| Writer's Block: On Your Tombstone |
[Aug. 2nd, 2008|01:16 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | writer's block | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | unchanged | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  bouncy | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Mogwai - Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait | ] |
See you soon. |
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| Back online |
[Jan. 29th, 2008|10:02 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  peaceful | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Rolling Stones - You Got Me Rocking | ] |
After a little fiddling I'm happy to announce that I now have internet access at home.
Due to thick reinforced concrete walls and a peculiar placement of the wireless router, I only have access from my terrace for now. Not that it's a big problem...
Meet my new desk ! |
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| Moving out, moving in |
[Jan. 6th, 2008|02:49 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | energetic | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Mogwai - Summer | ] |
"Quand ça change, ça change : faut pas se laisser démonter."
- Jean, dans Les Tontons Flingueurs
Long story short, I got evicted from my flat on december 12th, and had to find a new place to live.
(long story is, I had some new burglar bars (grilles de sécurité) installed and bought padlocks to put on them. The landlord (who lives in the UK) sent me an email, demanding that I give his brother-in-law a spare key. Of course, since I don't trust him at all, I refused, and I got an email back saying that he wanted me out. Unfortunately since my one-year lease expired at the beginning of December he was well in his rights... So I set off to find a new place)
So here is where I used to live.
I found a very lovely flat but it wasn't available until early January.
A friend of mine was on vacation in France around Christmas and wanted to have someone at her house to deter burglars, so she offered me to stay for the interim.
So this is where I've been living for the past three weeks.
I moved most of my stuff today (and now have a sore back), and since my friend comes back on wednesday I have a couple of days to go back and forth and move the rest.
This is where I'm living from now on.
Many more pictures to come, but now I need to have some lunch and lie down a bit. |
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| My eyeballs hurt now |
[Dec. 18th, 2007|11:19 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | amused | ] |
Yesterday was movie night.
Yes, we do have a movie theatre here ! Brand new, neatly air-conditioned, comfortable seats and cheap admission (equivalent of 3.80 Euro), not to mention the possibility to watch your movie with a big box of nachos covered in chemical cheese sauce.
So, among the apalling list of Christmas movies that seem to be turned out by a factory somewhere in China, I picked out something that I thought would be more entertaining that annoying : Hitman (the movie).
Don't get me wrong : I knew it was going to suck badly. But I thought that I could have a little fun with some gratuitous slo-mo gunfights, pyrotechnic stunts, phallic car chases, hero-walking-with-an-explosion-in-the-background and other standard displays of sheer badassery required in every Hollywood action flick. Alas, I saw none of what I paid for and instead got a painful and hole-ridden plot peppered with action scenes shot by an epileptic monkey in order to hide the total lack of skill from the actors and stuntsmen. Not to mention that realistically enough, the main character has the charisma of a video game character (or a brick).
However I was rewarded with interesting facts :
- Interpol headquarters are located in London (in real life, they're in Lyon, France - less sexy)
- Interpol agents have 'jurisdiction' over Russian police in Russia
- You can shoot someone in the nose from 4km away with a sniper rifle
- The Paris train station Gare Montparnasse is located in St. Petersburg*
- Moscow is surrounded by tall, snow-tipped mountains.
All in all, it's definintely one of those movies that make you feel good - because you realize that 'hey, I could have done better than that !'
* I kid you not, some scenes supposed to happen in a St. Petersburg train station were shot in the Montparnasse train station, featuring SNCF trains and signs written in French. |
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| The caribbean mysteries |
[Dec. 5th, 2007|02:29 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  contemplative | ] |
During my vacation an important package was mailed by my coworkers, under my instructions, to an office in Martinique. Martinique is maybe 30 km from here, it takes 7 minutes of flight to go there, and you can even see the lights at night from this office.
The package arrived today, 28 days later.
You see, I don't ask questions anymore around here. I don't want to know the why of things. I just nod, aknowledge and decide to use DHL from now on. |
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| The day the Earth didn't stand still |
[Nov. 30th, 2007|11:59 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  alive | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Guns'n'Rose - Knocking on Heaven's Door (again) | ] |
To all those who ask that question : yes, I'm still alive and well.
Posting notes to tell everyone that I didn't die after the last disaster to strike the island is becoming a habit !
Yesterday, Thursday November 30th, the island was shaken by an earthquake of magnitude 7.4 on Richter's scale during more than 30 seconds. It originated approximately 150km underground, 15km north of Martinique, roughly 45km North of here. It is fortunate that it occured so deep, if it had been closer to the surface I might not be here to tell the tale : it would have instantly destroyed most buildings as far as Guadeloupe and caused a fair-sized tsunami.
Indeed, the earth was shaking as far as Anguilla, Barbados, Trinidad and Colombia, where it caused a few panics. On Saint Lucia and Martinique minor damage is reported, with a few buildings cracking and half a dozen wounded, mostly panicked people who jumped out of the window (which, considering the overall quality of local constructions, isn't an irrational move at all). Myself, I was quietly sitting at my desk in the office when I felt everything shaking - as mundane a description as it sounds, that's pretty much it. We had a little tremor earlier this week, the first earthquake that I felt in my life, so subtle most people didn't notice at all. So when it happened again I instantly understood what it was, and since after three seconds it showed no intention of stopping I dashed outside and yelled for everyone to get out. Despite the constant noise and passing by, it's not that bad after all to have my desk next to the door... No damage in the office and no damage at home either. And I'm glad I didn't buy a stand for my guitar : if I had, it would be smashed to bits on the floor by now.
So let's do a recap here :
First hurricane to hit the island in more than 25 years.
Biggest earthquake since 1953.
Both of them within four months.
BOTH OF THEM WHILE I'M HERE.
Talk about luck, eh ? |
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| Cold attraction |
[Oct. 2nd, 2007|01:05 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | cheerful | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Brenda Fassie - Vulindlela | ] |
Cheer up, everybody !
I wake up from the current tropical slumber to proudly announce that I will be returning to France, and more broadly to Europe, from October 20th to November 18th - upon which I will come back to my quiet and sunny island.
Of course, all that time I will be staying in Paris with way too much money and time on my hands, as well as a burning desire to see all my friends (and not only you who read this journal, so spread the word !). I'm more than willing to travel throughout Europe, too, so those of you who have the good taste of living in another European city, be warned : I might just visit you.
This is going to be so much fun, all the more if you're part of it, my friends.
I'm going home, I'm going home ! |
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| Hurricane Sky |
[Sep. 14th, 2007|08:09 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | apathetic | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Police - So Lonely | ] |
Picture from my window, around 6 pm on August 16th, 9 hours before Hurricane Dean made landfall. After a sunny day, it rained late in the afternoon and afterwards, the sky took a copper-beige colour, with limited visibility and birds and dogs falling silent. There was an feeling of near apocalypse in the air.
I'm feeling definately unbloggy these days since not much happens. Pictures are more entertaining and I'll post some more soon. |
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| Ouaaaais |
[Sep. 7th, 2007|10:09 am] |
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| Dean came and went |
[Aug. 17th, 2007|06:55 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | Beyond description | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Johnny Cash - When the man comes around (apocalypse soundtrack) | ] |
I'm alive. I'm fucking alive.
Right now I'm sitting in my apartment and laughing and crying at the same time - must be the fatigue and wear.
First, I want you all to know that I'm alive and well, as well as the family I spent the night with. And to all of you who offered messages of sympathy, I want you to know that it went straight to my heart.
I spent the night with my upstairs neighbours, who kindly offered to share their shelter. Dean came late during the night, the wind started blowing at about 3 am and it kept gaining strength, we lost power at 5 and at 5:30 the eye of the storm came over us.
The eye of a category 3 hurricane.
And then, again, sustained winds of more than 200 Km/h. The washing cycle continued until approximately 7:30 AM, and from then the wind quickly died, until at 9 AM it was all over. I only slept briefly between 1 and 3 AM and then from 8 to 9. I witnessed the most depressing dawn of my life behind a curtain of rain.
From reports and direct observation the island suffered limited damage with only trees and a few poles taken down. The house suffered minor damage, losing gutters and a few tiles from the roof. I spent most of the day with my upstairs neighbour, Christophe, running errands for the embassy, securing the place and performing reconnaissance duty around the city. There was a very peculiar feeling of apocalypse around, very strange, oppressing. Now I know that the difference between civilisation and barbarians is 24 hours and two warm meals.
Power came back around 5 pm, saving most of my fridge's contents, and thus restoring internet access. The neighbours quickly came back to a normal life while I'm sitting alone with a glass of vodka and all my stuff packed in canteens as if I was moving away.
I can't begin to tell you how I felt last night but here's a tip for you : there's no use in packing books, games or music to keep busy during a hurricane. You can't do anything but watch the ceiling and wait for it to fall on your head. You painfully realize that you are nothing in face of nature, nothing at all, no more than a leaf in a storm and if the ridiculous shelter above you goes so do you. It was a very powerful experience but none that I'd wish to anyone.
Now I'll just finish my glass and go have the longest shower of my life. I look like John McLane towards the end of a Die Hard movie and it's scary. |
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| Dean is loose |
[Aug. 16th, 2007|03:27 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  anxious | ] |
| [ | music |
| | REM - It's the end of the world as we know it | ] |
Dean is now a category 1 hurricane, and growing. Current landfall estimates are South of Martinique and/or North of Saint Lucia, sometime during the night, with a 60% chance of it being category 2 or more at that time (sustained winds from 150 to 200 Km/h)
For some reason, going through a hurricane at night seems a lot more scary. We received orders to evacuate the office at 10:30 AM this morning and spent a few hours taping the windows and covering the desks with plastic sheets. I came home at about 1:30 PM and resumed packing my stuff into water-proofed canteens. My bathroom has been turned into a shelter, complete with food, snacks, supplies and books. It feels weird to know that in twelve hours from now all hell will break loose while it's still a nice sunny day outside. That means I still have a nice afternoon ahead of me. Maybe I'll take a short nap, because I sure as hell won't be sleeping in my bed tonight.
I'll try to post an update or two later tonight. If not, see you all when it's over. |
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| There's a first time for everything |
[Aug. 15th, 2007|02:01 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  worried | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Scorpions - Still Loving You | ] |
I think all of you know that I love new experiences (I don't meant it that way), and that I'm usually a moderate thrill-seeker. It seems that it is now time for the - rather litterally - mandatory Caribbean experience of the tropical hurricane.
Yep. Tropical Storm Dean is headed right for the Lesser Antilles, slowly building up and possibly turning into a scale one hurricane by the time it hits land. While it is unusually sunny and dry out there, the winds from the Cape Verde are unsuspectingly moving towards us.
However, in spite of the latest technologies in computers and modelization, the storm remains shrouded in uncertainty : as of yet, it is impossible to tell which islands will be hit, the wind speed, or even the time. Every few hours new reports give an estimate of its current trajectory, targeting alternatively Saint Lucia, Martinique, Dominica or Guadeloupe. Current estimates give a 40-60% hit chance within three days. Any which way we're going to get at least some of it.
Thankfully I have stocked supplies : food (mainly baked beans in tomato sauce, which taste pretty much the same hot or cold), disinfectant, bottled water (45 litres), water clearing tablets, lamps, medicine and candles. Thanks to the local standards of living, the effect of disconnection of basic services shouldn't be that bad : I have a 400-gallon water tank, the water isn't safe for drinking anyway so contamination isn't an issue, and my stove is fed by a gas bottle. If the winds appear to be really threatening most of my stuff can be easily secured into strong canteens which can in turn be sealed shut by tape, and my bathroom will be promoted to 'safe room' or shelter. This should put me on the safe side unless the whole house takes off, which is quite unlikely at this time. At this time I only need to buy tape and maybe a handful of strong plastic bags, let's just hope the stores haven't been raided yet.
Now as doom possibly closes on the island, there is not obvious sign of stress or panic. People go to their day-to-day routines, the news bulletins mention the storm as one of many headlines and stores are still quite well stocked - which might in turn be a proof that most people don't have supplies and don't care. Myself ? Part of me realizes there's nothing to do about it, another part thinks it might be a fun and potentially interesting experience, and another is paralyzed by fear. Oh, and there's also a tiny part bitching about my diving session being cancelled again, but heh, 'GTG - Hurricane' is as good an excuse as there ever was.
I'll keep you all informed on this as long as I can. Cheers !
Wednesday night edit : location of landfall is still uncertain but Saint Lucia is out of the most probable trajectory, which includes Martinique, Dominica and Guadeloupe. Evolution into category 1 hurricane is most likely, with a 25% cumulative chance of evolution into category 3 to 5 (the ouchie ones). Latest estimates for landfall are earlier than expected, sometime after 2 am Friday. |
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| Pendant ce temps, à Tokyo... |
[Jul. 10th, 2007|01:36 pm] |
Mes deux abrutis de frangins, en vacances au Japon, ne trouvent rien de mieux que d'enrichir Wikipedia sur les aspects économiques d'un pays lointain :
http://fr.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sainte-Lucie&oldid=18695637#.C3.89conomie
Merci à eux d'avoir égayé ma journée avec cette grosse connerie !
Au fait les mecs, j'ai updaté la section 'discussion' avec des infos de dernière minute ;)
Amusez-vous bien ! |
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| N'importe quoi |
[Jul. 3rd, 2007|12:34 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  creative | ] |
| [ | music |
| | The Ramones - I wanna be sedated | ] |
Ma première bande dessinée : les minipunks dans "Retour aux Sources"
Ce soir j'ai eu une vision fugitive de l'invocation de Johnny Ramone qui se met à tout péter sur son passage, donc voilà. Je m'étais fixé comme objectif de faire une histoire complète en une page en bourrant bien les cases pour travailler ma technique sur les détails et la mise en scène. Ca a été ridiculement long à boucler par rapport au résultat final, environ deux heures en tout, mais ça m'a bien fait délirer.
Comme d'habitude le résultat final sur l'écran est beaucoup moins bien que sur le papier mais je m'en fous, je ferai mieux la prochaine fois ! |
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| Water continued |
[Jun. 28th, 2007|10:29 am] |
A quick visit to the water company unveiled the astonishing truth : no payment have been made since 2005. The arrears come up to more than 600 US dollars. I had to pay about a third of this amount to get reconnected, hopefully within the next 24 hours - but I'm not holding my breath (but my bladder, on the other hand...).
The funniest part at this point is the landlord's family, who is supposedly in charge of these matters. When I called to complain they acted indignant and claimed it wasn't their fault. The nerve of some people here is astonishing : they let the bills pile up without telling anyone and pretend to be surprised when I get disconnected.
And now, my dear friends, I'm thinking about an evil plan to get back to them, to squeeze something out of the landlord for all this trouble. Ideas, anyone ?
Edit : when I came home yesterday evening the water access was restored, amazingly enough - I've been here long enough not to expect anything on time. Later on, the landlord's brother in law dropped some cash to pay for the bills. Problem solved, moving on to next problem ! |
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| The Saint Lucian Show |
[Jun. 27th, 2007|10:37 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  Contemplating shotgun murder | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Children of Bodom | ] |
It happens quite often around here : since everyone has water tanks at the house, the water company takes its own sweet time to fix water shortages. So I didn't give it a second thought when we ran dry yesterday night.
When I came home tonight I noticed my neighbours had water back on while I didn't. All I had was hot water in the shower, presumably from the common solar water heater. After beating around the bush (litterally, since we haven't seen a gardener in months despite promises) I found my main water access... carefully sealed shut.
The water company cut off my water access.
I've been living here long enough not to be surprised that they didn't even advise me, so I moved on.
Sherlock, I thought, we have a mystery on our hands, and we better solve it soon if we want to use the crapper again.
The rent is inclusive of water, which means the water bill should have been paid... by the very same jackass, brother of the landlord, supposedly in charge of managing the house, who always promises to come and fix things but never shows up. I had a suspect.
A quick phone call made things clearer :
"Hey, Luke, have you paid my water bills ?
- No, see, we had a misunderstanding and...
- I don't give a flying fuck. I want you to come tomorrow at seven sharp with my water bills, I'll go and pay them myself."
*click* (hangs up)
Case solved : that sorry son of a bitch hasn't paid the water bills since I moved in seven months ago. Hence the shutdown.
I don't even care whose fault it is, tomorrow morning I'm assaulting the water company to get the service back. I've been told it can be a troublesome process, considering they usually take three to five months to fix a geyser of water ten meters high in the middle of the street. I don't care how much I have pay, who I must threaten or yell at, I just want my water back so I can shower, cook, do the dishes, laundry, and flush the toilet.
The annoying part is, how am I going to plead my case ? I have no address or street name, much like everyone else, and no invoice number, customer ID or account number. All I can hope is for them to remember where they shut down the access in the neighborhood, or maybe track the account through the landlord's name.
Now the fun part is, I have nothing to lose and no reason to back down. I'm going to crush whoever gets in my way and I'll enjoy every moment of it. If required, I'll get the Honorable Minister of Economic Affairs and Public Works on the line to solve this - yes, I can do that; there are some ups in living in a tiny island.
Follow our program tomorrow as the story unfolds in "Kids, this is why this place will remain Third World forever"; part of our series "I'm not nearly paid well enough for this kind of crap" ! |
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| Being bloggy |
[Jun. 20th, 2007|03:42 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | anxious | ] |
And now for something completely non-caribbean : |
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| At last |
[Jun. 9th, 2007|11:01 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | giggly | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Billy Ze Kick et les Gamins en Folie | ] |
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| Picture time |
[Jun. 3rd, 2007|06:28 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | happy | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Afro Celt Sound System | ] |
I never liked sunday evenings : too often they've meant clearing my toys and tidying my room, preparing textbooks or packing a suitcase before boarding a train in the cold.
But not since I've been here. Day by day the sun is setting a little more to the right of the picture ; in a couple of weeks it should plunge into the sea with majesty. |
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| Definition |
[May. 29th, 2007|03:24 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | cheerful | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Red Army Choir - Echelon | ] |
Earlier today a colleague was enlightening me with details about the upcoming carnival, scheduled for the 16th and 17th of July. As in other caribbean islands, the carnival is the largest social event of the year, bringing together roaring crowds for a two-day marathon of furious dancing and heavy dreaking. The whole country basically shuts down for the duration of the event - I experienced it first-hand when trying to contact offices in Martinique during their carnaval (for convenience's sake, all islands hold their respective carnivals at different times of the year to attract more tourists).
The event rouses mixed feelings in observers ; it is said to be just this side of a giant drunked orgy - incidentally, statistics in Martinique show a rise of births about nine months after the carnival each year.
Said colleague suggested that I join a band ; in order to somehow control the flow of hormones and alcohol, participants are encouraged to join bands, with distinctive costumes, dance, and of course a dedicated sponsor to cater for the drinks. I considered the idea, and immediately saw two potential setbacks : revealing outfits (I don't compare well to the local macho men when it comes to muscles) and dancing requirements (six months in Africa weren't enough to learn Toyi-Toyi).
When I mentioned the latter, he laughed and came up with the greatest definition of dance I've ever heard :
'You don't need to do anything complicated. You can just stand there and shake your body and let the girls do all the work.'
As surprising as it can be, this is a rather accurate definition, from what I've seen so far. |
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