December 2022
Hello everyone,
December on the move!
First of all, a big thank you to all those who came to discover New Zealand during our tour in the CGR cinemas in the South of France; thank you to the teams of each cinema, who welcomed us so kindly, thank you to all those who came, a little less numerous than before the pandemic, but in encouraging numbers and with desires of distant islands in their eyes when they had their picture taken or signed a book at the end of the conference.
Autumn was late this year, with the roadside plane trees still clutching to their leaves. Driving on the shady roads of the South of France always reminds me of the time when we drove at full speed ... how did we manage to survive, no, unlike French singer Michel Sardou I don't regret that insane speed; the fastest of all, it was Claude François, who drove at 200 on the slightest straight line, disregarding the danger; to think he killed himself in his bathtub!
A few images and reflections on the roads of this little tour of twelve conferences: in 1971, I had passed my private pilot's licence on the airfield of Aix-les Milles. Having learned that this airfield is now equipped with revolutionary electrically powered aircraft, I went to visitFly Provence, and thanks to its director, Hervé Berardy (a famous pioneer in this field, he created the concept of the Elektropostal,and plans to cross the South Atlantic one day in the footsteps of the Aeropostale pioneers such as Mermoz and St Exupery) and to Françoise Heilmann (a former student at the same Ecole Centrale I got my engineering diploma from) I was able to take a short flight to discover this plane, which is much quieter than petrol planes and whose batteries are recharged with solar panels.
A little thought in the region of Agen, not far from Astaffort, the town of very popular French singer Francis Cabrel: we were shown a video on the net where he sings, alone on the guitar, after Le Gorille by Brassens, a song from my early days, Pourquoi ces Canons ( Why those Guns ?) ; he had said elsewhere that this song and others from my first album had been a source of inspiration for him at the beginning. Following this recording, made during the confinement, children covered this song, which unfortunately remains more than ever relevant!
After a conference in Castres in a picturesque little cinema by a river called the Agout, on the banks of which stand colourful houses that would not be out of place in Curaçao or the Italian Cinque Terre, we visited the kingdom of black in Rodez, in the museum dedicated to famous painter Pierre Soulages; You know that I prefer colours absolutely, but I managed to fing some in the stained glass windows he designed for the abbey church of Conques; and the only trace of life ( if one can say so! ) that we found in his paintings is a multitude of spots, or rather hollows in the black paint, which curiously look like... a school of small fish.
Then we went back to Auvergne where, surrounded by fog, I am writing these words before taking the train to the Paris Boat Show, where I will be signing my work on the Chasse Marée stand, on Sunday 4th (5 pm to 7 pm) and Saturday 10th (6 pm to 10 pm)
Have a good december to all
Antoine
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