Quite often the older we get ... the more interested we become in our own family history and roots.....the heros and heroines ... the princes and paupers..... the bastards and scoundrels ....whose blood is somehow still alive and cursing through our veins today. More than often those brave and stalwart forerunners .... whatever their ilk.... have either one foot ......or both feet ......already in the grave or are in no condition to inform us about our glorious heraldry and its players. All this to simply say that I DO hope that my two sons .... who know I am doing this blog.... will some day muster the courage and interest to come in here to fill in the blanks ! Amen !
Back in 1991 I was invited by the Université de Bordeaux II in Bordeaux , France to give courses in anthropological linguistics from January to the end of May.... during the first Gulf War........ which by the way , began the same day as I started my classes !!! Shock and Awe swept over both Iraq and France simultaneously I guess and only history will tell which had the most impact on human undersatnding !! Anyways... etc.. I was reminiscing the other night and typed into Google the following " 3 , Place de la Victoire , Bordeaux " , the univerity address . The above pic loomed up..... which was more than I could have hoped for ..... as it shows the facade of the old 17th century house of learning .... and moreover the two windows of my office which looked out over the busy hub of downtown Bordeaux......... and my favourite watering hole Chez Auguste to the left.
About my office... when looking at the facade my office was on the second storey to the right of the three main doors below..... occupying two huge windows , two fireplaces... or rather two immense hearths , a desk three chairs and a bookcase........ and enough space to invite 80 people to a cocktail once where everybody milled freely about without running into one another. The ceilings were maybe 15 feet high... five meters.... and I felt lost in there all alone . It was one of the busiest squares in town so I had a bird's eye view of all the action from my vantage point.
An anecdote in passing... I kept a wicker basket with a long rope in my office with a whistle and whenever I felt the urge or had visitors in my office and desired room service I would blow the whistle out the window .... thereby notifying Serge at Chez Auguste , the outdoor waiter , that I needed something. He would come fetch the message in the basket which I had lowered to ground level along with the necessary francs and tip , deposit maybe two or three cold beer .......and I would heist the loot back up to the safety of my den. Great years of my life !!
Picture of me and my buddy , Donat , in front of Chez Auguste on my way to deliver the President's Address at the university on the 3rd of April , 1991..... some spiffy- fancy clothes I had borrowed for the occasion as I had brought none of my own from Canada. On the right is a summary of my speech that day about what Indians want . There had been a standoff the preceding year in Montreal between the Iroquoian Mohawks and the Mounties and Canadian army which had made the news all over France so I decided to demystify the whole shebang . Great fun was had by all.
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