A multitude of descendants (30+) of Harts/Danbys/Parrs/Goachers plus associated hangers-on met up at 'Klondyke', the old family farm in N. Wheatley, Nottinghamshire. The youngest were great-great-grandchildren of the characters in the photos on the walls, and up to as many as 4th-cousins of eachother. Our hosts, Mary & Peter did us proud as usual, with a heavily laden table of food, and a good time was had by all. During the day we strolled through the fields and heritage orchards, and admired the new barn and more recent renovations to the house. All of us have different memories and stories to tell about this special place. We all left well fed and heartened by old and new family connections. In fact, the Thompson-NZ clan had been down to Klondyke a couple of days beforehand and helped ... read more

We arrived at my mum's place in N. Lincs about 10 days ago. Great to be in a familiar place with regular meals and the prospect of staying in the same bed for an extended period of time. Also good to be outside doing physical jobs again - mowing lawns, chopping down trees, etc. Mum is well and (I hope) happy to give up her normally peaceful existence for the time we'll be here. The days have generally been fine but we've been spoilt by the Italian/French sunshine we experienced last month, so we're still waiting for the real summer to start! Although we're happy not to be tied to the car, we've managed to have a few trips out - York, Beverley, Brigg, Scunthorpe, Sheffield. My brother Keith visited us for a day, along with ... read more

We drove from Geneva across France to Chartres, 1 hour west of Paris, on Bastille Day. We had a slight hiccup coming off the autoroute when we go into the wrong lane (twice) and had to back out, then completely lost our ticket (did I drop it or did Pat file it somewhere in her purse never to be seen again?). Having found a ticket on the ground we carried on through and found that the 53 Euro price had now dropped to 18 Euro. We paid the money quickly and drove through perplexed - what are the chances that someone else dropped their ticket in exactly the same spot and we each picket up the wrong ticket? In any case, we treated ourselves to an extra large ice-cream on the proceeds! That evening we enjoyed ... read more

Great to be able to catch up with most of the old Clinical Project Management team at Jay's Indian restaurant and afterwards for a coffee overlooking the Rhein at the 4th King cafe. Old friends & colleagues included: Valerie Guertler, Pius Renner, Annie Wagener, Mary-Christine Wolff, Evert-Jan Schenkelars, Monika Borkert, Renata Lazorova, plus Vreni, Pat & myself. A pretty good turnout. On our return to Basel we managed to make contact with Nora Dyer (by phone) and Bill Collins (lunch).... read more

Since the last entry things have not been well with the Thompson family; in fact extremely unwell. A rogue Chicken Royale from McDonalds in the Markplatz Basel took out Katrina then spread to me, then Pat, then Jackson. Each of us has had a couple of days laid up in bed followed by a gradual recovery. Thankfully we haven't (yet) spread it to Vreni, Raymond, Björn or Laura. Today (Thursday) we are almost back to 100%. We might not visit another Golden Arches for the rest of this trip!! Our planned departure was yesterday but we now plan to leave Saturday morning before we overstay our welcome and Vreni & Raymond decide to throw us out on the street! Quite fortuitously, the old Sandoz Clinical Project Management team had arranged to hold a reunion at an ... read more