Photos et lettres des Philippines, de France et d'ailleurs

I arrived in France Thursday, May 27 after a night spent in the Airbus A380 of the excellent Singapore Airlines Company. It was 7:00 in the morning when we landed at the Charles de Gaulle airport and my son Fabrice, who was waiting for me, had brought a jacket as it was cool and he didn't want me to catch a cold upon arrival.
Barely an hour later, we were at home where I savored the traditional fresh croissants that await me at every homecoming.

Then time passed quickly because I was busy already in my forthcoming departure for the Philippines scheduled for late July in the midst of peak summer season. Because of the price, this time I will fly with the Emirates Airlines Company, but still on the Airbus A380.
Then mostly with my son I watched on TV the tennis tournament of Roland Garros and the start of the soccer World Cup where some teams gave us much pleasure and I will cite among others, the U.S., Ghana, Japan, Argentina, South Korea, Uruguay, Germany etc. with a special mention for the shameful sports and ethical bankruptcy of the French team. At times French are like their national bird, the roaster, crowing with their feet in the shit.
On June 15th, I underwent some surgery, but though benign it was more painful than I had thought. Before that on June 10, I went to the hospital to be examined prior to the operation by the anesthesiologist who was also a fan of diving and whose daughter had followed his path in this sport and had already been diving in Apo Island in front of our tropical house. What a small world!

The operation went well and arrived in the hospital at 1 pm, I was out at 6 pm.
June 18, 19 and 20, my wife and I had a long-planned weekend at La Baule by the ocean and 500 km from home, with my old buddies of Estienne school, batch 71.
I drove the first part of the five hours of the journey despite the handicap of my operation of my leg and my wife took over for the second half.
Unfortunately the weather of  this weekend was cold but forty years later we were still like teenagers so happy to meet each other while we are now only 4 out of 10 to attend such gathering. I still need to give a special mention to Mireille, widow of Albert, our friend who was killed in an accident a few years earlier and who was attending our meeting for the second time in memory of her husband.

(The house of Marie-Thérèse and Daniel in la Baule)

(La Baule beach)

(My Estienne schoolmates and their wives)

The following Saturday we were invited to meet friends living in front of our house and June 26 and 27 we went to Saint-Fargeau-Ponthierry in Seine et Marne, 100 km far from our village. We first checked-in at our hotel and then we went to the house of Kathy and Henry where they were giving a big party to celebrate the 60th birthday of Kathy. It was a very pleasant evening with a fine weather and an ideal temperature. And the party lasted until after 2:00 am.
I was more pleased to meet among the around sixty guests a close colleague that I had not seen for 10 years.

(The whole family. From left to right, Julien, Henri, Alexandrine 'wife of Sébastien', Kathy, Sébastien and Sarah)

(Almost all retired from AXA Insurance)

(My wife and our friends Valérie and Jean-Philippe)

(The buffet)

(Some of the guests)

On Sunday a few hours later we all went back to our friends for lunch and finally at 3 pm it was departure time.
On Sunday July 4, it was our turn to give a big surprise party on the occasion of the 30th birthday of Alexis, the boyfriend of our daughter Christelle.
Christelle and Alexis had already arrived the day before and Alexis did not know what was awaiting him thinking it was a meeting of French-Filipinos friends. In fact it was the family of Alexis, who was coming to surprise him on the occasion of his birthday and the birthday of his sister Julie as well.
It was a warm and beautiful day and the party was a success.

(Our son Fabrice ready for the barbecue)

(Some of Alexis' family members)

(The sister and the brother, Julie and Alexis)

(The birthday cakes) 

(Christelle our daughter)

At the time of this writing, twelve days separate me from my next departure and I expect many visitors to our house in the Philippines in August but I will again have the chance to write about that later.
Meanwhile I still have to watch the soccer World cup, first the small final between Uruguay and Germany tonight and the final between Spain and Holland tomorrow without forgetting the Tour de France. What a hectic schedule to be retired!