What does Pope Benedict order for breakfast on his last day?

Mam And The Girls

Flipping the Bird to the Judge

This is too funny. She won't be so smart again in a hurry.

Meridien Hotel Crew / Life In Egypt 1976

This is an extract from a much larger video filmed by Claude Patry in Cairo when we worked there together. It shows a photo shoot we did with the entire kitchen staff in the ballroom. It also show a small cruise down the Nile that was taken by the expatriates and a scene at the pyramids with all of the kitchen management staff. I am still in touch with most of these people and it is unfortunate that they are in France and I am here. Many long term friendships were forged during that period and although we worked very hard we also had some fun. I have very fond memories of this particular time and the good laughs we had. There is a small snippet of Cathy that I left in at the very end for those at home who remember her. She is at a little picnic wearing a short sleeved blue shirt, it is very fleeting so you have to be quick. Phyllis loved Cathy so she will be glad to see this.
The quality of this video is not very good because it was filmed in super 8 and then transferred to video. The memories are in technicolor and cinema scope.

Seattle Today Television Show

Television show on cold soups on a Seattle station during the late 80's,

Riding Lesson Bob Woodington

If you don't like riding and are not into equestrian sports then don't watch this, you will be bored.
This was a lesson I took of the best, if not the best, instructors. He is sadly now deceases and greatly missed. He only taught upper end rider so the day he agreed to take me on for this lesson was a huge compliment and a sign of the progress and confidence I was getting at the time.
I loved this sport and I took to it like a duck to water after a very shaky start. It was a sad period when I could no longer do it due to constant moving and the lack of facilities in some of the places I had to move to.
The people I met in this sport knew nothing of the Hotel Industry so the sport had the added advantage of getting completely away from work. The two ladies you hear talking in this little video are still dear friends and were greatly responsible for any success I had in the sport.
It makes me sad to watch these wonderful bygone times of powerful concentration and total focus on what one was doing, to the exclusion of everything else.

Les Antilles

Beautiful shot of the French Antilles by my good friend and fellow photographer Daniel Bouchard.

Interview Four Seasons Hotel Seattle 1982

This interview was done not long after I started working in the US after eleven years with a french company which explains my apparent lack of command of the English language.

Happy Valentine's Day

On behalf of all the men in our family I would like to wish all the beautiful women we are lucky enough to be related to a Happy Valentine's Day. A special one for Mam of course.

My Mother And My Daughter On Skype

My mother talking to her granddaughter on her 89th birthday. She has not seen nor spoken to her in thirty years because she lives in Brazil and Mam is in Dublin. This was a momentous moment for the entire family and also for me.

Anthony Bourdain Layover Dublin Ireland

Gene Lambert 1935 -2012

Gene was a great friend of mine,    a genuine article and the personification of the much hackneyed phrase, a great guy.

When I first got to the US back in 1981 I ended up in Houston. Going to the US was very exciting for me even though I loved my job in Paris, the lure of faraway places and new challenges was always there. Houston, however, was not a good choice and my ignorance of life in the US became very obvious. I hated the city and never looked back at it for an instant when I left.

I was preparing to go somewhere in the Far East or even back to Paris with my old company; Anywhere but Houston.

During my last few months with the Hotel in Houston an ex-employee, a controller for the company, recommended me to the Four Seasons Hotel in Seattle, he knew I was unhappy with the management where I was and wanted to leave.  The Four Seasons was really interested. In  and I got ‘phone call after ‘phone call from them and kept saying no. I didn't want to leave a company I had been with for eleven years.  I didn't even know where Seattle was and but I was very disillusioned with the USA and just wanted to get out.  Better the devil you know than the devil you don,t.

I finally acquiesced and decided I had nothing to lose by going to see the place. Upon arrival in Seattle I immediately fell in love with the city and decided that the Northwest was where I wanted to make my home. Seattle was at this time a small town and nothing like the center of technology that it is today. I liked it then. People and things were simpler. This was the Promised Land to me and the payoff for years of very hard work.

I eventually accepted the job and  started in the Four Seasons Seattle. That is where I first met Gene. He made me feel welcome and we hit it off immediately. He and I worked very closely together for several years after that we remained friends until his passing. I still go to reach for the ‘phone to this day only to realize that he is no longer there.

Normally when you got to a hotel there are a lot of genuine changes to be made and an awful lot of politics, turf protection and general discontent go with these changes. I must say that most times they find the changes eventually make things better and easier and once accepted you have won a friend.

 Not with Gene, he was helpful and very informed right from the start. He was in fact one of the best purchasing agent I had ever worked with, the other was in Palm Springs, and our personalities meshed. There was never a cross word between us and his good humor and cutting wit made our jobs so enjoyable. He was a no nonsense and completely unpretentious colleague in an industry with more than it's share shysters, neophytes and ne'er do wells. He had as much time for them as I did. He was the genuine article.

His knowledge of jazz, music in general, literature and politics was vast. This is most unusual in our industry where conversations are very limited and constrained by lack of interest. It was such a pleasure to sit and chat with him and fob off the cares of the day. It is what is missing in the hotel industry these days.

He will however mostly be remembered by us all for his sharp wit and great sense of humor. He could deflate any situation with a few well-chosen words and well placed witticisms. I thought we would be able to stay there forever but alas, management changed and they brought in a new general manager who was completely devoid of humor and even humanity. To this fellow insults and firing people seemed to be a sport. He threw both of our departments into chaos for a whole year. It was the first time I saw Gene worried about his job.

It got so bad that I had to leave but wanting to stay in Seattle I took a position in a second rate hotel brimming over with bad food, absentee management and a general lack of interest in either the staff or the hotel. It took me a year to clean it up and bring it up to any kind of standard. That is another story however. Gene and I kept in touch over the years and chatted on a weekly basis until he left us.

Goodbye dear friend, you have left behind a legacy of good will and fond memories and you have touched the lives of many in a very positive way as proven by the testimony of a lot of people in our industry. You were the consumate professional and you are greatly missed. .

Nice Shot Of Colin At 17 Years Old.

Mam, Phyllis And Anne 1980

Visit To Ireland In The Early 80's

Terry And Me / 36 Years Difference.

Hello There !

The Phyllis And Mick Show