Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Tuesday Afternoon . . .

Hi Everybody ! I'm back ! I had some concerned questions about my extremely long absence since the last post (Sunday night !), wondering whether I had been kidnapped by a squad of nymphomaniac female Australian beach volleyball players, or perhaps beamed up by the UFO which I mentioned having spotted in the post on Reflections (Carantec) last week and transported to a distant planet where inter-galactic ADSL connections to allow blogging were not yet working, or, horror of horrors, if I might have had to return back to work . . . well, the answer is : none of the above. It is Tuesday afternoon, and I'm still on vacation until next week ! And given that I'm on vacation, well, I'm doing the sort of stuff that people on vacation do... which doesn't necessarily leave alot of time for blogging.
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But in fact, Sunday we made the grueling six hour drive back from Brittany, which is what had me thinking about old Volkswagen buses, and then yesterday we went into Paris all day for things like shopping at WH Smiths (where I picked up Tom Robbin's most recent release "Wild Ducks Flying Backwards", Hunter Thompson's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" which for some inexplicable reason was not yet in my small home library, and three works by David Foster Wallace, including the massive "Infinite Jest" which I've been meaning to get my hands on for some time), a visit to the Musée Maillol (which I'd never been to before) to see the expo on the paintings of Seraphine de Senlis (about whom we just saw the excellent recent movie), a trip to Pain Poilane to stock up on what may arguably the best bread in Paris (and you can order it on the internet and have it delivered fresh by FedEx around the world), and then to top the day off, like a bright red maraschino cherry on a chocolate sunday, the last stop was at the Olympia Theatre to see Jackson Browne perform ! (more on that later) So, after driving home from Paris last night in a driving rain, I was way too pooped to blog last night, and this morning I slept in, had a late breakfast, and returned to bed with Tom Robbins in hand for a good cozy reading session. . . life's small pleasures !!!
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Now, before I continue, concerning the UFO which I facetiously wrote about having spotted in a post below on window reflections, the one with the white disk of light, I had a very nice e-mail waiting when I got back from Brittany from a group named IQXS in the US which communicates worldwide on Twitter about UFO sightings. It is possible that they found my blog simply because the acronym "UFO" appeared in that post, otherwise I don't know how they found it, unless the aliens on that craft communicated with them telepathically ! :-) Anyway, they had some nice things to say about my blog, and wanted to know if the disk of light really had "whooshed off into the distance". Being the honest guy that I am, I had to "fess" up to having invented the story, and in reality, the white disk of light was just a lightbulb behind the shop window. I had this very kind response back from them :
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Dear Owen,
What an exquisite letter...
Thank you for your honesty and your integrity.
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I will let others know that it was merely a literary piece and not
a true sighting.
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I did not feel that you were making fun of anyone! No, not at all.
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Your photos were worthy of compliment!
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I am hoping that you and your camera come across a true UFO
and you can have the thrill of photographing the "real deal"!
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These are exciting times and many look forward to stunning
evidence that surpasses lights and orbs and discs.
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Continued success in your art and keep that camera in the ready!
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Cordially,
Team IQXS

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That was very kind of them, and I am making a note to myself to not try to increase visitor traffic to my blog in the future by creating spurious claims to having seen UFOs reflected in shop windows. But you can be sure I will be scanning the skies with more attention than previously. And I almost always have a camera in hand, so the chances are good that if any real UFOs should present themselves, I will be ready ! Now, as it is Tuesday afternoon, I'm going to give you a piece of music to savor while I go run a couple of errands, before getting back to the imporant business of ... B L O G G I N G ! ! ! There is so much more already prepared and ready to upload, I won't even begin to try to brief you here... enjoy . . .
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6 comments:

jeff said...

Pétard Owen ! Tu pourrais pas parler français comme tout le monde ! ou plutôt comme moi ! Je passe des heures à traduire le traducteur à la con !...
Enfin, si t'es de retour c'est l'essentiel ! 'pensais que tu nous avais fait un coup à la David Vincent ! Tu sais le mec qui prend une déviation en croyant prendre un raccourci et qui tombe sur "les envahisseurs" !... Non, tu connais pas ! Regardes M6 plus souvent !
Bon, remarques, je me ferais kidnapper par une bande de baises bolleuses ou autres, je ne dirai pas non ! Kes ta contre les volleyeuses ?
Allez, à plus Owen ! Domage que t'es pas mis une photo ! Tu sais moi je ne lis, que les images !...
Ciao ! Owen !

Pas mal du tout la musique...!
1970... Pfffff! Waoaw !

IQXS said...

Hello from IQXS!
What a lovely surprise to find this post. Thank you!

I must confess that due to your excellent use of your photographic equipment, IQXS is not going anywhere! We have our "eye" on you, Good Sir! :) I am quite certain those wily "saucer Guys" would be especially pleased to appear in the lens of one as gifted as you and as honest.

Have a stellar finish to your vacation and thanks again!

Continued success!

Ciao!
Team IQXS
http://twitter.com/IQXS

PS An awesome song...brought back many memories for some of us here in the mothership....errrr, I mean office! ;)

Owen said...

Sacré jeff34, comme d'hab tu es pétillant et tu petes le feu, comme l'on dit parfois... jolie image ! Je suis désolé pour l'anglais et les traductions à faire, mais un jour tu me remercieras peut-être... ou peut-être pas ! Mais l'anglais est malheureusement un petit peu plus répandu dans ce bas monde que la langue de Molière, bien que sa langue, à Molière, était bien pendue si je comprends bien. Bon, des photos vont venir, patience est un vertu !

Dear IQXS Team,
I am truly impressed now with your incredibly stellar intelligence services which ferreted out this post in near real time... I hope I am not going to be at the origin of a trend where people include the letters "UFO" in a blog post in order to cause a large spike in visitor traffic... ;-)
All best wishes to you all and happy hunting in the skies...

Laurie said...

Owen,
As the recent recipient of a Kreative Blogger Award, I am given the right to make a number of similar awards as I see fit.

I am a relatively recent visitor to your wonderful blog and am now a devoted follower.

Judging by the amount of feedback you get to your posts, others feel similarly. So I have no hesitation in naming you as a well-earned winner of a Kreativ Blogger Award.

Come on everyone - three cheers for Owen. Hip, Hip Hooray . . .

Best wishes

Laurie

PS check your email.

Zoog said...

I have been trying to get my hands on Infinite Jest and The Broom of the System myself. Please let meknow how you liked IJ....It is so curious because I saw DFW on the Charlie Rose Show and was so impressed with his intellect and humor...amd then a year later he was no longer with us and I was so saddened by his departure...what an incredible mind. Enjoy your respite from the Rat Race ! Ciao Z.

Amy said...

Ah you are making me really look forward to my upcoming vacation! Hopefully I won't see any UFOs on mine though.

It was really nice of the IQXS to write you back...