Your Club Makes Two!

Last week's birthday cake - 'after.'

Party Last Thursday Was First

Paris:- Friday, 6. October 2000:- Well, well, club members - of all classes even if they have been abolished by some mysterious decree - here it is, the day after your Café Metropole Club's first birthday. I didn't realize eating cake and having it too caused hangovers.

Normally I wouldn't flog a thing to death after it is over, but according to various signs and signals, the first birthday of your very own free Paris club has been an unqualified success.

How this could be with an inept bungler like myself as the club's secretary is a mystery to me even if I know the club's secretary rather well, or thought I did.

Obviously the answer is as plain as the whiskers on my face - you club members, both absent and present yesterday, did it!

To parachute Groucho Marx into this, I can say a club is only as good as its members and if Groucho Marx were with us today he would refuse to be a member of this club in Paris regardless of whether its members have ceased being 'real' or 'virtual' which means that this club must be worth joining if Groucho Marx has never been a member or a non-member.

One legitimate reason for running this page 'after' the birthday is so the photos of the club members of all classes - now abolished! - who were present can get some online time. However, although many were captured by the 'magic eye,' not all were - but here are some extra photos anyway.

Also, new members who entered their particulars in the members' booklet left some interesting comments I didn't catch during yesterday's scramble.

Quite often I don't come across these comments until I'm doing some catch-up club secretary administrative make-work, and when I see something interesting I say to myself, "Oh darn! I wish I'd included this or that as a 'Quote of the Week' for the report of that meeting five months ago!"

For members who have not actually attended a club meeting in person, the members' booklet contains a questionnaire - which is completely optional - but some members do look at it and sometimes they will write something in it if I can be persuaded to lend them the club's Bic pen.

To question 3, 'What have you liked most in Paris?' Tom Yanul answered, "Being here."

Question 6 asks about members' 'favorite Paris activity' and Robert von Maier, on his first trip, answered, "Walking." Actually, this is the same reply a lot of club members give for this question.

Other people think walking to restaurants makes them their 'favorite Paris activity' and this is what Natalia Yanul wrote.

After Cheryl Sylvester answered, "More of everything" to question 5's 'What would you like to see changed, improved?' she answered question 6 with, "Who can choose?"

Because of the birthday party the meeting was a bit hectic and it is possible that members were a bit distracted, so I won't drag this out by inventing any of the notations.

To conclude, Jerry Blizin did not bother with the questionnaire and simply wrote '1,' '2' and '3' with '3' being "Sans Paris, il n'a pas de vie."

Betty Blizin followed up with, "So, he said it all - what can I tell you?"

Sharp-eyed readers may remember that the Blizins' Tarpon Springs, Florida, was yesterday's 'City of the Week.' I'm sorry to confess that the club's secretary made another geographical faux-pas by writing this received the distinction because of the memory of all other members from 'east' Florida, and "Because it is somewhere near Pompano Beach."

Tarpon Springs is located on Florida's west coast of course.

The secretary has made this same mistake before with Florida even though he knows two 'wrongs' don't make a 'right' - and is busily unbooking a holiday to the region because of a real fear of getting tossed to the man-eating sponges there.

Thanks for the party!

More Birthday Messages

The following messages arrived after last week's 'Birthday Special' club page went online. However, most of them should have been with last week's messages because they are 'befores.'

Because of pesky time-zone differences, there are two 'afters,' with one having been sent 'after' the birthday in Paris and after its 'report' was online, but while it was still the same day as the party in Paris.

Email from Craig Tredeau. Sent via the Internet: Monday, 2. October 2000:-

Bonjour Ric,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Cafe Metropole Club!!

Since the French are big on celebrating events by having parades, I suggest the Cafe Metropole Club have a parade on its birthday. Although you may not be able to close the Champs-Elysées for the parade, I think any street in Paris will do.

I have enjoyed reading the club's reports over the past year and look forward to the next year of reports.

Regards, Craig Tredeau