We'll always have Paris..... We love the little side streets in the "Quatier Latin"....for our last few visits we have always stayed within stiking distance of Rue Mouffetard, with it's cobbled road of bars and restaurants - surrounded by the Sorbonne.
The gardens and shops - creperies & gelaterias - champagne bars, street-performers, and the hubbub of the left bank.
This is what we do well -- sit in restaurants, eat, drink and laugh about it all.
We wandered around the gardens, and river banks of Paris. Trying to walk off the restaurants that punctuated our lives. Having both lived in Paris at different times of our lives, we loved the city - and tolerated the people. Jean was lacking energy since coming back coming back from a Malaga holiday with her sister a week before. She had consulted doctors in the UK, but ECG's and various other tests had found nothing wrong.
One of the reasons we met up in Paris again at the end of May 08, was for Jean to see the family of Francoise, the doctor for whom she worked as an au-pair many, many years ago.
We visited them in the XVI arrondissement when the French Tennis Open was on.
These are the two "babies" she wheeled around the Luxemburg Gardens
Jean loves walking - and she can out-walk me.
Staying opposite the "Jardin de Plantes" in Paris, we did our usual wanderings - but she was tiring easily - and she resolved to see our doctor, on return to Gozo.
Ten days later, Jean saw our doctor, Robert Sciberras, on Friday 13th June 2008, and he realised that there was a lot of fluid on her left lung.
This one and a half litres of fluid was drained the next day.
Here is Jeannie, on her way to Malta for her first MRI - to try and find out what was happening to her - and why she was overtaken by this new listlessness.
We met up with our best friends on Gozo - Frank and Betty Plunkett - who'd we've known for 25 years.
Frank & myself on the ferry with our ladies - happy as sand-boys as usual - little did we know.
This is Jeannie, waiting for her first MRI at St. James' Hospital Malta, where a tumour with plural diffusions was diagnosed on Monday 15th. Many drainages, chemo- and irradiation treatments followed at the Boffa Hospital in Malta. It was a hot, tiring summer for her, and the tumour was receding.
She received permission to travel to the UK - to the wedding of Sade and John in December - and then again for Christmas and New Year with family and friends.
Unfortunately she collapsed on January 2nd, at her sister Betty's house in Felixstowe.
At Ipswich hospital she was diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism on her GOOD lung!
I made it back to see her at 12 am on Friday the 9th - she recognised me and smiled - as she fought for oxygen. Unfortunately she passed away that afternoon at 18:00 hrs - just 210 days after Robert's first diagnosis.
Her lovely best-friend Betty passed away quietly, five days later.
Frank and myself were devastated.
We went to a demonstration of "sabrage" - opening a champagne bottle with a sabre - at a famous wine farm in Franschoek, in the S.A Cape.
We'll always have Paris..... We love the little side streets in the "Quatier Latin"....for our last few visits we have always stayed within stiking distance of Rue Mouffetard, with it's cobbled road of bars and restaurants - surrounded by the Sorbonne.
One of the reasons we met up in Paris again at the end of May 08, was for Jean to see the family of Francoise, the doctor for whom she worked as an au-pair many, many years ago.
Here is Jeannie, on her way to Malta for her first MRI - to try and find out what was happening to her - and why she was overtaken by this new listlessness.
The thing that I'll really "miss" in San Francisco, will be the crab!
This is my new microscope that I had sent to the Radisson at Fisherman's wharf in SFO all the way from Amscope in Los Angeles. It has an outlet for the camera-computer linkage, and is 2-180X with all kinds of accessories for looking at my gems, fossils and coins.
You are really back in Gozo when you are back in the Gleneagles - fisherman's bar - bastardos & mafiosi. George & mate feature here.
We've been through a lot of wine & food together - my mate Revel with one of his fancy Fleet Street waistcoats!
Denise discovered some of the leather gear from Castro, and was taken with it. 
Denise came out with Jean and myself to meet Julian at one of many dinner parties. His wife, Robin, plus Revel and Paula are out of picture.
Old men - young women! I should be arrested! Ah the lovely Natasha loves to dance!
Only one day back in Chad, and I encountered this fellow : I was naked in my bathroom and he was wizzing around at 30mph. I gassed it - and when we reconstituted the golf-ball like corpse it came out to be about 4" long - a baby camel spider - and we don't know where mum is!
This is Regis squinting at me - as usual. He is the French Ops Geologist - and my boss & mate. A good but strange fellow, who loves wine like me!
Jake was being transferred back to Houston afetr about 4 years here. And somebody gave him an African night-dress and told him it suited him. Shoukat is admiring the whole get-up.
Regis is having a Frenchman's afternoon mango-break with Christian.
Sam Sutin went off to work on another project in XOM - which was a relief as he was always breaking things and stealing sweets form my office. Then he ended up back on the Chad project - but from a Houston armchair + married. How some people do it?!?
Here's my good buddy & boss Sonny - erudite and lucid - well that's what he tells me!
