2000: Y2K arrives without major incident
For reasons which are currently obscure, this year's annual update is less
interesting than some. So we're going to add to it here and there.
There were a lot of great photos, and we'll include some of those.
First, before every Christmas, the children write to Father Christmas to
affirm how good they've been during the year and state a few preferences when it
comes to gifts. Here is a letter to Father Christmas dated December 15,
2000:
Cher Père
Noel,
Cette année,
je voudrais te demander beaucoup de choses parce que j’ai
été
très
patiente avec mon mari malgré
tout ce qu’il m’a fait subir. J’ai aussi supporté
les enfants et si tu vivais ici Père
Noel, tu saurais que ce n’est pas facile. Je te fais donc la liste complète
mais tu n’es pas obligé
de tout apporter tout de suite, je pourrais attendre jusqu’à la Saint Valentin
pour le reste :
-
un canapé
club en cuir marron
-
une
chemise de nuit blanche en dentelle tout coton
-
un
humidificateur d’air pour ma chambre
-
un meuble pour cacher
l’horrible téléviseur
qui enlaidit le salon et ramollit le cerveau déjà
atteint des enfants
-
un casque sans fil
pour écouter
la télévision
sans déranger
les ronfleurs (mon cerveau est en bon etat)
-
un
ensemble de huit belles chaises pour la salle-à-manger, afin que l’on puisse
tous etre assis
In 2007, she finally got the chairs!
On the left, Alban expressing interest in sweets at
Disney World. On the
right, Alban again, this time in his role of neighborhood scamp, guiding his
little brothers on skateboards down the driveway. This driveway is steep!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYBODY!!!!
It’s the season to recount our blessings!! If you want to recount with us,
you can look up family photographs at www.zinzins.net, our website. The site’s
not far along, to be honest, but there are a bunch of photos up there already.
Our furniture finally arrived from France, after three years of Tison’s (the
moving company’s) trying to blackmail us into paying double the initial
estimate. The furniture makes us feel finally at home, and reconnects us with
the years gone by. The worst thing was not having our photos, which we’re now
scanning into computer format. The one of mum and dad at
Disneyland in 1976 is
quite something! Nonetheless, all of the kids' toys and clothes have been
outgrown, depriving our older kids of a part of their childhood. Bravo Tison!!
We hope that you are proud.
Let's not dwell on Tison SA, the lying cheating moving company in Coignières
or Maurepas, depending on the year,
and especially not on M. Arnaud Bourlé, Tison's
undersized manager back in 1997. No, let's go back to
Disney World, this time in the water!
Can you see us? From left to right, mostly waving at Maman, with the camera,
it's Nick, Alban (both drenched),
Papa, Charlie and
Daphné.
For once, we took a summer vacation elsewhere than in France. It was a bit of
a risk, because Marie-Hélène needs her annual taste of her homeland. But she
spent four days in Paris early in the year, and we all decided that a fortnight
in Florida would be an acceptable alternative. And off to
Disney World we went!
Three days in three different theme parks gave the kids something else to argue
about (that was the best ride! No this was! You know the style). Not to forget
Miami, where we spent a few nights in a lovely hotel on Key Biscayne, and
Charlie started swimming by himself and without floats, just before his fifth
birthday.
Nick started High School this year, and
Daphne's in her last year of junior
high. We are NOT getting older but COLLEGE IS GETTING CLOSER!! These are the
good years, the good old days, but how will we pay for the follow on?! Alban and
Tom start junior high next year as well. And we have another brood starting out,
Charlie in kindergarten and Alex at Holy Cross pre-school two days a week.
Charlie has already informed us that he prefers school to home, which we like to
believe is a comment on our marvelous Happy Valley School (and little Bridget in
his class) more than on the home! Home can be a bit rough at times, though. The
normal petty jealousies and squabbling do get magnified in a “blended” family.
Nick turned 14 this year, and his teenage tendencies were definitely on an
upsurge. Here is an excerpt from one his school projects at Branciforte Junior
High School: Once upon a time there was a teacher
(who shall remain unnamed), a rather nice teacher that, instead of a final exam,
thought of the idea of making his students build a car. This car would have to
move six meters with an egg as its passenger. If the egg fell or broke, then the
car did not make the final exam. I rather liked this idea but the trouble was
that the student had to write a report that was to be about twelve pages long,
which made the teacher not 100% nice. I, one of those poor students, was one of
those martyrs that had to write an endlessly long report.
I left Wilson Sonsini. It is a fabulous firm, but for one reason and another
(mostly tied to my being an outsider here after ten years in France), I was in a
box there. I am now working for a chip company (the semiconductor, not vinegar
variety!), consulting for the first UK law firm to open a Silicon Valley office
(Osborne Clarke, from Bristol) and on the Advisory Board of a net translation
start-up. This is the best place in the world for an international lawyer that
likes to do deals.
Another year banging along in the express train of our lives, our only real
regret those we have lost along the way. All the best to you and yours!
Here is is our carousel of time, and here are
other annual updates: 1994, 1995,
1996, 1997, 1998,
1999,
2001, 2002, 2003,
2004, 2005,
2006, 2007
