old bob

You have in Switzerland two kinds of "naturist's beaches : the ones (a very few) closed and owned by a private organisation, the "open ones", not officially allowed but still used. You find them on beaches near Zurich, on the Riviera of the lake of Geneva (see my gallery here ) and Locarno. Some of them are used by a mix of gays and straights, some by gays only. Every now and them, people in the neighborhood complain and ask the local authorities to interfer but mostly without success. I suppose that other places exist on the other Swiss lakes. I just mentioned these where I went . Bathing nude is an old tradition !

One of my best memories of my holidays in the italian part of Switzerland are the gorges of the Maggia river, near Locarno. A fine place to enjoy the sun and to swim naked in the cold water and the swirls of the river. Just a picture as an example : I will post other pictures of the same gorges in my gallery. BTW, the swimmers you see there are all wearing swimming trunks, no nude pictures here, I keep them for myself .

wow, bigbear ! nice memories.... I have also a lot to narrate , not as a computer expert, but as user, manager of an engineering group, with an intern computer center for civil engineering (bridges, buildings), and at the same time partner of another extern computer center, with an UNIVAC machine, selling programming and machine time (time sharing) to everybody.. Funny times, a lot of occasions to earn much money, but also a lot of occasions to loose it when the first IBM PCs came and over-all the Web. I never learnt programming, just Basic for the beginning. and I remember the times when an extern harddisk was a "slice" of 50 cm diameter and 5 cm thick with 2 MB in it !

I began 1965 (46 years ago !) with an IBM 1130, and an intern network between the companies of my group. The beast filled a whole room, but the screen was just 20 cm highon 30 cm long. My first PC came 1984. IBM 1130

"..but it makes me wonder what my dreams are now...." Dont worry ! I'm asking myself the same question almost once every year since 1945 (almost 66 years ago). There are two ways to be happy : either to fulfill your wishes or to live day by day and enjoy the little pleasures of life. A good advice from my own experiences : some people are made to "take a gamble", some people are more conscious of their real possibilities. To know to which part you belong, to accept it and be happy with it is a goodness you merit. Another experience . the worst is when you think you are able to "take a gamble", you took it and you end in a mist, with nothing in front. Believe me, I did it several times. I dont regret it, but if I could go back in time, I wouldn't do it again .

Has this something to do with the efforts of the scientists at the CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Reseacrh) in Geneva with their new LHC to explore the beginning of the Universe ?

Lately, the days lengthen, the sun comes early and stays late at the top of the terrace. We changed our watches to summer time and it's nice! My old muscles are rejuvenated and the urge to run and swim itches. The parks and their jogging trails are calling. I resumed my subscription to the public pool (partly covered for warm-up and an outdoor pool to enjoy the coolness of the water with the sun reflected on its surface. I am glad to get out, walk in the city, watching all these teenages and young people dressed more lightly. All their winter clothes have disappeared. I enjoy the pleasure to look around and to dream what could happen, as it happened in my younger years..... Even if my body sometimes struggles to get going, I'm 30 years younger in my head. I know it will not last, the clouds and rain will return, but what a fun to recover, at least for a time, a part of my youth. Regardless of the worries, the bad news of the world, problems are made to be solved and my optimistic nature has taken over again. Provided it lasts ....but each storm always gives rise to a rainbow sky, then as now. Thanks to LIFE, my heart beats faster and I feel alive again.

Wow ! a wonderful poem . I would be proud to have it written (with some tailoring) on my gravestone.

Forums, stories, chat and other sites recommended by the topic "friends of GA". Only reader, I'm not able to write in English, my mother tongue is French. Yes, as much as possible, but not so much I would, because I'm still busy and working at home. Yes GA is . I cann't give much back, living too far away from a majority of members. A few members became my friends and I'm happy of that. In my comments, I always try to advise the young (and sometimes the old) members, using my experiences of a long life, with good and bad moments from which I learned to accept myself and the others. Regular, checking GA a least once a day. I like particularly the fact that members'ages go from 16 to 82 (that's me, I suppose I'm the eldest member . I found it 5 years ago. I dont remember exactly how. Maybe through another gay stories site.

I agree with Jamie . Fine story. More than ready to read what will come next.

I was checking what Eon said : Its the best adequate definition of an alpha male . Looking back in all my memories, It suits perfectly with who I was and with what I did, till I met other "alpha males"... It resulted always in fights, and I didnt win each time. Live is funny and hard. Thats makes it worthy . Old Bob (a retired "alpha male")

You wrote : "a gadfly, a small buzzing creature that finds a weak place in your arguments and lies and stings the living shit out of you". What disturb or derange me in your phrase is that you put on the same level "arguments" and "lies". conter Arguments in a fair and polite discussion is always a pleasure. A well known example among Jews is the Pilpul. see Pilpul (The word Pilpul has entered English as a colloquialism used by some to indicate extreme disputation or casuistic hairsplitting.) On the contrary, when someone bring obvious Lies in a discussion, It's neither fair nor polite, and the gadfly may become a pest against whom you should fight with as much power as possible or even stop the discussion.

Good luck Joe . Your future is in your hands and I'm sure you will succeed. You are strong enough, you have proved it .

I’m proud to be what I am, proud of my successes, proud of my errors, proud as well of my qualities as of my defects, proud to have arrived at my age with scars at my heart and at my body but alive, with still sufficient forces to enjoy the life and to ensure my place among the warriors. I’m proud of still being able to help around me, to be accepted by my peers, to have been able to preserve some friends, not to have forgotten those who left us for always. I’m proud to have released myself from the constraints of the religion, to have been able to find a source of faith that suits me, proud to have known to find my place in the line of my ancestors. But my pride has not only advantages. Remember the fable of the raven and the fox (by Jean de La Fontaine translated by Elizur Wright) : The Raven and the Fox Perch'd on a lofty oak, Sir Raven held a lunch of cheese; Sir Fox, who smelt it in the breeze, Thus to the holder spoke:─ "Ha! how do you do, Sir Raven? Well, your coat, sir, is a brave one! So black and glossy, on my word, sir, With voice to match, you were a bird, sir, Well fit to be the Phoenix of these days." Sir Raven, overset with praise, Must show how musical his croak. Down fell the luncheon from the oak; Which snatching up, Sir Fox thus spoke:─ "The flatterer, my good sir, Aye liveth on his listener; Which lesson, if you please, Is doubtless worth the cheese." A bit too late, Sir Raven swore The rogue should never cheat him more. Flatterers have often been the source of the difficulties I encountered in my business life. I often could not distinguish a fake from a real friend. I have often been too optimistic, underestimating the risks of the proposals I got, too proud to say no. In one phrase : I have often failed to take advantage of the lessons of “The Raven and the Fox”. Today, my pride and my pleasure is also to have learned from my bad experiences : Learned to think twice before to proceed, Overestimate the negative aspects and underestimate the possible results of each new project, Do not want too much, recognize that my strength is limited. But on the other side, one never knows…. Each of us is still sensitive to flattery, even me …..

James, I'm grateful . You gave me an answer I'm in accord with. Thanks !

Wow, This is really one of your best short stories . To appreciate it even more, I will try to translate it in french, and show it to my sons ( evidently with your name as author .

It doesn't ! Because I don't write english stories, which is a rule here . Although I speak 4 languages, I prefer to write in French, my mother tongue. BTW, the way how I view the world has nothing to do with where I live. It's a cultural or a educational point.

Army of shadows (French l'armée des ombres) is a 1969 french film about the fights of the French resistance during WWII. I saw this movie recently, which reminded me of my own memories of the period 1939-1945. I was 10 years in 39 and 16 years in 45. Living in a neutral country, surrounded on all sides by German forces, we expected every day the Nazi invasion. Our army of 600,000 soldiers strong, was ready. But we had enemies within the numerous members of the Swiss Nazi party, which wanted Switzerland to become a member of the "Greater Germany". Other Swiss, anti-Semitic or economically dependent on Germany, sought to undermine the spirit of resistance of army officers.Many Jews fleeing the occupied countries were trying to flee to Switzerland, but many were repressed, the government refusing to accept them to please the Nazis. I was a member of a Jewish organization that fought against the decisions of the government and tried to help as many refugees as possible and bring them through the Swiss borders. To do it through young people was easier because the Swiss and German soldiers did less care than to adult people. So, in my own modest way, in spite of my age, I was also a member of this Army of Shadows. Today, after WWII, Korea, the Cold War, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Operation United Shield in Somalia, the KFOR in Kosovo, it seems to me that war has always been somewhere in the world since my birth. The American people, among others, since 1941, has always had soldiers fighting against the enemies of the free world and dying.So today the real “Army of Shadows” , with all his millions of dead soldiers, is standing, looking at us, the young and the old people still alive, and asking : was their deaths really necessary ? We are responsible to find the right answer to their question. I didn’t yet. It’s why I’m asking here.

Reading back your last blogs since last September, I tried to put myself in your place. I think your problem is the same as mine when I was your age. It seems to me that we are both bi, able to live happily with and love someone as any sex whatsoever, male or female. Does it mean that we are gayer, or more bi? For me, the circumstances made me to meet at 22 a girl, to fell “in love”, to merry her, to have 4 children, to lose a daughter through AIDS and a son through heart infraction, still living today with my wife after soon 60 years, and, on the other side and in the same 60 years, meeting several times nice people who became very close friends, if not boyfriends. In a few words, if you are really bi (and your life story prove it) the problem to be bi or gay is a wrong problem, because it isn’t up to you to resolve it. Go around with the people you can meet, guys or girls. Don’t try to chose one gender or the other. Let the hazard (or the chance) guide you. Fate or Fortune exist, believe me. Your destiny is to meet someone and when you find him or her, you will know it. Good luck !

Thanks for this wonderful pic from the Passerelle des Arts . You are a lucky man ! Paris is also one of my favorite places. My father was.born rue de Turenne, I lived several years in Paris (first rue des Bauches in the 16ème, then rue Buffault in the 9ème) but the quarter I prefer is the Marais (you can imagine why ) .

When you get older (as I do ), scrabble is a nice way to keep the capability of your memory "alive" .

The choice was difficult ! All stories are good .

From the number of posted pics and the multitude of comments, it seems to me that everybody like the topic "show yourself". Going through a lot of profiles, I found that numerous members don’t hesitate to indicate the region where they live. Our members are “all around the world”. It’s why I found interesting to create a topic "show your place”. If you like the place where you live, why not share it with others ? GA shouldn’t turn into a “tourist’s office", but to look at beautiful places (not only to beautiful gals and guys) is also a pleasure. Visit places “all around the world” is fun. That’s where I live. In 2009, a survey found Geneva to have the third-highest quality of life of any city in the world . But it was also ranked as the fourth most expensive city in the world Here another place in the Swiss mountains where I spent several winter holidays with my children and friends an bought a lodge (I sold it later, too expensive) .

Pointers ? I can't give anything else than two proverbs I picked in a long list : To know others, we must first know yourself. Everyone knows where the shoe pinches. To be "out of your element" should be a pleasure once you have accepted it !

Mazel Tov ! Perhaps I'm too early, but it doesnt matter BTW, ask him if you dont know what it means