DEN STOPPAR ALDRIG

 

 

My esperanto is of no great help to me.

 

It is my pleasure to introduce you to Anna Lonnroth. In an official way, that is, as she was already present in many of my previous contributions.

 

Anna has got a busy life; well as busy as life can be for a civil servant of the EU. Your classical image of people sitting behind a desk from 10 a.m. till coffee-break, and then leaving for a long midday lunch, before tuning themselves up for tea, certainly holds true in some departments, but I have also met - rare - individuals who have a real job to do.

 

Anna's position is both very comfortable, and scary. 

 

Comfortable because she's Head of a large department, with budgets in the billions, and with the experience to match. Scary because her job is to make sure OUR money is well spent. Her department sponsors scientific projects in all member-states, at a high expenditure level, and also at a high degree of technical skills and competence. 

 

I imagine you could get fooled sometimes  - the subjects are complicated - but you have no right to! 

 

Mostly, I meet her during her free-time, be it up there in chilly Belgium, or down here in our warm South.

 

 

 

 

 

As we went for a walk to the top of a hill called Trescol (a high promontory in most Occitan dialects), she would stop for a while, climb on a hunting perch and scrutinize the horizon. She 's making sure her assistants are still working in their misty offices. It is pouring down on northern Europe, as we wander around in sunny Hérault. 

 

I couldn't resist showing this lovely picture to you my very discerning audience. She exemplifies both the power nordic females have acquired in society and the summit of relaxation white collars can achieve at the same time. Yet she confessed to Christine and myself she had been forced (by her husband, this horrible Herman-friend of mine) to climb that very same path at a trot not later than the day before - they are both fitness-addicts.

 

To top the bill - as they are keen wine-connoisseurs as well - the area of their whereabouts is stuffed with excellent wines and lovely characters in many private wineries.

 

Nearby Pézenas was once home to Jean-Baptiste Poquelin

and we have to agree with the great playwright:

"J'aime mieux un vice commode qu'une fatigante vertu". 

 


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