overthemoon's photostream  

Another drawing by Max Thommen.
Wielding the whip is Giles, our beloved Chief Editor. The legs in the foreground must be those of Hans, Production. Between his legs is Nigel, Marketing Manager, and I recognize Anna-Lena, who took care of reprints, at Nigel's feet. Dragging the load, centre, I think is Mandy, now in London; that is me with hammer and chisel, and in the foreground my colleague Christina. I can't remember why we are in rags or why this hard labour, maybe the computers had broken down, maybe just a problem with deadlines again?

My editorial career began with Berlitz Travel Guides in Lausanne in the 1980s, and I worked there till the company was moved to Oxford in 1991. We had a weekly in-house newspaper called the Berlitz Bugle, and one of my colleagues in Production, usually did a caricature to illustrate the lead story. I saved all the originals from the hands of the "liquidators" and still have them all. This was done when we were editing the first Turkey country guide; on the left, in the background, is Max himself, drawing the scene; front left is Doris Haldemann, who chose the photos and did the layout, centre is me, editing; on the right the sultan is Pierre Koechli, typographer, and watching over us all, Hans Heusser, who was the vital link coordinating Editorial, Production and the Printers, ensuring we all stuck to our deadlines.
Max left us a few months ago, Doris over a year ago, I think. I worked with Pierre in Oxford in the early 1990s during a brief spell of secondment, and he has also worked several times in the company I'm with now. He's now with a pharmaceutical company, the same one as Hans.

Charlie Chaplin bathed in an orange and purple sunset

vineyards in winter
colours changed by picasa cinematographic effect
Taken from Cully, Riex village in centre

couleurs changées par l'effet cinematographique dans picasa.
Prise depuis Cully, le village de Riex au centre

When we came to live in Switzerland we looked at an apartment in Riex; at the time (we were in our mid-20s) we thought it too far away from civilization (i.e. Lausanne), and the apartment in question was furnished in fragile antiques, not the kind of thing you need with a baby on the way... So we turned it down. And now, wouldn't I love to live there!

the hamlet of Treytorrens on the lake shore, seen from Cully.
Right down by the water's edge you can see the train to Lausanne (red engine) - see largest size