1910, Brittany. First row, seated, l. to r. great-uncle Philippe, great-aunt Jeanne, my great-grandmother Wilhelmine, “auntie” Irene. Second row, standing: “auntie” Daisy, my grandmother Julie, and great-uncle Jean. When my great-grandfather, Henry-Felix died in India at the end of the 19th century, great-grandma Wilhelmine (Kaiser Wilhelm was very popular in the British Empire until WWI)…
Place Maubert, 1964* I discovered Place Maubert in 1970, not very long after this photo. I was starting College up the hill, at the Collège Sainte-Barbe, close to the Panthéon. After class one would walk down Rue Valette, then Rue des Carmes, cross Rue des Ecoles, and arrive at Place Maubert, on the Boulevard Saint-Germain…
Egypt, c.1936. Leaving the Suez canal for the annual “furlough”. L. to r. My aunt Gaud and my father, Cyril. In those days, only two-three years before WWII, travel was done by ship. My family would travel by road or train from Ismaïlia to Port-Saïd, on the coast of Egypt and take the “steamer” across…
I was born at 3:44 AM on Mohammad Ali Jinnah Street, at the Seventh Day Adventist Hopsital in Karachi, Province of Sindh. Why the Seventh Day Adventist? Not a clue. Most likely our dear Doctor friend Max Meyer had selected the place as being the best for my arrival. Mohammad Ali Jinnah was the founder…
Auto-Tamponeuses. Auto-bumpers. Paris, 1964 “So you can’t turn back the clock, Scotty?” Saint-Sulpice. 2016. Tourists still roam the church, with Dan Brown in hand. “No Sir. I wish I could. I actually tried, but there is just no way.” Saint-Sulpice. 1964. At second glance, there was a guy with a ladder running around everywhere in…
San Francisco 2016. West Africa. c.1960-61. Left to right: Little sister, our friend Marie-Martine, and yours truly. En route to the islands. And swimming in the open sea on the way. The boat was a wooden contraption called a Pinasse. Slow, noisy and fab. Brittany, home of my ancestors, half of them anyway. 2013. Not…
In 1964, the 1965 Presidential election was still far away in France. And yet, it was to be a “first” in History: the first direct popular election of the President by the people. (Americans are still waiting) Until then the President was “nominated” by Congress. The real power was in the hands of the Président du…
