Storm Ciara

I was up at 06:00 on Sunday 09 February 2020, shut down and closed my house and a friend David McErlean dropped me at Carcassonne airport in the southwest of France  around 08:00.
Initially RyanAir couldn’t land at Carcassonne because of poor visibility but after about an hour they did, we boarded and they closed the doors.  Then the pilot told us because of the delay we had lost our landing slot at London’s Stansted airport in England and would have to wait for a new one. Forty minutes more and we left with the pilot warning us that because of the storm the ride would be bumpy as we neared England.

I took a nap for an hour, the flight lasts 1 hour 50 minutes, broke out my very large ham and strong cheese sandwich on some thick wedges of whole grain bread and realized the pilot had not exaggerated and what woke me was the plane intermittently gyrating all over the place.  And further proof was the pale faced people around me holding up a hand to indicate they needed a sick bag, RyanAir is as you know a low cost carrier and you have to request one. If you graduate to two bags they also provide a larger plastic bag to place them in. I noticed one poor man turning and turning the bag desperately trying to find the opening until a neighbor already equipped with a bag showed him how to tear off the top. I put my sandwich away.

Some time later the pilot announced if it appeared we were flying around in circles, that due the storm and high gusting winds we were in fact flying around in circles as planes were stacked up waiting their turn to land and we were number six in line. At this news a gentleman across the aisle, a two bagger groaned. But eventually and after a last minute roar of one engine to correct a sideways lurch the pilot got us on the runway and we all applauded. Not as significant as sacrificing a lamb but our hearts were sincere.

We left the plane and walked to the terminal in the heavy wind and rain, RyanAir is a low cost carrier, and then traversed many corridors and stairs to reach the immigration counters. This is now completely automated, on seeing a green arrow you enter a closed pen through a gate which closes behind you, hold your passport on the reader in one of the very long line of readers, look into the camera and if you match something somewhere in the computer cloud the gate opens and you enter the UK. At the random customs check I inquired of one of the officers “what happened to all the border officials who used to sit in the many glass enclosures where you slid them your passport through the little slot.” He told me they were all working somewhere else.

I started down the stairs to the train platform where you catch the Stansted Express to London Liverpool Street station only to be greeted by signs saying the train line was closed because of the storm. I inquired for how long and was told until they removed the fallen trees and repaired the power lines. 

I went back upstairs to the huge bus park, bought a ticket and waited with hundreds of other passengers until I finally got on the bus with stops including mine at Liverpool Street station. We had an interesting one hour plus ride to London with the driver fighting the gusting, buffeting high winds all the way. Did I mention since arriving at Stansted there was a constant driving rain and swathes of the UK countryside and many towns were now flooded.

After a ten minute walk with my backpack and pulling my suitcase in the rain I reached Liverpool Street station, purchased an Oyster travel card and took the Tube, Metropolitan Line to Wembley Park station where the rain had lessened somewhat. I asked one of the station staff to point me to the Holiday Inn which he did, saying it was a 10 minute walk and recommended I leave immediately before the storm returned. Two minutes into what was a 15 minutes plus walk the rain and wind returned and I arrived at the hotel drenched, checked in took a hot shower, made a cup of tea and finally ate my delicious sandwich.

And my best friend Mel ? who I travelled to London and this hotel to meet – his flight from Dublin was cancelled because of the storm, but with luck he will arrive tomorrow.

And so it goes,

PS One translation of Ciara, a Gaelic word, a dark haired girl with brown eyes. 

A Day At The Temple – 09 February 2019

For the TET Lunar New Year Holiday my goddaughter Chau and her mother Yen go to their Temple to pray every day. I have been there frequently over the years and have become good friends with the Abbot.

Today Saturday Chau told me a Frenchman had just came in to the temple and asked me why don’t you say hello and see if we can help him. And I did and he explained as part of his spiritual journey he was visiting 30 temples around Vietnam and this one is on his list, and also he had studied Buddhism at Thich Nhat Hanh’s Plum Village in France.

The Abbot joined us and mentioned he had been feeling poorly for a few days, I translated this to our new French friend and he announced he is a Dr. of Asian medicine and asked if the Abbot would like to be examined and perhaps treated. He the Frenchman carries the implements of his trade and some essential oils in his backpack. Fortunately his Vietnamese travel companion showed up from praying, and since she speaks French fluently she could describe the Abbot’s symptoms. The Abbot agreed to being examined and was duly treated.

That is Chau and her mother Yen on the left.

A few days later when we were back at the temple I asked the Abbot if the treatment had helped. He said no not all he never believed the the Frenchman was competent but why not give it a try.

I told him I also had my doubts when I noticed that the Frenchman despite his spiritual declarations and devotion to the simple Buddhist life was wearing a heavy wig in the heat and humidity of Saigon.

Traveling Light Versus Waiting Around For Your Stuff – 03 February 2019

I boarded the plane in Paris on Thursday, unloaded my things for the flight to Vietnam, it takes 12 hours to get to Saigon, and at the the last minute an older man, older than me that is arrived and took the window seat. We exchanged pleasantries, the plane took off and we started talking. I asked if this was his first visit to Vietnam. No he replied I first arrived in early 1951 as a nineteen year paratrooper in the French Marine Commando Brigade. I did the mental calculation and naturally continued with the conversation.

He told me they used to jump from Dakota aircraft but it took time to get the 12 man “stick” out of a Dakota so he preferred a German WWII plane I think he said a Dornier where they could jump more quickly from the rear. He said there were quite a few Germans, excellent soldiers in his opinion, some from the Russian front, some former SS, serving in the French Foreign Legion. His “stick” would land bury the parachutes and patrol looking for the enemy and set up ambushes. Late in 1952 it was their turn in the barrel and his group was ambushed and he was shot in the leg. He was evacuated, first by friends carrying him and then by vehicle to Danang, where I lived for 5 years from 1966 when the Americans were  trying the same futile thing as the French.

After that he couldn’t jump, he said parachutes were more basic then, but was still a commando so they would go on mission, inserted to set up landing zones for big groups to jump in or on other special operations. He was finally transferred back to France with his unit in 1956.

He had remained in the navy long enough to get a pension but said he did not like it much, there was no real esprit or camaraderie compared to life with the commando brigade. He kept touch with surviving old comrades talking to and exchanging emails a couple of times a year. He had been elected twice to some local political office but believed politicians, nearly all of them, were duplicitous, untrustworthy and interested only in themselves. He preferred the people he had previously fought against in Vietnam and met subsequently on his travels.

He had decided to visit Vietnam 30 years later, first in 1986 when he figured enough time had passed since the Americans had departed and things should have stabilized. He had visited nearly every year since. I asked if at 87 he was not worried about health problems on his travels. He told me that a couple of years ago he had a heart attack in Phan Thiet, but the local Vietnamese doctor was good, injected him with something to ease the situation and externally massaged his heart until he stabilised. He was flown back to France and now has a pacemaker. He showed me the little health card he needs to get through airport security.

He had suffered a couple of strokes but that was in France so no crisis. He was pretty phlegmatic or even fatalistic about death and dying, maybe due to his earlier youthful career of jumping from aeroplanes, looking for armed people defending their country to attack. Never a winning idea unless you are in the business of war.

But he mentioned how touched he was at the reaction of his 5 daughters, he had been married I think three times, now to a Vietnamese lady he met in Paris, when they thought he was dying. He showed me two photos of him with the two daughters with the Vietnamese wife. One did her doctorate in the university of Saigon, lives in Paris and translates books between French and Vietnamese, the other is working in Japan.

It became a little difficult to hear him clearly after lunch, oddly enough after he put his hearing aids back in place. But in the time we were both awake I continued talking to him, I found him fascinating.

I asked where he was staying in Saigon, thinking maybe we could meet and he told me he never made reservations. He would take the number 8 bus to the downtown bus depot  and then ask around until he found the next bus to Cu Chi where some friends from previous visits owned a small hotel. How long was he staying in Cu Chi ?, no idea but when he was bored he would take another bus or taxi to the next place. How about his suitcase ? he didn’t have one, only the small, very small carry on bag in the overhead, I saw it, and a small shoulder bag with his passport and papers. Did he get his spending money from ATMs ? no he was seldom in a big city, he had €4,000 in a money belt and would keep on travelling until he had a reason to return to France. He had bought his airline ticket at his local LeClerc supermarket with a one month return date but for €60 he could change the date once he had decided. I told him the last time I changed my return date from Vietnam they charged me €300, he showed me his receipt including the €60 LeClerc option. So much for the advantages of the Internet.

I asked him what he loved about Vietnam ? Answer, the people, the way families stay together, the climate, the food, how safe it was, yes there was crime but not much, and for him it was very inexpensive, he would buy a pair of shorts and trousers and a pair of sandals at his first stop and leave them behind when he left. How long did he plan to continue visiting ? currently he thought until he was 90 but he would see after that.

We landed, I handed him his bag from the overhead, we deplaned and walked, slowly to the immigration counters. He went first. The immigration officer spent a while flipping back and forth looking at all his many visa entries for Vietnam, he had also made it to Cambodia, not really too far by bus he said. Finally stamped it, handed it back and he strolled away, looked back and waved, and turned away heading for the next number 8 bus.

I went downstairs and waited forever and impatiently with the other 300 plus people for our suitcases and our “stuff” while Loisel was flying down the road again to Cu Chi and …….
I have the phone number of his daughter in Paris

My next stop is  Bangsaphan in southern Thailand on the Burmese border to meet a French couple, her parents are from Laos, who spend a month every year at the Coral Hotel a small resort on the Burmese border.

I went shopping for TET the lunar new year in Saigon this morning with my goddaughter Chau and her mother Yen. Who frequent a small popular shop specializing in things from North Vietnam. A customer pulls up on a motor bike, shops and the owner’s son boxes it up and tapes it down, about a metre high on the back of the bike and the customer wobbles off among thousands of other motor bikes

Joseph’s Funeral – 05 July 2015

When I started visiting this corner of France 10 plus years ago Joseph was one of the first people I met and that summer he welcomed myself and my children by making us the best cassoulet I have ever enjoyed. Joseph was original in many ways, he was a retired one legged farmer, he lost his leg and fiancee one sunny summer day when his friend made a mistake with the hay bailing machine. He lived on his farm with his widowed brother in law Jeannot who had been married to Joseph’s sister. For some reason Joseph took a shine to me and would invite me for a simple supper at his home on the farm and then we would watch a rugby match, his favourite sport on TV. Joseph and I would be in the kitchen watching rugby and Jeannot his brother in law would be in the living room watching a quiz show and since they were both somewhat deaf, and for comfort had removed their hearing aids, both TVs would be turned up very loud. 

There were about sixty of us gathered in the old church in Brousses to say goodbye to Joseph, pretty much everyone with the exception of the guy in shorts and a  black tee shirt that said in red letter “Adidas Since 1949″ all about the same age as Joseph. From the pews around me there was a faint door of naphthalene from dark suits and dresses long stored in closets and only taken out for special events. And as the ancient congregation creaked to their feet in response to the slow progress of the equally ancient priest there was the occasional clatter of a walking stick hitting the flagstones of the church floor. All the responses to the priests sung prayers were by the three ladies in the front row, their spouses  Jaques, Charles, Benoit having previously preceded them to speak directly with their creator.

At the end of the service the four pall bearers, more “cost effective” than six, who had carried Joseph’s coffin into the church, with an effort hoisted him to their shoulders and slow marched him out to the hearse. As they passed by it occurred to me that the job description for a professional pall bearer must be one that contains a specific height as a requirement. Granddad cannot be carried out at a list.

We drove to the graveyard in Villaret where Josephs family has a family tomb and as I arrived the pallbearers were setting up low stands on which they placed the coffin before the grave, and family and friends read a few prayers and said some  words of appreciation for our friend. After that three pall bears slid the coffin into the open front of the sarcophagus, it sat maybe 80 centimetres above ground and as they paused and ran a substantial rope through the last two handles of the coffin it it gradually sank at least a similar distance below ground. Watching from a distance I puzzled that as it was lowered first the front end of the coffin did not catch but slid smoothly down out of view and the rope was shaken and withdrawn. 
 
All was revealed when to my surprise, clad in workman overalls, the fourth pall bearer popped up out of the front of the sarcophagus. I hope he is paid extra, or maybe they draw straws, as many of these graves contain multiple family members.
 
Every year no matter where I was traveling, the US, Canada, Vietnam, Ireland the Philippines I would call my friend Joseph on 6 December, his birthday, he was my friend and I loved him.
I hope that wherever I am on 6 December each year I think of him and remember how kind he was to me a stranger.