Day 58: Identity

Vegan Evening Meal:

• Lagavulin avec glaçon
• Carpaccio de betterave (option fromage de chevre)
• Falafel avec salade verte avec tomates, concombres, et oignons verts
• Chocolat noir Fauchon

As you can see from the above we had some guests this evening. One of Fianna's oldest friends from high school in the US who happens to be Vegan and Jewish (no link ... I think).  As often happens when confronted with different life choices our conversation took a philosophical turn around specific attitudes to religion in France or the US.  As I have already addressed the question of Religion in a previous blog (# 43), I thought I would say a few words about identity.  It seems that politics nowadays are increasingly about who we are rather than what we think, believe or discuss.  How does democracy and rational decision making work if at the end of day you believe that your ideas and beliefs are who you are.  I think we need to clarify things, Identity is not a useful or helpful concept other than being a convenient way to tell whether your asking Jack or Jill to pass you the salt.  The most interesting thing is that when people refer to the age of identity politics they seem to be referring to the opposite phenomenon.  Identity politics are actually group politics, groups of people define themselves as having a common identity which is usually in opposition to other groups.  Isn't the whole point of Identity, its uniqueness?  And uniqueness is something that every single human being is born with, in that sense we are all truly born equally unique, and whatever we do we cannot change that fact.

PS: Welcome back to Europe for Sasha and 2 points for having shared my fast yesterday.

Day 57: Pets

I'm allergic to cats and yet for close 20 of the last 25 years I have had to share my space with a feline.  Don't get me wrong I don't have a problem with dogs or cats as long as they live in the countryside where they can lead healthy productive lives killing mice and herding sheep.  But I cannot understand why people insist on having pets in cities.  If you have a cat in an apartment (especially if he is neurotic like Mishka), you've basically transformed your home into a maximum security prison. The cat can't go out and just needs to be fed at regular intervals, while occasionally trying to dash out the door when you leave it open.  If you have a dog it's even worse since on top of all that you have to also take it for a walk 2x a day and pick up its sh*t.  On top of all that whenever you go away for a few days you have to transfer your prisoner to some other secure facility (our cleaning lady's apartment in our case).  This is one area where I believe the electronic revolution cannot happen fast enough.  In cities and towns we should move from live pets to robot pets, surely that is not a technological problem at this stage.  I can only see benefits:

1. No risk of allergies
2. Much cheaper to maintain
3. Clean 
4. Programmable (Friendly, Loving, Erratic, Aggressive, Quiet, Loud, Neurotic, etc)
5. Changeable (Move from dog to cat by just changing the head for example)
6. Useful (Could easily be made to carry shopping or guard the house)
7. Remotely activated (to check on what your child is doing in the afternoon at home alone)

Today was a fasting day!

 

Day 56: Immigration

There was a totally ridiculous story in the news recently. A gentleman from Mali who had "forgotten" to obtain the right paperwork to stay in France, happened to save a child by climbing 4 stories of a building,  Thanks to his heroic deed he has been received by president Macron, promised adequate paperwork and given a job in the fire brigade.  Although I'm delighted that this particular person will receive adequate paperwork I do feel that if every potential migrant has to be personally interviewed by Macron the system may not be sustainable. 

I cannot understand why people should be required to have special papers to be able to work.  Surely if you manage to get here and you find someone who will hire you, that should be enough.  What is the moral justification for refusing to let people make a living ?  Is it acceptable that you are allowed to get a job in Marseilles if you were born in Lille which is 1,000 Km away but not if you were born in Algiers which is only 750km away ?  What exactly is the benefit of this system?  I'm pretty sure there is absolutely no evidence of a link between immigration and unemployment if anything its the opposite the higher the level of immigration the lower the unemployment level.

Since we don't have Military Service anymore I suggest we install an Immigration Service. In order to benefit from French Nationality you need to have spent at least 2 years working abroad.  in 1789 France published the Declaration of Universal Human Rights not of French Human Rights. If we say they are universal surely at a minimum anybody who happens to be in France should Benefit?  It seems to me that passport discrimination is as bad as religious or race discrimination and has not better ethical justification.

Day 55: Smoking

Today was a fasting day.  I sat and watched Fianna, Theo and Eliot eat their apparently delicious evening meal while drinking Badoit. 

I then called Louis (Its always Parents who call - see blog #32) to see how he is doing in his job hunting.  No, don't worry, this blog is not about youth unemployment!  At the end of our skype conversation I saw that Louis was preparing to go for a smoke, which is what I will talk about (1 point to Louis for giving me a subject).  Actually I don't have much to say about actual smoking, we all know it's not particularly healthy, it makes your breath and clothes smell and it costs you the hard earned cash your parents give you every month...But for some reason it feels cool (especially when you're young).  Having smoked myself for 10 years I do remember that I enjoyed holding a cigarette, blowing smoke and generally feeling like Clint Eastwood in the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.  But, what I don't understand is young people who now smoke electronics.  I thought youth electronic problems had to do with screens and smartphones (subject for a future blog), but it seems I'm wrong.  I was reading about Juuling, which is the latest youth fad, its an e-cigarette that looks like a long flat USB key.  So it's still unhealthy (just a bit less), it still costs money, it still smells of some strange flavour and .. it makes you look like a computer!  What is the point of that?      

Day 54: Meals

Sunday Night (Solo) Menu:

• Cote de boeuf saignante
• Salade verte
• Carreau de chocolat 85%

I had dinner by myself tonight. Theo was not hungry, Eliot only wanted steak if ti came with potatoes so would rather have nothing and Fianna who was going to share my salad was not ready to come to the table when I was.  Aside from the particular foibles of the family this Sunday night it does pose the question of what should the expectations be around dinner time when people live together ?  As far as I can tell there are a number of options:

1. Everybody is in the kitchen and contributing throughout, from laying the table to clearing everything away 
2. Everybody has to sit down together for the actual meal but preparation and clearing up is carried out by specific "volunteers"
3. Everyone sits down to the meal together but people leave as soon as they have finished in order to get back to important things like films and video games
4. Different people have different tastes and hunger levels so everyone just eats whatever they want whenever they want
5. TV was invented to allow people to have dinner together, so use it!

On my fasting days I still sit down to dinner with the rest of the family and drink some water so you can guess where I stand on this issue.  

Day 52: Noise

Menu:

• Whisky Balvenie 12 ans d'age
• Risotto aux fruits de mer
• Chocolat noir 85% a l'orange

Yesterday I came home quite late from Brussels. It was a hot evening and we had the windows open.  Despite being on the Fourth floor of our building we could hear a lot of noise coming from the bar across the street.  They were having quite a party spilling onto the side walk with music, laughing and loud conversation.   So how does that work?  I enjoy a party myself and I would feel strange telling people they have to stop enjoying themselves and go home.  At the same time I have to get up early the next day and go to work.  So what is the solution (apart from moving to an isolated house in the countryside). How does one compromise on this kind of issue?   I guess you just have to accept that this is part of living in a big city.  There are advantages (not sure what they are) and inconveniences (pretty clear).  Actually, maybe the best thing would be to segregate living arrangements by age:

• Big cities: 18 - 30 Year olds (Exciting party time)
• Provincial cities: 30 - 50 year olds (so the children can enjoy the freedom)
• Small towns: 50 - 70 (So you don't have to put up with the noise and stress)
• Isolated house: 70+  (You just want to enjoy the views and the quiet)

I think I'm ready to become an early adopter of the Isolated house stage... but this is the problem  with having a young(er)  beautiful wife you have to take her wishes into account.  So maybe in 15 years!

Day 51: Train

I had to go to Bruxelles for a business meeting today.  I took the Thalys which is a fast train (300km/h)  which means it took me 1h20 mins not even enough time to watch a film.  I must say I'm a big fan of the train.  It's fast, it goes from city to city, it doesn't leave you stranded miles from the centre, it doesn't pollute, its comfortable, quiet, safe, nobody has to drive, you see the countryside going past and you can get up and stretch your legs from time to time.  I understand that for very long distances (over 2,000km) planes make more sense and that for short distances (less than 100km) cars are more convenient. But if we were being rational we would stop building motorways (actually I would suggest closing them down) and increase our investment in trains and shared cars.  If it was up to me I would only use trains for medium to long distances with a rental car/scooter/bike (preferably electric) at both ends.  This system would save 90 billion car kms per year in France alone.

Maybe we should give people a choice:  you can take hot showers or you can use motorways, but you can't do both! 

Day 50: Ranking

My nephew has been accepted at the 2 universities that he applied to for his Master's in Economics.  He was asking Fianna which one he should go to and one of the first criteria people think of when assessing universities is: "How are they ranked ?"  Is that really a meaningful question? The short answer is no!  The purpose of universities is twofold:

1. to educate students
2. to advance human knowledge through research

I don't think rankings have anything to do with either of these two outcomes.  Rankings are highly subjective and very much self reinforcing, they are also counterproductive.   The main purpose of the University ranking system seems to be to ensure the reproduction of the existing elites.  The top ranked universities have a disproportionate amount of students from privileged backgrounds. And the students from these universities can command better jobs and better salaries thanks to that school "branding".  I would argue that elite education and university rankings have replaced titles as a marker of social positioning.  If you go to Harvard, Oxford or Polytechnique you are the equivalent of a Duke.  If you go to University of Florida, Sussex or Strasbourg  you are the equivalent of a Count. If you go to a non ranked university you are a Knight and finally if you don't go to university you are effectively a serf.

As you may have gathered from my earlier blog posts I have a certain hostility to privilege of any kind.  So I would like all university rankings abolished. Instead, since we are in the Internet era, let us have a social media version of the ranking system like on AirBnB or BlaBlaCar.  Students would give universities a ranking from 1 to 5 stars which would reflect their learning experience. The resulting assessments would be useful to students as one criteria amongst many to decide on where to go to university but would probably be irrelevant to recruiters. 

So my advice to my nephew is choose the one which has the most interesting programme, the most diverse student body, the best environment and most important ... The best food. (Today was a fasting day!)

Day 49 : Boss

Recently I have been having issues with my boss who happens to be the CEO of the company I work for.  Aside from the fact that she is inconsistent, obtuse and long winded the main problem I have is that she is absolutely incapable of accepting any form of dissent whether from me or others.   It seems to me that the concept of a "boss" is probably outdated.  I think organisations whether public or private could be better managed through a partnership or committee structure.  I've mentioned before the fact that I don't believe we need a Head of State, I think we could extend that to Prime Minister, Mayor, CEO or  any other Executive Function.  Isn't there a saying that two heads are better than one ?  If that is true why would we ever delegate decision making to a single person?  Aside from the fact that I think confrontation of multiple points of view should result in better decisions, I also believe it would be easier to question the decisions of a group rather than an individual.  An individual can easily take things personally and will refuse to admit being wrong while a group is by definition more fluid. Different people take different positions or sides at different times.

So here is another step in my journey to the communal utopia.  Just before Theo and Eliot get any ideas I am quite clear that there should be an age limit before this communal decision making  is implemented. So no ice creams everyday for desert and no upgrading to the latest smartphone every 6 months! 

Day 48: Inheritance

Today was a fasting day, which I stuck to despite Fianna trying to lead me into temptation with a smoked salmon brunch.

As some of you may know I am fundamentally opposed to the concept of inheritance. I don't understand why in the revolution of 1789 the French abolished inherited titles but left in place the inheritance of material goods, surely these are just as unfair and conducive to inequality ? Up to now I wasn't sure what might be a good system to replace it.  Following conversations with my Dad and my Nephew over the weekend I believe I have an ideal system which should suit everybody (well maybe not quite everybody).

All inheritance (except between spouses) would be taxed at 100% the money and assets would be put into a Common Inheritance Fund (CIF).  Then every year all citizens who have their 25th, 30th or 35th birthday would receive an amount of 50,000€.  This mean that all citizens would receive an inheritance of 150,000€ over important years when starting out in life.  For those of you who are sceptical I have done the maths and the result would be that after the distribution to the 25,30 & 35 year olds there would be around €100 Billion left to put in the CIF.  The CIF could then be used to help low income retirees or to invest in environmental projects (isn't that the best inheritance you can leave your children and grandchildren?) for the whole nation.

The benefits of this system are too numerous to mention (but I'll try anyway):

• Creation of a real sense of solidarity between generations and between "classes"
• Reduction of envy for the rich since the richer someone becomes the more all grand-children (including yours) will benefit
• Unleashing of the creative potential of the young
• Investment in the environment
• Increase in spending in the economy  (1,000 people with 50,000€ each spend a lot more than 1 person with €50 Million
• Real progress towards equality of opportunity

The negative aspects: 

• None

In order to get this from concept to reality I am calling for all ideas (other than posting it on Facebook
and liking it).  

Day 47: Cathedral

Today I had a great experience as part of my sister's birthday celebrations.  At 10:30 am we met up with Jean-Jacques who has spent over 30 years observing and interpreting Strasbourg Cathedral.  He spent 5 hours (I had to leave early for Paris but I could have spent a few days) sharing his observations and passions with and it was quite astonishing.  The details, hidden meanings and signs which he uncovered for us in the statues, gargoyles, symbols and features of the outside of the cathedral was quite stunning.  What I found particularly interesting was that a lot of these signs and representations were perceived as threats by the religious authorities and either written off as "mistakes" or actively suppressed.  It would seem that the Cathedral was not just as religious exercise but actually a wider more esoteric project which aimed to explain the universe with or without divinity.

I find it reassuring that these massive symbols of religion in the heart of our European cities can also be seen as symbols of subversiveness and rejection of authority.

Dinner

• Pintades fourrées aux kiwi (merci Fianna)
• Asperges vertes
• Riz à l'huile de coco
• Salade verte
• Tartes aux myrtilles (merci Eliot) et glace à la vanille

Day 46: Dance

When I was around 14-15 years old I went to my first boum (party) as I lived in France at the time there was three way you could dance: the jerk which was everybody just doing their own thing by themselves, the slow, which involved hugging a girl and moving shuffling around and the rock which was what the cool guys did.  Very few guys knew how to dance the rock and so they were in high demand.  After my party I came home and asked my mum if she could teach me the rock which she did and I must say that was one of the many great things she did for me.

The reason I mention this is that I was at my Sister's birthday party this evening and of course there was music and dancing.  Nowadays (and for a long time now) I find most of the dancing is what would have been classified as jerk back when I was a teenager.  Of course that now covers a wide variety of dancing and some people do dance together or at least coordinate their movements, But in the main dancing is an individual thing.  I understand that letting people express themselves is healthy and democratic, not having set dance moves means that anybody can dance and there is no judgement involved against some kind of standard. However I do miss the Rock and roll moves and the fact that you were dancing with someone rather than in front of someone.  I guess I'm guilty of nostalgia.  If it was up to me we would go back to Rock n  Roll at parties and I'd even be happy to add some "new" dances such as Salasa, Tango, Fox trot, Twist or Charleston.

Evening Dinner Party

• Tarte à la tomate et salades vertes
• Assortiments de jambons
• Asperges blanches et mayonnaise faite maison (merci papa)
• Assortiments de fromages
• Gateau au chocolat maison (merci maman)
• Gateau au Fraises
• Salade de Fruits

Day 45: Sister

My Dad arrived in Paris from Portugal today.  Tomorrow he is going to Strasbourg for my sister's birthday party.  He is using blablacar... probably inspired by my blog #20.  I am using the SNCF on one of those rare days they are not striking (see blog #19) so will get there in the afternoon.

Following a shamanic experience inspired by my daughter, my dad is not eating porc (no idea why) and avoiding alcohol.  So today's dinner was :

• Whisky écossais (double dose pour compenser papa)
• Filet de bar aux tomates et poivrons
• Riz basmati
• Haricots verts à l'étuvé
• Moshi au thé vert

I was going to mention cheese, but then realised I would get in trouble with my mother for having 2 proteins in one meal.   So no cheese... Promise!

My (little) sister reached (on the 16th of May)  one of those big birthdays with a 0 on the end. I won't mention the first figure as I'm actually older than her and I don't want my younger readers to realise how old and disconnected I am from their concerns (i.e.: how to make the best selfie, what will my FB friends think of my latest post and what's the coolest series on Netflix)  .  For all you parents struggling out there with the fact that your children seem to hate each other I want to reassure  you : In spite of the fact that my sister was extremely annoying when she was younger, now that she can ski properly, play passable tennis and can help me with my back problems I am very happy to be with her to welcome her into the next half century (ooops!).

Day 44: Article 13

Considering my last 2 blog subjects I consider it a personal affront that Eliot got a 20 out of 20 for singing God save the Queen in his music class today (but I'm happy for him that he did well).

Talking of Eliot, he was invited to attend his "cousin's" birthday this weekend in Switzerland.  However he can't go because it would entail crossing a border.  Surely this concept is one of the most useless and damaging concepts ever invented.  Eliot can travel by himself for 500km but he can't do 1 km across a border because somebody drew a line on a map. I think that if I had to choose which one had to go first between royalty, religion and frontiers I would definitely choose the latter of these.   How can anyone justify the existence of borders ? Even if there was a reason to have borders why should they have such diverse land masses from the Vatican to Russia ?  Actually I find the Vatican's borders exactly the kind I could live with: they only exist on a map., there are no border guards, customs official, or barriers.  Who ever first came up with the concept of a passport must have had a strange and twisted mind.  Why would you need a piece of paper to travel?  We need to amend the universal declaration of human rights, if indeed men and women are born equal than how is it acceptable to restrict their freedom of movement?

Actually my mistake the declaration of human rights says :

Article 13. 

(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
(2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.

What I find interesting is that you have the right to leave and return to your country but you do not have the right go to another country (I'm not sure how that makes sense).

Let's start a petition to modify article 13. I suggest the following:

Article 13. 

Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence anywhere in the world.

Day 43: Religion

Today was a fasting day which I maintained despite being invited to lunch by a client and to dinner by a colleague! I'm ready for the working breakfast I have booked for tomorrow.

Recent events around the world and in particular in Israel have brought religion to the fore.  In addition my dad mentions it in his blog today (which allows me to do some sterobloggin: Dedalus), so I thought this would be a good time to chip in my 2 cents worth.  Most people who know me, may have realised that not only am I a publicly declared atheist but I am also fundamentally opposed to all organised religion (I'm not sure there is another kind).  One of the most intriguing things to me is the total contradiction between the existence of god and the practise of religion.  Surely anybody should be able to see that the arbitrary and quite pointless rules on which most religions are founded are indications of humanity rather than divinity.

If there is god, it (not he or she)  is generally considered to be all knowing, all seeing and quite wise, so why on earth (or in heaven) would it request us to eat fish on a Friday, refrain from eating Oysters at all and eat only at night during a 40 day period ? Why would it expect us to refrain from deriving pleasure from our sexual activity ?

So the day all religions disappear from the world is the day I might start believing there is a god and my prayers have been answered.

As I had a long day, its late and Fianna is waiting for me to come to bed (well actually she's sleeping soundly) I will keep my further thoughts on this topic for another day.

Day 42: Royalty

Dinner

• Salade de poulet et foie de volailles avec tomates fraîches
• Yaourt de brebis avec bananes et myrtilles
• Chocolat Noir 80%

Tomorrow is a fasting day and a travel day as I am going to see a client in Rennes.

I often listen to BBC 4 Radio in the morning while doing my 4 mins of Plank (before my cold shower), and todat they were wittering about some minor crisis in the upcoming Royal Wedding in the UK.  I must say that I cannot understand why kings, queens, princes and princesses are still operating their racket (mainly in Europe actually). Royalty is the antithesis of democracy you become king or queen through birth neither merit, nor persuasion, nor leadership are involved.   What kind of message is that sending to people.  The highest office in the land (I'll get back to that) is inherited.  Is this the right approach to jobs?  After all if the Head of State can inherit the job why should this not extend to other professions?   Teachers, Policemen, Plumbers, Carpentars, Engineers, Doctors, Lawyers, Pilots, Football players or Judges? For all these professions you need to have demonstrated a minimum of training and aptitude.  So are we saying that Head of State is such a useless and undemanding job that anybody can do it, trained or not? If that is the case then I would suggest one of two possibilities:

1. Let's have a lottery for Head of State.  It could be once a Year for a 2 year term.  The first year being trained by the previous Head of State and the next year training your successor.  I'm sure this system would be guaranteed to make just as many headlines in the popular press and on TV shows as the current Royals.  The opportunities for comic relief and prurient interest would be endless.
2. We get rid of the whole concept of Head of State. Why do we need one? Isn't parliament sovereign in most democratic systems? If a law is passed by Parliament surely that should suffice?  We do not need the added signature of a person with no legitimacy other than two people with titles having had intercourse without contraception quite a long time ago.

Day 41: Theme

 I was reading the Guardian this morning and came across an article about a website called Patreon.  The principle of the site is that it allows creators such as musicians, filmmakers, journalists, comedians, photographers, podcasters, scientists and bloggers (see the link!) to get paid for their work.  Subscription to an artiste (don't things look more classy in French) is anything from 1 to 10€ per month,  90% of which goes to the creator.  So I'm thinking that after practising for free for 365 days I can then move my blog to Patreon and change careers.  Of course in order to build up an audience (wider than my immediate family) I may have to find a specific blog theme, rather than the current aimless amble through a variety of unrelated themes.  Possible themes that come to mind could include:

• Health & diet - I'm not sure how popular my proposals would be: taking cold showers and not eating.
• Raising children - Both my children have opted to live over 5,000 miles away from me so my advice may be called into question.
• Film critique - Not sure there are enough western aficionados left to make this a viable theme.
• Politics - I have a feeling my views would unite left and right against me rather than in my favour. From advocating total freedom of movement to abolition of all forms of inheritance and from the removal of all restrictions on hiring and firing while at same time proposing the instoration of universal basic income.
• Finance - I've certainly had both ups and downs on that score.
• Working - Although I have a pretty good record of finding jobs, I have not always been good at keeping them voluntarily or not.
• Love & Romance - I think that might be my best shot.  I have had long and short relationships.  I have been in love and out of love, requited and unrequited.  I have been married 2 (or 3) times. I have had one night stands.  I have tested internet dating, speed dating, dating friends, dating through friends, dating at work, infidelity, 0 to 18 years age difference,  a range of nationalities and professions. I have had a paper marriage and a challenging marriage and I now have a perfect marriage.  (I know who is reading this).

I have 324 days to think about it.  10 points to the reader who finds the most appropriate theme to my thinking and writing.

Today was a fasting day and my cold shower was 5 mins 5 seconds at 13.5° C. 

Day 40: Terrorism

Why is it that "terrorist" acts evoke much more fear and anxiety than "normal" acts of violence?  On my way home from my Uncle's farm back to Paris, a number of people sent Fianna and I messages asking if we were all right.  I was a bit puzzled until I found out that a man had wielded a knife and killed one passer by in an area that is about 15 mins away from my house in Paris!  I have a feeling that if it had been a standard act of violence people would have reacted differently.  For some reason attacking people for your ideas or religion is deemed to be more frightening than if it is for economic (theft) or emotional (passion) reasons.  I'm not sure using the Terrorism label is actually useful. I think it would be better to refer to an attack by deranged person or a lost soul.  If the reaction to terrorist attacks was sadness for the victims and pity for the attacker, the impact might be reduced.  Instead of being treated as a political and religious issue which requires state intervention and appropriate response, it would be discussed as a medical and psychological event.  Only doctors, psychologists, social workers, psychiatrists and therapists would get involved in the debate and comment on the individual's motivations.  I'm not sure there would be as many candidates for institutional acts of violence if they knew that their actions would be seen and analysed as a personal problem rather than a broader statement.  

Day 39: Family

This is the last evening of my family weekend. As I may have mentioned before, there is wide  variety of family links and nationalities between us all.  In addition our professional and life style choices are even more diverse (yoga teacher, management consultant, plumber, farmer, school teacher, aid worker, sports teacher, sculptor, weaver, international diplomat, musician, Alexander technique teacher, English teacher, theatre manager, entrepreneur, sheep shearer, music producer, machine salesman, IT Engineer, translator, psycho-analyst, PhD Student, speech therapist).

In spite of these differences it works just because we can all claim to be part of the same family in the widest possible sense of the term.  If you were to arbitrarily throw together 30 random people with an equivalent variety of backgrounds you would not expect it to work, at best people would form into cliques or politely ignore each other (if they happen to be English). And yet if you put a family label on the event everything becomes possible, tensions are smoothed over, disagreements are temporary, differences are interesting rather than threatening, opinions are to be shared rather than opposed, life choices are what they are, judgement is absent and acceptance is universal.  So how hard would it be to extend our concept of family to the whole world ? (I told you my objective is world peace)  If people can get on within their families which are definitely not chosen then why can't they get on with everybody else ?

It's possible that I have an exceptional family, but I prefer to think that its normal.  Either way I am extremely grateful to all you who are, could, or should be part of my family.

Day 38: Countryside

The food fest has started:

Breakfast:

• Pain maison, Beurre Maison, Confiture de Framboise maison

Lunch

• Salade du Jardin, 
• Poireaux et chou fleurs à la crème maison
• Fromages et pain maison (avec ou sans gluten)
• Fromage frais avec crème maison saupoudré de sucre

Dinner

• Fritures de poissons de l'étang
• Tanches à l'ail et au citron
• Ragout d'agneau de la ferme
• Riz pilaf
• Munster et pain maison
• Gateau aux framboises, Gateau au Chocolat et crème ... Maison (good guess)

My uncle's house is a wonderful place, not just because of the warm welcome and leisurely atmosphere).  The house itself is rustic but charming with big rooms, high ceilings and lots of independent bedrooms. It is surrounded by forests, fields and animals. Its clearly a paradise for kids.  When you take children to the countryside (or to small villages like Préfailles where I spent a lot of my childhood holidays) you realise how important it is to be able to give them an early sense of freedom and how much they enjoy it.  The problem with living in cities is that for some reason they have become associated with danger.  It used to be that danger was something that you were confronted with in nature, people would congregate in groups to make sure they were safe from wild animals or possibly enemy tribes.  Now it seems it's the opposite, the bigger the grouping of people the more people feel unsafe.  The "enemy" is everywhere.  

Of course there are many benefits to living in cities (cold showers are slightly less cold for example) but still I wonder if we shouldn't pay more attention to that inner child we are all supposed to have inside us and who may have the right idea about the environment humans should live in.

Day 37: Speeches

As I mentioned yesterday I am spending the long (French weekend) at Rabutin my uncle's farm in the deepest heart of agricultural France. There are around 30 of us (brothers, sisters, cousins, nephews, nieces, wives, husbands, partners, in-laws, out-laws, children, grand-children, fathers, mothers, grandmothers, grandfathers) covering 12 and 1/2 nationalities (French, American, Spanish, Catalan, Italian, Austrian, German, English, Albanian, Japanese, Moldovan, Belgian and Alsatian).

Of course when there are so many people gathered together somebody (who shall remain anonymous) needs to make a speech.  It's an interesting concept.  You wonder what is the purpose of the speech ? They usually come in three guises:

1. The long seriously boring speech.  I can only assume that the speech-giver is so worried that there might be an uncomfortable silence during the reunion that he or she has decided to filibuster the whole event.  Better to bore people stiff rather than let them realise they would rather be elsewhere.
2. The funny speech. (Perfected by my friend Shane). This has the benefit (if well done) of putting everybody in a good mood (the risk if done badly is embarrassment all around).  However you still wonder what was the purpose. Surely if I wanted to listen to a comedian I would be better off going to a stand up comedy show ? 
3. The thank you speech. Makes the least sense.  Has the person checked with everybody before showering praises on the host?  Maybe some of the guests are actually not satisfied? They didn't get a fair share of the spinach tart or they got too much nettle soup!  Shouldn't there be a democratic vote before the speech?   Or possibly we could ask all members for a ranking out of 5 of the experience.  Then the speech giver would adjust the speech to the average level (from a short Thanks to a long overly effusive outpouring of gratitude).  Also should we not vote on the speech giver?   Surely the democratic way (more on this subject in a future blog) would be to vote on who would the best representative of the group ?   We could then do practise speeches (secretly) before voting.

I know by now you expect me to finish these blogs with a radical solution, but I'll pass on this one.  I think I am blessed or doomed to hearing many more speeches.  Amusing, hilarious, moving, boring,  too short, too long, embarrassing, emotional, angry, uplifting, inappropriate, charming and passionate but most importantly heart felt.

Day 36: Family Weekend

Today was a fasting day, in preparation for a family reunion weekend at my Uncle's farm in the countryside where the food is really good. (The delicious bread and butter with jam in the morning sets the tone for all the other meals of the day).  Now I'm wondering if I shouldn't have done 3 instead of my usual 2 fasting days.

So I have seen a number of e-mails go through my inbox with all the things that people are bringing to the event. Sheets, Towels, Cheese, Wine, Musical Instruments, Children, Husbands, Wives, Others, Broccoli (really?!),  Appropriate Shoes, Suitcases, Tofu, Mantras, Cakes, Recipes, Tennis rackets, Card games, Smartphones (oups), Selfie sticks, Stories and of course a lot of anticipation.

For my part I'm bringing a Kindle (to keep up my reputation), my computer, some work, an empty stomach, a manual on how to take a perfect cold shower,  some time, a willingness to participate in preparing, not just eating, our meals, coconut oil, columbian coffee and expectations of getting lots of future blogging material.

Day 35: Bank Holidays

Today was a bank holiday (that's a national day off) in France. There will be another one on Thursday (so this week its Work - Day Off - Work - Day Off - Work). As you can imagine most French people are doing bridges which means taking a day off so as to have an extra long weekend or in this case a whole week off.  Paris is quite empty it feels like the middle of August (especially with outside temperatures of 29°).  I must say that I find Bank Holidays a completely inefficient and arbitrary use of our time.  Why is the State imposing a specific day for time off? I would rather have the days as extra holiday for me to decide how I wish to use them.  There are three main kinds of National Holiday and I find them all equally silly:

1. Religious holidays (Easter, Assumption, Toussaint, Christmas etc).  These are all Christian holidays. 65% of the French declare themselves to be atheist or non practising. The rest is split between catholics 25%, Muslims 6% and Protestants, Jews and Buddhists. Considering there is a big majority of non Catholics it would make sense to get rid of these religious holidays.  And let each person take the days that suit his or her faith or work ethic.
2. Violent upheavals (End of WWI, End of WWII, French Revolution). These holidays are focused on the idea of patriotism.  They are about the creation, the liberation of the victory of the Nation.  I'm not sure that patriotism is something to encourage, I have rarely seen this concept used as a force for good. And the present rise of nationalism in the US, Russia, China, Eastern Europe and the UK is certainly not a cause for rejoicing.  
3. Miscellaneous (Labour day, New Year's Day).  I find these particularly ridiculous. Why should I  be forced to take a Holiday on the New Year? Shouldn't that be up to me.  And Labour Day Holiday that seems like a complete oxymoron.  You get a day off in honour of work how does that make sense?  What about people who are out of work shouldn't they work on that day?

There are 11 bank holidays in France, I suggest we get rid of them all and give everybody an extra 11 days holiday that people could then use when they want them.  Maybe we could just keep one new Bank Holiday which could be on the day we abolish them all.

Day 34: Brands

Yesterday I went for a walk in an empty Paris with Fianna.  As I find it difficult to walk without an objective (probably food for a future blog) I suggested we go to the Muji store in the Marais.  Muji means no-brand in Japanese and that is exactly what I am looking for.  Although in my youth I did have a weakness for Levis and Lacoste, I can safely say that I now actively avoid branded products. The branded product has become the equivalent of the selfie (of which I have said enough).  It makes no sense to me, why would you pay extra for the privilege of becoming a billboard. Normally people get paid to advertise other people's products.  What would be interesting would be to have a with or without brand option.  So you could go into a Lacoste shop and you would have 2 options for your polo:

1. Polo with the crocodile will cost you 95€ (yes that's right I checked)
2. Same Polo without the crocodile will cost you 45€ ( I suspect the actual cost of  making the Polo is probably 5€)

I wonder which one would sell more (actually I'm pretty sure nobody would go for option 2). So what are people buying for that extra 50€?   A sense of exclusiveness? The idea that they are special?  The pleasure of having access to luxury goods and most importantly showing it ? In reality they are achieving the exact opposite.  Branded products are the opposite of unique or exclusive, the whole point of creating a brand is to sell your product (iPhone for example) to lots of people. Walk around Paris and you see herds of tourists carrying Louis Vuitton handbags, wearing Hermes scarves and taking selfies with their iPhones. 

Think about this: The world luxury goods market is estimated to be worth at least 1.2 Trillion € per year. If the money had been spent on non-branded products the world would have saved at least half of that which is 600 billion € that is at least 4 times more than the total development aid that is distributed annually.     

Day 33: Education

This evening I accompanied Fianna to an OIB Event organised by some of the parents of Theo's class.  The OIB is the International Option of the Baccalauréate. Under the pretext of being French and having 2 children who had already gone through the OIB, I left the parents (predominantly American moms) to get on with their meeting, and retreated to the kitchen with my host.  I must admit that with my children I used a more laissez-faire approach.  My assumption was that they would get their Baccalauréat and that if they needed anything they would tell me. The responsibility for getting their Bac was squarely on their shoulders with support being provided on an ad-hoc basis.  Now it seems that for middle class parents getting your child through high school and into university has become a Project.  Finishing High School has gone from being an individual achievement to a team event. The mum (I'm reverting to English) is the coach, the dad is the sponsor, there are a number of experts and trainers who give extra lessons, the extended family is roped in to act as cheerleaders and supporters, there is a detailed calendar of preparation, with training courses and boot camps. I'm not sure this is the best preparation for university life where you have to be much more self reliant.

Day 32: Call

Today Theo and Eliot left for their Dad's house for 5 days leaving Fianna and I to try to find other ways to occupy ourselves ...(no problem so far!).  The important question that faces Parents and Children when they are separated is: Who should call whom ? Let us examine this important question dispassionately ( I can do that since I am both a parent and a child).

Children should call their parents because:

• They should be grateful for all the parents did for them
• They understand the technology better (its all smartphones, whatsapp and skype these days)
• Parents have boring, steady lives so its easy to know when to call them
• Parents worry about their children so they need to be reassured (that's what I hear)
• Parents are pleasantly surprised when they get a call from their children 
• Children need things from their parents 

Parents should call their children because:

• They want to know what's happening in their children's lives
• They worry about them and need reassurance
• Children are too busy studying (ha!) or working (ha ha) to remember to call
• They have good reason to remember their children's birthday (most of them do anyway)
• They need to remind them to brush their teeth, eat properly and not to talk to strangers
• They have retired and have nothing better to do

So what's the verdict at the end of the day ?  I'm not going to say,  just in case my children ... or my parents are reading this (both sets can carry on calling me).

Dinner:

• Whisky Japonais
• Filet de sole au chorizo et poivrons
• Riz Afghan
• Vin blanc bio
• Banane et myrtilles au fromage blanc de brebis

Day 31: One Month

So I have been blogging for a month.  I must say it gets harder rather than easier.  You have to find the time, which is not always easy. Contrary to my Dad's blog which is a morning blog,  I do mine in the evening and sometimes it gets pushed back quite late. It takes between 30mins and 1 hour to choose a subject, write a blog and then re-read and edit it.  The hardest part is finding the theme of the day, as you may have noticed I like to include musings on life and the human condition with more mundane matters like  (sorry can't use that word as I'm trying to wean the teenagers in my family off it, much like genre in French) such as (much better) my menus, trips and work issues. If it's time consuming and difficult, I must be getting rewarded somehow.  My readership is (for now) quite limited, I seem to have 5-6 core readers even if one of my Blog days have reached close to 150 readers.  I do get comments, encouraging e-mails and an occasional chuckle from Fianna in the morning which is of course gratifying even if it is limited.  Would I stop blogging if nobody read it?  Or only one person ? probably not.  To be honest I am probably doing this entirely for myself.  Because I have set myself a challenge, and I am too stubborn to accept defeat.   It is the same "pleasure" as taking a cold shower, doing 4 minutes of plank or going for a 1hr run every morning (I'm not doing that last one by the way).  All of these things are decisions, nobody in their right mind would do them thinking they will find them pleasurable.  The common theme is that you can't try it out.  You have to decide to do it before starting.  If you try a cold shower why on earth would you do it again? Or if you try to to do a morning run you will not do it a second time.  And its the same with blogging.  I made a decision a month ago and now I'm stuck with it for at least another 11 months.

PS: Although we have come to the conclusion that this is personal mind exercise that is disconnected from my readership, don't stop reading, it does help and I have a personal goal of having been read at least once in every continent.  I'm thinking Antarctica may be the hardest. 

Day 30: Compliance

Dinner:

• Whisky Japonais : Nikka
• Saucisses variées et pomme de terres sarladaises
• Salade verte
• Divers fromages avec baguette
• Fraises au yaourt de brebis

What do you do if you have a fundamental disagreement with your boss?  This has often been a problem for me in my professional life.  Most human organisations are based on the concept of compliance. In order for the organisation to exist and function its members need to follow orders.  If your body parts had a will of their own you might find it difficult to function. Legs going in a different direction to your eyes,  heart and mind being opposites etc...But sometimes (Germans under the nazis for example) it is expected of people that they rebel against the system.  In some situations I was just following  orders is not an acceptable answer.  But what if the consequences are not quite so drastic?  How do you decide what to do if what is at stake is the life or health of your organisation as opposed to a persons actual life or death?  Should I just execute my orders even if I think they are counterproductive and could lead to the ultimate disappearance of my organisation or should I resist and say what I think at the risk of being sidelined or fired?  My answer has often been to move on to a new organisation when reaching a certain level of discontent.  I'm not sure that was right. I admire (to a certain extent) the people who can just get on with their job without letting themselves be affected by the day to day frustrations of a large organisation.  My Xmas wish last year was that I would be in the same position at the end of 2018 as I was at the beginning, I'm beginning to think that might actually be the case... But I'm not sure I would bet on it!

Day 29: Saving

This was my first full day of SmartDesk use (I did at least 6 hours standing) and it was a fasting day so I'm hoping the pounds are falling off!

A few years ago my daughter recommended I read a book called Debt: The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber a left-wing anthropologist. It's a most interesting book on a subject which I have often had to grapple with.  Recently I have come to realise that the other side of debt is saving (its never too late) and that these two concepts are not mutually exclusive.  You can borrow money to buy a car, a house, a piano or an education and at the same time you can still be saving a part of your income every month.  It doesn't matter if your are saving 10€, 100€ or a 1000€ a month what's important is that systematically setting a portion of your income aside helps you realise what your income represents and how to live within your means.  I know that there are many techniques and strategies which are put in place for people who have over extended themselves financially but I don't think any of them include starting a savings regimen.  And yet from a psychological point of view I believe it would make a huge difference if in parallel to filling their debt hole people were asked to start building a hill.  Your debt hole can often be daunting and seemingly impossible to fill but your saving mountain will visibly grow every month even if its by a single grain of sand.  Filling a hole is depressing because ultimately you are just trying to get back to the nice flat piece of land you had before.  Building a mountain (or a hill) is much more satisfying since when you've finished you can climb to the top and see the view.  (I hope you are still following my analogy).

So my advice to my children (and any other young adults who are reading this) is to save a part (however small) of any income you make and my advice to all parents is develop techniques to teach your children to save (maybe I should develop an app to do that).   In the interest of full disclosure I will readily admit that I did not save my pocket money as a child and I did a poor job of teaching my children anything about delayed gratification (their frugality and capacity to live within their means is entirely self taught).

Day 28: SmartDesk

A few years ago I heard about standing desks and thought it would be cool to have one.  But at the time it seemed complicated and expensive  so I gave up on the idea.  Last week I went to one of my clients in Rennes and they had just expanded their offices.  In their new offices they had installed electric desks which you can use sitting or standing!  As soon as I got home I looked it up on Amazon and hey presto I now have an electric SmartDesk. 

This is really cool!  Its healthy and energetic to be standing to write my blog.  Not only am I saving the world and working for global peace I am at the same time consuming extra calories (50 per hr) and keeping in shape.  This is what they meant by mens sana in corpere sano.  So I wrote the first half of this blog in the up position as you can see in the picture on the left.

The rest of this will be written in the sitting position (see bottom right) ... just because I can!

In addition to making my day, the purchase of this desk has also provided me an ethical dilemma which I can now share with you all.  I ordered my SmartDesk straight from the manufacturer who has a website.  The cost of the desk was 320€ (which was the same price it was going for on Amazon), however once I had ordered it the company added 60€ of tax which I had not counted on.  Having noticed this I sent them an e-mail the next day saying I wanted to cancel my order because of the extra tax.  They wrote back saying they understood and would proceed with a refund which would take a few days.  Then the next day I received an e-mail from their warehouse saying that my shipment was on the way.  I immediately wrote back saying I did not understand as I had cancelled my order. Again I received an email saying absolutely they had cancelled my order.  the next day my doorbell rang and the SmartDesk was delivered.   A few days later I checked my bank account and they had also processed my refund. So dear readers as part of the interactive experience you get to vote on my possible solutions:

1. I send the SmartDesk back (anybody voting for this doesn't realise how cool it is)
2. I send a full payment to the company 
3. I call the company and negotiate a discount of the tax amount (as an expert negotiator)
4. I keep the desk and my fingers crossed
5. I call the company tell them they have big problems in their supply chain and sell them a consulting project

All votes need to be accompanied by an essay on the moral and legal justification of your position.