House

In February, just as Jane was about to exchange contracts for the sale of her house next door to us, an accident at the traffic lights outside caused one of the cars to spin off and hit the pillars which support the overhanging room. The first pillar (9"-square oak) shattered into three pieces; the car came to rest embedded round the second pillar (which luckily wasn't damaged). There are pictures at http://people.pwf.cam.ac.uk/jld1/house/rabanc.html. We all heard the bang, but didn't realise what had happened until we went outside. The house suffered only minor cracks to the plaster inside and the rendering outside. After lots of discussion with the Heritage people, the pillar was replaced, but an additional pillar was put in the middle for extra support. Despite this mishap, our friends Malcolm and Danny continued with the house purchase, and moved in at the end of March.

Family

In January Fran was again diagnosed with breast cancer, this time in the other breast. She had the lump removed, with some under-arm nodes, a few of which also proved to be infected, so she had another operation in March to remove the remaining nodes. After both operations she was up, dressed, and drinking tea in the cafe before her first visitors arrived! Ten days after the second operation she went to Prague to sing with the choir. She then had a course of radiotherapy, and just three days after her last treatment walked 8 miles on my Highgate walk (see below)! At the end of July she punted a group to Grantchester. As before, her positive attitude inspired us all.

Andrew's parents stayed with us in February and we went to the theatre in London to see 'Art'. Andrew and I spent Easter with Andrew's family in Yorkshire, and also went there to celebrate Andrew's birthday, his nephew's 2nd birthday, and his parents' 40th wedding anniversary in October.

Andy (son) visited in June from Bordeaux with his girlfriend Sévérine, and they went punting with Andrew, Louise, Fran and me. Sévérine is expecting their baby in January. Andy's son Christopher is going to live with them in Bordeaux.

Louise changed jobs and became a supervisor with a security firm, arranging rosters and travelling round trouble-shooting.

I had a wonderful 56th birthday: Andrew and I, Fran, Louise, her Andy, and Richard Holland went Go-Karting at Letchworth (the first time I'd done it). Andrew and I weren't very good! Buffet lunch at Baldock, then we visited Cromer Windmill and had a fascinating tour. The afternoon continued with afternoon tea at Westmill, and in the evening four of us went to a club in London.

To celebrate Louise's birthday we went to Castle Hedingham to watch a jousting display, and had afternoon tea in the village.

Travel

A busy year! In March we visited Amsterdam, with a trip to Den Bosch. Andrew went to Bombay and Pune in India for a week for work but didn't get much time to look round. In June we had 5 days in Copenhagen, with trips to Malmö in Sweden, and to Helsingør (Shakespeare's Elsinore), and in July to Berlin for five days, with a lovely day sunbathing and swimming by the Wannsee (pictures at http://www.rabancourt.co.uk). The highlights were going up the dome of the Reichstag, and having coffee at the top of the television tower. Andrew went to Hanover in August and is going to Frankfurt in December for badminton competitions. We're planning a weekend in Amsterdam in January, and a June/July 2002 holiday in San Francisco.

Our main holiday was a return to Cenno in Tuscany, this time with Andrew's parents (pictures at http://www.rabancourt.co.uk). We watched the Palio (horse-race) round the town square. Lovely trips to the sea, to various ancient towns, and to Assisi, marred only by the news of the 11 September suicide bombings in the USA. Our last three days were spent in Rome, with tours of St Peter's and the Sistine Chapel; Michelangelo's ceiling frescoes look very fine since their cleaning.

Andrew and I visited Kew Gardens in May. Fran and I went to Longleat and came back via Avebury. Fran house-sat for friends in a wonderful flat overlooking Greenwich Maritime Museum, I visited her there and we went by boat to central London to see the Vermeer exhibition at the National Gallery. Andrew and I took Fran to the Loy Kratong festival at the Buddhist Temple in Wimbledon. Fran and I went to Whipsnade in October.

Exercise

On New Year's Day Jill organised a walk round St Ives and Houghton, on a beautiful day. We had to paddle through the flooded river meadows. The first group walk that I led was in April, round Kensal Green Cemetery, then along the canal from Little Venice to King's Cross in London. The second, in June, was round Highgate, across Hampstead Heath, and round Hampstead village (though mutiny set in after we stopped at a pub in Hampstead and everyone refused to go any further!). In July a large group of us punted from Cambridge to Grantchester, picnicked there, and some of us swam in the river.

I've joined a gym in Baldock, and am trying to go twice a week, in addition to some swimming.

Friends

Michael and Graham celebrated their 10th anniversary with a party aboard a boat on the river Cam. Malcolm and Danny bought the house next door to us (see above). Tanya and Bob from California stayed with us in February. Richard Holland from Dubai stayed with us in August.

In September King's College held a reunion dinner for my year's intake (1963), and five of the six of us who shared a house in our second year were there. The following day Andrew and I gave lunch for them and Fran in Baldock.

I joined a school reunion web site: http://www.friendsreunited.co.uk, and have made contact with several friends from Wallingford.

Music

In March I sang Rachmaninov's Vespers in King's chapel: I managed to sing some of the extremely low notes. Owing to a continuing cough I failed to sing in Beethoven's Missa Solemnis in June. In November I sang Poulenc's Gloria and Duruflé's Requiem, and the orchestra played Saint-Saëns' Organ Symphony.

Genealogy

I have become much more involved with genealogy this year, having bought the complete 1881 Census and the National Burial Index on CD-ROM. I've joined the Society of Genealogists and the Essex Society for Family History, and written two articles for the journal Computers in Genealogy. Having advertised my family research on the internet, I was contacted by a number of people, one a very distant relation, who sent me a copy of a painting by my gt-gt-gt- grandmother in about 1830 of an ancestral home, 'Coopers', in Abbess Roding (picture at http://people.pwf.cam.ac.uk/jld1/family/coopers.jpg). I have visited 'Coopers' (a thatched cottage built between 1590 and 1630), and was given a very warm welcome by the present owners (not related to me). They showed me a booklet produced about their house, and I've obtained a copy on disk. The author of that booklet is now, by coincidence, researching a house called 'Assers', in High Roding, which is probably another ancestral home. The most distant ancestors I have so far found are Joseph Asser (b. 1771 in Fyfield, Essex), who married in 1795 Sarah Hart (b. 1775 in Bottisham, Cambs.)

You can email me at jld1@cam.ac.uk

My web page is at http://people.pwf.cam.ac.uk/jld1/