John's Newsletter 2005

Who's Whose & Where

• Fran: ex-wife, in Cambridge

• Andy: son, with partner Séverine and their son Jake (4) in Cognac, France

• Chris: Andy's son (13) in Bournemouth

• Louise: daughter, with husband Andy and children Rory (2) and Morgan (6 months) in Almere, Netherlands

• Andrew: my partner

• Anna: Andrew's sister, with husband David and their son Christopher (6) in Fangfoss, Yorkshire

• Anne & Peter: Andrew's parents, in Pocklington, Yorkshire

Family On 6 July Louise & Andy's second son Morgan Anthony John Slade (my fourth grandson) was born by cæsarian section in the Netherlands.

Animals Our cat Lucy died in December 2004, aged about 15. Fran's horse Melody (on whom I learned to ride) is now 30 and living in retirement in Worcestershire!

Travel

Christmas 2004: Edam, Netherlands.

New Year's Eve 2004: Yorkshire.

March: Venice (in the snow!!) with Anne & Peter.

March: Amsterdam (where we met up with friends Tanya & Bob from San Francisco) & Almere.

May (on my own): Telford, Lake District, & Birmingham.

May: Lille in France and Kortrijk in Belgium by Eurostar.

June: Tallinn in Estonia.

July: Amsterdam & Almere.

August: Amsterdam & Almere & Edam for my 60th birthday.

September (main holiday): Singapore, Thailand (Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Koh Samui).

October: Berlin & Brandenburg.

December: Amsterdam & Almere.

Christmas 2005: Fangfoss.

Health With the effects of my slipped disk becoming steadily worse, I at last had an MRI scan that shows the protruding disk and the trapped nerve. On 24 November a surgeon at the Royal Free Hospital in London sawed a lobe off one of my vertebrae to free the nerve and stop it getting any worse. It remains to be seen whether or not the numbness in my left leg and foot goes away.

Exercise Somewhat restricted because of my numb leg. I led a walk along the Thames in London on an exceedingly cold April evening, we walked along the Ridgeway from Tring with friends on a lovely sunny Sunday in April, and in the Lake District in May I climbed the mountain called High Street (about 2700ft) and did several shorter and lower walks. Andrew and I walked along with the Pride Parade in London in July, and I have done several local walks round Baldock and at Wimpole Hall.

Friends Our friend Tony Kempson, organiser of the annual Pink Punting expedition in Cambridge, died at the end of September following a short illness. In May I met my schoolfriend and best man Gerald and his wife in Telford, after a gap of 30 years.

Work Continues as before, mainly editing biographies of Cambridge alumni.

Singing With Trinity College Music Society choir I performed Brahms' Requiem in March. I later rehearsed Vivaldi's Gloria and Haydn's Nelson Mass but was away for the performance.

Genealogy I'm about halfway through my genealogy course, and getting on reasonably well, though slowly. I had a residential weekend in Canterbury in November to do some revision. With my professional genealogy service advertised on the internet, I'm finding that I receive too many enquiries, particularly since few of them are straightforward. And it's never going to be a huge money-making venture!

Photographs Many of our holiday photographs can be found on our website

www.rabancourt.co.uk, and my genealogy site is at www.rabancourt.co.uk/abacus

 Our new home email addresses are: john @ rabancourt.co.uk and andrew @ rabancourt.co.uk