving and how, organizationally speaking, stuff is in chaos, I have serious doubts on his getting here next week (or at all).

Given that things could be much, much worse*, I really shouldn't be so sad or disappointed. Still, am.

Hopefully he'll get a nice sunset or two out of this all.

***

* We were actually talking about the last time volcano ash affected an airplane, maybe 20 some odd years ago. The Frenchie said that, at least he's home and not 12 km in the air with all engines failing.

Well, so much for the vote. Guess will just have to keep up my conscientious objector status.

It's honestly too bad; a good bunch of us are here precisely because our ancestors moved away from third rate governments that didn't listen to the citizenry. What next?

Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors.

Pattern Recognition.

(As have been saying for the past couple years, the above is the across the Atlantic version of the mess The Great Unwashed voted in here.)

This is amazing.

Interesting to think about, too, that not too far away, regardless of the EU statutes, they'd likely be "suicides" during their period of "protective custody."

Once seen, cannot be unseen.

In Flanders Fields.

Pet Shop Boys -Always on my mind
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My love to my dad, my uncle, my brother. To the folks who came Here to avoid fighting horrible wars There.

Personal opinion here:

Am wondering if Airbus Air France won't be in a heap of trouble (not to mention France itself, given that they're major shareholders of these entreprises), given what I've been reading. (Major media silence in France up till now.) Bad, bad news.

***

Good commentary here from someone who knows way more about airplanes than I do (thanks, Dad).

***

Air France pilots are considering refusing to fly the A330s and A340s that haven't had the instruments in question upgraded, according to Le Monde.

Have been going on about the //s between the French unvetted, underqualified, hyper mediatized president and ours for some time. Things continue here like they are over there (will get into that later), we're going to start seeing stuff like this, I'm afraid.

My tax dollars went to France and all I got was this lousy pocket calendar.





Wonder how much Kerviel's bosses got?

The Curse of the Hope.

It took some time, but eventually even Harry Winston got his own.

Althouse linked today to an article on the decline of the cafe in France.

It's interesting in a couple senses, as firstly, this is exactly the sort of anti-anti smoking puff piece one found in all the French papers around the first of January last year (when the ban took effect)*. Also, there is no mention of just how high prices are in a lot of cafes and just what one's getting when one decides to patronize one.

Way before the current financial crisis, prices were rising like crazy all over Europe, the first big jump being when currencies switched to the Euro (In Paris, for example, one would see things happen like a coffee going from, say, four francs to now two-two and a half euro - keep in mind that the fixed rate of exchange is +-6.2 francs/euro.).

While this was going on, many cafe and brasserie owners started serious corner-cutting on what they were serving. A lot of this occurred in the area of service and what one was being served. It was considered, for example, a better money-maker to serve bottled juice rather than fresh-squeezed at the same price. Meals, also, tended to be ordered pre-made from central (industrial, as the French call them) kitchens. Teas or tisanes? Often whatever came in the bulk order from the fournisseur one normally used (not very good. In fact, store brand from France's Target - Monoprix is of much better quality, and one can buy a box of 20 bags for about the same price as one cup of the bad cafe stuff). In the end, cafe or brasserie-going had become analogous to paying chop house prices for TGIF fare.

Now, this isn't always the case. One can still find the old-styled cafe bars/brasseries if one asks around. There are also many newer cafe-brasserie owners who are reviving the old business model of actually working harder for their money. Complain as some might about being the victims of 'nanny state*' legislation and a bad economy, there is also a fair bit of market correction going on as well.

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* Would be interesting to see some data on the economic impact of this ban on cafes and bars. My impression, for what it's worth, is that many places are doing just fine, if not better, as many have expanded their terrain to the sidewalks. Technically the smoking areas are outside, as they're not in the building itself. However, I've seen some rather lavish tent-setups. The norm is a few tables under an awning with heat lamps being optional.

** Conventional wisdom dictates that the French are more sophisticated (whatever that means) than Americans regarding alcohol consumption, however, drunk driving has always been a serious problem. Hard drinking by younger people has also become a big issue - perhaps due exposure to much heavier drinkers across the Channel? I'm not really sure, though I have heard of informal bans and bar closings during soccer matches when British teams are playing on French soil. Would be interesting to see some more information regarding this.

As the Obama campaign's been behaving similarly to Sarkozy's in France last year, figured it might not be a bad thing to revisit this bit I translated on psyching out the electorate with polls.

Under the Pyramid.



Who'd have thought that Pei's design was not more than a great glass anthill in the heart of the Louvre?