We hope that you are well and have had a good year.

With so much of unsettling importance going on in the world its difficult to know where to start so this will be a short family update.

For us its been a year of meeting up with friends and family, maybe partly post-pandemic effects. We spent a wonderful 2022 Christmas in Belize with cousin Christine, Michael and their 3 daughters based in the US. We stayed on 2 different Cayes which were only just above the waterline and within sight of the reef where scuba diving, snorkelling, kayaking etc was available. Christmas was spent at a remote jungle lodge which afforded us the opportunity to see a very different landscape and wildlife as well as Mayan ruins.

In February we were privileged to stay in a friend’s flat in central Paris which meant we could walk everywhere- this being assisted by cold but bright weather. We spent some time sunning ourselves in the nearest brasserie but mostly caught up with friends and re-acquainted ourselves with the major galleries and museums and were amazed at the progress being made on restoring Notre Dame.

We spent a lot of time between April and November at our house in Provence where we decided to make a big push to finish outstanding projects. As usual in Provence it takes a while to realise reality. We were delighted to have so many visitors -starting with David’s sister and brother-in-law closely followed by friends from Australia, as well as multiple visitors from the UK and The Netherlands. This gave us ample opportunity to delve into our cellar to go with the delights of fresh produce; from strawberries and asparagus at Easter to chanterelles in the autumn. Days were hot, evenings were long, and we were grateful for the large umbrella we bought to shade us. As usual we had an ample harvest of figs, although we have now sadly removed a few of the trees as part of the garden maintenance. We also had the opportunity for some memorable dining out – Alison and Alex celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary in Gigondas at the family Perrin’s L’Oustalet and Teresa’s birthday at Chateau La Coste. We also enjoyed the Harvest picnic again at Domaine Puy in Languedoc.

We did spend some time in the UK with a visit to north Norfolk where we managed some long walks and in the autumn in London celebrating important milestones with friends. David’s niece and family stayed with us in London where we managed a lot- from christening their daughter to an evening at Ronnie Scott’s. Talking of jazz we were amazed at the music around us in Provence during the summer and we managed to attend a reasonable amount: from a concert of music written by women of the Middle Ages performed on period instruments by three women each of whom played a number of them, via baroque church music, to more modern interpretations of dances in a local chateau at the end of the season and Jazz with the Darius Brubeck Quartet.

Teresa has continued supervising her students who are decreasing in number as their degrees are awarded. She took the opportunity to go to visit family in Poland at the end of November – just as it snowed, so her visit was necessarily short.

David is the main fig picker and jam maker when in France and continues to cycle, import some wine and Champagne and organise Imperial College wine tastings.

S

M

All our good wishes for happiness and health in the coming year and let’s hope we can all meet up in person again in 2024!

— Teresa, David, Luke, & Matthew —