Hi everyone. I hope your summer has been bright and happy. I did take a break from blogging. Though I collected a good bit of material for future posts.
I was honoured to be interviewed by Yvette at Priorhouse. She has a wonderful blog and did a great job at interviewing yours truly. Allow me to share her interview. Yvette, you now have the floor:
Hello Readers,
Today’s Priorhouse Interview is with Brian from Equinoxio blog. As always, I invite readers to skim the post or come back later to read (if you have a chance). There are some fun things covered here today so let’s get going.
Let me start by sharing a link to one of my favorite 2022 posts – HERE because it had me whispering, “I had a house in Africa” for days….
PRIORHOUSE: Okay, now let’s start with a little background.
BRIAN: I was born in Pakistan of French parents, a few years after the Partition, which is what the Independence of India and Pakistan is called.
My family is French but lived in India for two centuries, since the mid 17th century.
I was raised in Asia, Vietnam and Cambodia, briefly, then spent most of my childhood in Africa, West, former French Guinea, and East, Kenya and Ethiopia.
I went to College in France, Graduate school in the US of A. University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa (Roll Tide!) where I got an MBA and learnt ‘ter speak Sudern’…
Got married (my wife is Colombian) we lived ten years in France until my “Gipsy” roots started raising their voice and we moved to Mexico, to an Ad agency, Ogilvy & Mather. I later started my own market research agency, and here we still are 30+ years later.
PRIORHOUSE: Can you tell us about your blog name, Equinoxio?
…
Read the original interview on Yvette’s blog:
Equinoxio 
congratulations Brian ☺️ happy fall days to you ~ sending joy hedy ☺️☀️🍁🍂
Dag Hedy. Hoe raatje? I’ve been missing your posts, beautiful, creative pictures and challenging thoughts. I understand you have a theme issue? Are you having trouble fixing that or just taking a break.
Great to hear from you.
Tot siens
Hugs
💕🤗
Hi Hedy… missing your posts.. hope you are coming back to post!!!💗
Hi Cindy. Not sure Hedy got that. 😉
Oh Thanks Brian,
I’ll text her .. it’s been a while since she’s posted 🤫
I understand she had a theme issue. Her theme, the visual aspect of her blog was no longer supported by WP. Aggravating.
I do remember that.. I’m just hoping she finds a way around this somehow. 😇
Likewise. I love her blog.
Glad to hear that you are well and that you had a good summer! AN entertaining interview too! Keep well 🙂
Merci mon ami. Summer was good, albeit a tad hot. Back in Mexico waiting for the rainy season to subside.
I read that Côtes d’Armor might lack water soon? Crazy…
Good to hear!!
Ha, it rains here always 😉 Reservoir capacity? Maybe but really just SAUR being too cautious! Pahh
Pahh indeed. Everybody seems frozen in France… Bad juju…
Wonderful interview ! Congratulations Brian and Priorhouse. I love reading what you’ve been doing, where you’ve been traveling dear Brian. A look back into the past is always welcome. I hope you’re retreat was most enjoyable and renewing. It’s great to read you again. Thank you going out to Priorhouse…well done! 🌷
Viel dank Coeur de Feu. Yvette is great. (But then we all more or less know each other, right?
Alles gut? 🌹
I haven’t met Yvette but I will certainly visit her blog! Still nursing a knee injury, improving though 🌹
A knee injury? I’m sorry. Those can be very painful I hear. Bike fall? Recover soon. Follow all doctors’ & therapist’s orders. (Members of the Health profession can be very bad patients! 😉)
💕
I hurt my knee at work, occupational hazard. Icing and brace. 🧊🧊🧊
Oops. Ice and brace and patience…
(More time to write though! 😉)
Gert well soon…🤗
Thank you dear Brian. Slowly improving! 🤗
It is a slow process. How long have they given you to be back on your feet?
I haven’t had the MRI yet. I don’t know what’s going on in there. Next week.
So it’s fairly recent. Viel glück next week.
Dankeschön!
I’m walking on it.. a brace.
And today’s braces are very good. Helps recovery.
Luckily I had a brace from ages ago and a Tommy Copper knee brace ( nylon).
Good. It should help a faster recovery.
For some reason I can’t comment on Priorhouse. Great interview! Frost is one of my favorites as well.
Mysteries of WP. LOL.
Thank you.
Frost. Hmmm. I wish I knew more of him. American poets are not exactly a part of the French school programme.
But I was lucky to stumble on that one. A powerful poem…
i loved the interview Brian!! 💞
Thank you Cindy. You’re only too kind. Yvette has done a fantastic job.
Hugs
Nice interview Brian! I did even read some things I did not know. Good to see you back in Blogland! Groeten en tot ziens.
Dankje wel Peter. It is a come back of sorts. I need to get some stuff ready first. Als goed?
Au revoir.
I’m good Brian. No covid yet, as far as I’m aware of and after my holiday to Brittany I even re-learned some French albeit with a strong Breton accent. 🙂 Speaking of that: how does one pronounce Brieuc? Like the French do – Bri-eu – or does it sound different? Anyway – I’m about ready to continue the writing on a story about Yann Gwaz, the Breton who was famous in 16th century Spain for his architecture under the name of Juan Guas. He was, or rather his parents were, originaly from St-Paul-De-Leon, or Kastell-Paol, adjacent to Roscoff where I stayed. It was with more then casual joy that I walked the streets there. So let the writing begin!
Brittany is a wonderful place. So much Beauty everywhere. And this summer must have been quite sunny and pleasant. ‘Eu’ is pronounced like the Dutch ‘de’. Or the German ‘genau’. I believe it’s the legacy of the Germanic tribe, the Franks who took over Roman Gaul. And the ‘c’ at the end of Brieuc is not pronounced…
I’ll have to look up Yann Gwaz. Don’t know him.
Kenavo arbechar. (See you soon)
I just left a message on her blog. Great interview and Bookbinding. I’m so hooked. 🙂
👏🏻
Congratulations on being interviewed by Yvette. She is a dear and even though I already follow you, there were things that were news to me in reading the interview. Great questions from Yvette as well.
New stuff always comes out. And Yvette is a great interviewer. (Having done some many questionnaires in my life, I know it’s not the answer that matters, it’s the question…)
All well with you I hope?
You are right, Brian/Brieuc – and now I am interviewing members of the public, in person, I find coming up with different questions, challenging. They seem to work better ad-libbing during the interview.
What makes a good question?
That is a very good question… As you know, I was in Market research, did, and approved hundreds of questionnaires… Not sure.
In lawyer movies they say: “Never ask a question you don’t know the answer to…”
In research, some questions are fairly standard, depending on the type of research. If you do advertising research, many questions are obligatory.
What’s a good question? Hmmm. Short and simple. Only one question in a question. Sometimes we put two or more questions/issues in one question.
Then, I would say it depends on the interviewee. What research have you done on the respondent? What more would you (or others) like to know about the person? What’s s/he done? Background? Always useful. Tastes: music., books, authors, movies. People they associate with.
A question I used a lot in interview was: who are your 2-3 best friends. Describe them to me.
Then I guess a good question is an answer you’re looking for. Think of the possible answers you will find the right questions…
🙏🏻
Fantastic answers, Brian! I will use some of your suggestions!! I particularly like your suggestion of thinking of what answers I may like and the questions will evolve!
YOur comment was hidden somewhere. I’m glad I found it. Honestly I made it up a bit. Now more than “answers one would like”, it’s more “what answers would I like to know?” Stress on know. Let’s say I would interview Trump. (God forbid) the answers I would be looking for are towfold: 1) What made him the way he is? 2) What is he hiding? A good series of questions are projective techniques. (Look it up) Where one projects oneself. “How do you imagine Australia in five years? Where do you see your self in five years?”
Eric Clapton is a racist conspiracist. He told promoters that if vax cards, test results or masks were required at a venue he wouldn’t play, not understanding it was the regional call. And, he’s a fox hunter.
Welcome back from vacation. 🙂
Read the interview, nothing new for me but at least the comments there reminded me of long forgotten – and some unknown – guitarists. 😀
Don’t worry, it’s still me, just older – and not at all wiser 😛 – with a different e-mail address since the old one got caught in the evergrowing fake security requirements of this mad world. And yeah, still alive. Barely.
Enjoy the Fall, cher ami. 🙂
Hi Dragos. Good to hear from you. I don’t why I’d seen that comment then it disappeared… Yes fake requirements…
Barely alive? Well, alive is already a positive thing… Maybe something good will come your way… (We’ve already had this conversation if you recall… If you’re alive, your talents are too…)
Bon Automne caro amico…
Don’t worry, I’m perfectly aware WP has been screwed up for quite a while, most likely because human judgement has been completely replaced by the soulless AI.
We did have quite a few conversation in time, yes. This one included. I feel like my words and ideas have dried out and fallen like autumn leaves. An empty shell sometimes returning mixed echoes of the surrounding world – is what’s left of me… Oh well, let the Great Fall begin!
Be good, be well. Be, dear B! 🙂
I suspect your words and ideas are just hiding somewhere.
Be, indeed, dear D.
On my way to read the rest!
Hi Liz. Good to see you. I’ve been taking a small break, though missing my good E-friends. How was your summer?
I had a good summer. Plenty of inspiration drives with my husband for a book of haiku I started writing. (I never thought I’d hear myself say that!) I’m 93,000+ words into writing a new novel, closing in on finishing the first draft.
A haiku book? 😳
And 93,000 words? Wow… You have been busy. 👏🏻
Yep! It’s amazing how much writing I can accomplish when I’m not mired in a soul-sucking abyss of a job. 😉
You did right in quitting. You were not happy there…
You’re right about that. I needed to make a clean break with higher ed.
Great interview. Welcome back from your vacation! Very interesting to hear about your childhood in Africa and your travels.
Hola Rebe. Good to see you. How was your summer?
Good to see you too. Back in CDMX? Our summer was relajado; kayaking, cycling, hiking, picnics, reading and a bit of fishing and archery for Eagle. Many photos of flowers for you to review at your leisure and a few pages of my memoir posted.
That sounds like a very nice programme. Hopping over.
Thanks, Brian.
welcome back! 😄
Thank you. It feels nice to “be back”. Missed you guys.
Merveilleux, mon ami! Toujours un plaisir d’apprendre un peu plus sur les gens qu’on aime!
Salut ma grande… Merci du fonds du coeur. C’est toujours agréable à entendre, même si j’insiste que je n’ai pas fait grand-chose. Juste eu de la chance…
Ton été s’est bien passé? 🤗💕
C’est ce qu’on fait avec les choses qui les rendent plus, plus!
Pas si pire. Là je vie chez ma chum jusqu’à demain. Elle était partie dans les Europes et ma maison se faisait une peau neuve. Toujours loin d’être finie mais elle revient alors… je vais aller vivre dans une petite chambre, pas d’électricité, pas de WiFi, pas de TV… Tu viendras me retrouver à l’asile… 💞
Au moins t’as ta chambre. C’aurait pu êt’ pire. Un dortoir. 💕
Mais pas d’électricité… ni de WiFi… Ça va être looooooonnnnnggggg…
Ben oui. Y’a du chauffage?
Dans ma petite chambre, oui. Le reste de la maison? Non. ET yes! J’ai aussi l’internet! (et la TV)
C’est déjà ça. Mais donc tu es chez toi, mais la maison est sans dessus dessous? Pour combien de temps?
Oui, effectivement! Je suis chez moi et c”est le bordel!! Je ne peux te dire…
J’imagine sans peine.
Sans peine? Pas certaine!
On a fait beaucoup de travaux dans notre maison de Normandie quand j’étais enfant. Et il y avait toujours quelque chose qui pétait. L’année dernière on a acheté une maison de campagne à une heure de Mexico. J’ai passé près de 6 mlis là-bas à superviser les travaux, mais “morceau par morceau” si je puis dire. Donc je peux imaginer. Mais pas au point de de n’avoir qu’une pièce qui “marche”. Ça doit être épuisant. Les ouvriers finissent quand?
Mon mari faisait énormément de travaux à la maison (originale, pas la deuxième) mais pièce par pièce. Faire comme je fais, il faut manquer une couple de vis dans la tête!! Très épuisant mais j’ai maintenant de la lumière dans mon sous-sol – partout SAUF la salle de bains… Bozwell!! Prendre sa douche à la lumière de lampe de poche c’est pas mal poche! Je ne sais pas et je n’ose pas demander pour l’instant… Mais le plancher de céramique est fait dans le salon et dans 90% de la cuisine…
Ben oui quoi. Pièce par pièce! 😉 La douche à la lampe de poche c’est pas mal. LOL. Faut peut-être quand demander pour les délais. Tu pas passer des semaines comme ça. “Winter is coming” comme disait l’autre…
Mieux de même… moins stressant pour le porte-feuille, aussi! Mon contracteur part en vacances demain! Il revient mercredi prochain. Mais pas grave, la maison va être pleine d’ouvriers… Winter is coming, the fire will be in the slow burning stove…
Il part une semaine? Arrggh!
Ouin. Peux pas vraiment me fâcher. Il a droit à une vie…
Bien sûr. Mais c’est toi qui m’inquiète un peu… C’est fatigant ce genre de choses…
Nah… t’inquiètes. Oui, je suis fatiguée, entre la nouvelle job et les travaux mais je vais survivre.
C’est l’essentiel. Le nouveau job va bien? (Chez nous c’est masculin… C’est drôle)
Oui, le et la job va bien 😉 C’est vrai que c’est biz que ce soit soit au masculin soit au féminin… dépedant d’où on l’utilise!
C’est comme ça. Il faut juste savoir…
C’est ça!! 😉
A fascinating insight into a fascinating life, Brian, I learned a lot … and thanks for the shout out on the street art front!
Fascinating? You’re only too kind. I’ve just been around. A few places. Probably half your own collection of countries…
Cheers.
Loved the questions and the answers. It’s really nice to know more about you, Brian. You definitely are a citizen of the world in a literal sense. And consider visiting India and the small city I live in – Chandigarh – planned by Le Corbusier. A French connection… Take care. 🙂
Chandigarh planned by le Le Corbusier? Interesting. Must have been a Nehru idea. Looking it up.
Just looked it up.I knew Chandigarh was in Punjab, but now I know it was Nehru’s “answer” to the “loss” of Lahore to Jinnah…
History, History.
Haha. You win some, you lose some. 🙂
True. 😀
Really enjoyed your interview and learning more about your unique life, Brieuc!
Interesting approach to your blog writing – short and sweet, which is not what Mr Google advises. Maybe this is what I’m doing wrong…;-)
Grazie mille amica. Still not so sure about unique. I know a number of people with similar paths. A lot. Maybe a dozen? 😉
Your blogs aren’t too long. Maybe you could shorten them, but everyone his/her style. I would suggest “turning” the background around. white letters on black background are harder to read. (So David Ogilvy said. He did some research…)
😉
Hmm…debatable.
Think you mentioned that before, but I haven’t got around to doing this as it’s a big job and I’d have to totally rework my CSS. 😦
What’s your css? There was an option somewhere, I used at the very beginning that allowed you to play with colours “on the side”, then make up your mind and change the setup. Don’t remember where it was. Very practical so they probably took it away…
I have hundreds of CSS lines I added when I first set this site up but alas, as the plugin changes (evolves), some is now defunct. I’d have to go through all of it line-by-line to see what’s working/not working. A big job and time I don’t have…
Quite understandable.
It’s in the sidebar. below “woocommerce”, it’s called appearance. You can play with it and see if something is of your liking?
Thank you, ‘Oracle’ 😉
LOL. You can have a go now since you’re “house-ridden”. How are you feeling?
Nahh, trying to get ahead albeit intermittently to push out my Sunday’s post. Not that great yet. 😦
Again, take it easy. Do you have an oxymeter? To measure your % of blood oxygen?
Thanks. No, I don’t.
It’s a small device you put on your finger. But you seem to be doing ok.
Also think that a black background brings photos out more, but I have heard from others that black font on a white background is better for the eyes.
Challenge right? You might be right about the black background better for photos. Now Ogilvy’s study (he did a lot of research) was in the late 50’s, early 60’s. It’s possible people have grown more used to a black background.
Actually, even phones and tablets are proposing dark background. 😀
Brian, I enjoyed meeting you in Yvette’s recent interview. What a great meeting of the minds. 🙂
Yvette and I have followed each other for awhile and I enjoy all of her interviews, which are thorough and her questions elicit interesting responses. Yvette once interviewed me, but as she is using a new interviewing format now, she recently asked if I would be interested in another interview down the pipeline. My takeaway on your suggestions is I will stop using captions, which I often used, but not all the time – yes, who wants to squint to read a caption? I always boldfaced my captions to make it easier. Captions make my posts a wee bit shorter as my picture-laden posts are admittedly long – yes, that might cause a reader’s interest to wane as they slog through some of my posts. I am always open to suggestions as I approach the 10-year anniversary of blogging.
Hi Linda. Nice to meet you too.
I don’t pretend to be an expert in blogging. I still remember my puzzlement at everything when I started. But I have worked in Advertising and Market research, and I did learn to keep it short. One day a client, after a 20 page executive summary summing up a 100 page very dense research, told me: “Brian. Excellent. Great presentation. When can you send me the one-pager?”.
“What?” I said. “One-page”? You do realize how hard it was to concentrate all in 20 pages?”
“Yes”, he said. But the board in the US will only look at one-page. You can do it.”
I did. Quite a learning.
Interesting story about keeping your writing short and those words stuck with you Brian. There is an expression I heard many years ago, way before blogging, about an overly long story that someone was telling: “how about you let me know when your story comes out in paperback and then I’ll be interested.” Harsh words but it got the message across.
That was indeed a harsh one. Not even hardcover. Paperback… LOL
Luckily the words “abridged version” were not used!
LOL.
You are most fascinating, Brian! Heading over to the interview! xx
LOL. I was just in the right place at the right moment for some things. What about all the musicians and artists you know and have worked with?
They are also … cool… fascinating…
I enjoyed learning more about you Brieuc. You’ve definitely had an unusual and interesting life.
Merci chère amie. I’m concerned that I will soon have no secrets left. One has to have secrets, doesn’t one? 😉
Je suis sûre que tu en as plein. 😉
Ha! Ha! J’ai été découvert. 😉
Hi – thanks again for joining me with the interview, B!
I have so many takeaways – and the guitarist chat was truly a top takeaway- but also the way you interacted with commenters showed even more of your smooth style.
Really appreciate our time with this interview and the comments continue to come in – almost four weeks later. Right on – and write on amigo
🙂
Yvette
Hi Yvette. Thank YOU for such a lovely experience. You are a great interviewer. And it was fun to interact with your commenters. Actually need to go back and see what I’ve missed…
Write on indeed.
Brian
I know! I need to go back too! And I am grateful for the many smiles it brought this month….
Hope your weekend is going well
👍🏻
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