A very wet and chilly birthday was had by all. Annie and the gang had a party for me with champagne and treats. Eric of Frejus, Marya of Geneva and extremely well behaved children (and they are Americans), Annie and Edmond attended. Edmond is a very nice guy and for my birthday he said "I will kill Vicki for free" I told him that I was not quite ready to be rid of her yet, but I would keep his number handy. (Besides, anyone that summers in France and winters 350 km north of Stockholm and commutes to Russia to "learn russian" is of suspect). Afterwards, my lovely wife took me to a world famous restaurant for dinner. Richard the chef did a great job.
The birthday cake is a Tropizian, a local famous pastry. It was invented in St. Raphael but the baker did not think "le St. Raphaleian" would sell.
The next day I realized that winter is approaching our little corner of France. You probably think I know that because I was a pilot and knowledgeable in that area,or because after many beautiful weeks it has been raining all week, but no, that is not it. It was when I got to the Les Palmiers for the morning coffee and decided that by the time Sandrine brought my coffee to the side walk table it would be ice coffee. So, I moved in side. Not sure who had the bigger hangover, Sandrine or me. I know she looked a lot better with hers than I did with mine. Later in the day I stopped in with Vicki to get out of the rain and have a beer. We both looked much better. Vicki did not seem to thrilled with her 2 new best friends that followed her around later.
My friend John
When I awoke on Oct 29th I thought the big event would be my 60th birthday, but sadly that was not to be as I learned early of the death of my good friend of many years, John Applegate aboard his beloved sailboat "Mandala" from a heart attack. John and I had worked in the jungles of New Guinea, Borneo and Amazon together. We had drank Singapore Slings in Raffles bar in Singapore long before it got stars. We drank Singha beers in the brothels of Pat Pong in Bangkok, Pilsner beers in The Pub in Quito, and served Goombay Smashes by the lovely Miss Emily at the Blue Bee Bar in Green Turtle together. We had sailed in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and the Caribbean together. John was my friend. John was Vicki's friend. Though he had done more open water sailing than most, sadly, he never realized his ultimate dream of sailing around the world.
Our friend, John C. Applegate, you will be missed.
Ken Wilson“Heureux qui comme Ulysse a fait un beau voyage !..”
