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 Dwight Peck's personal website
Mr
Peck's frustratingly busy summer 2002
Summer
2002 swooped in fast, blasted by over our heads with an acrid smell, and disappeared
over the horizon. Mr D. Peck, for a large number of work-related reasons, was
unable to plan any holidays from 2001 right all the way through 2002, until after
the 8th Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting
Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, and well into the spring of
2003 for that matter. He snatched an hour or two when he could, of course, but
when Mr Charles Berman came to Europe in July -- it was his turn, we've had to
go to the USA for the past two summers -- the poor man was pretty much on his
own.
No
worries -- Sir Charles and Prof Lisa Durham went to the convent in Italy for 4th
of July celebrations, then (as Lisa shlepped his luggage over on the train) the
worthy gentleman rode his bicycle up through northern Italy and over the Simplon
Pass.
Arthur,
Charlie, Judy, and Lisa work the Italian nuns into a 4th of July frenzy
Bouncing
gingerly back and forth between Bassins, Aigle, and Leysin as he pursued his quaint
ideas of fun for a month and, mainly, read newspapers in sidewalk cafés
all over the canton of Vaud, Professor Berman was able to spare a few days for
a nostalgic hike up Jaman and another with his buddies to Truex and Famelon in
the Leysin area.
Informal
ACS reunion at the Chalet des Fers in the rain, July 2002.
Seizing
the opportunity of the Secretary General's consent to a four-day weekend in late
July, Mr Peck darted off with Mr Berman for a walk over the mountains into Italy,
and then back again.
Peck
cavorting at the Fenêtre de Durand, en route for Italy.
Following
all which, the former Leysinoud trotted along amiably ahead of Profs. Durham,
Peck, and Pirri to view one of their favorite destinations in recent years, Mont
Tendre in the Swiss Jura.
Jeering
one another's literary opinions on Mont Tendre
And then,
on the eve of departure back to the Land of Homeland Security and the War on Terrists,
His Bermanship mingled with the crowd at Prof Durham's birthday party in Aigle,
on the Swiss National Day, 1 August 2002.
Pop
versions of well-known arias at Lisa's birthday party
Late
in the summer, Dr Peck threatened to buy a gun and shoot his way out of the Ramsar
Bureau, so the Secretary General cunningly relented and young Marlowe Peck was
able to come along from the USA for two weeks at the end of August, during which
time she went camping amongst the cows, etc. and . . .
Marlowe
and the attack of the Cow Commandos on Mont Tendre
took
a drive up to do the weekendy tourist thing at wonderful Colmar and Strasbourg
in the Alsace-Lorraine, following which . . .
Colmar
and Strasbourg - tons of 16th and 17th century architecture that luckily escaped
US and British bombing
she
went over to northern Italy to do some hiking with friends Dad, Lisa, and André
(Dante) in the Val d'Ollomont and the Valpelline, partially in the rain.
Marlowe
descending sheepishly from the Cheval Blanc towards dinner in Ollomont, Italy,
24 August 2002.
September hikes
 Feedback
and suggestions are welcome if positive, resented if negative,
 . All
rights reserved, all wrongs avenged. Posted 27 October 2002, revised 19 January
2008, 11 February 2014.
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