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228, Chemin de la Creuse, 01220-Divonne les Bains, France.

Home phone +33-450200089, mobile +33-612660439

E-mail: johnahaines@fastmail.fm

This letter brings to family and friends my warmest greetings for the New Year, along with an account of my life in

2016, with is its varied events, cultural activities, family occasions, renewed and new friendships and travels to

different parts of the world. Life has been enhanced by music from the festivals in Aix-en-Provence, Montperreux, the

Pays de Gex and Wexford, as well as performances at the Opera, Conservatory and Victoria Hall in Geneva, the

Concerts at the Temple in Ferney-Voltaire. The weddings of Guillaume deWiljes; the 80th birthday of Jim Salter and

the 60th of Andrew Kinley, as well as Brigitte Bärthel-Wolf's birthday; the Golden Wedding Anniversary of Margaret

and Alan Jones were times for celebration and joy. I was saddened by the death of great aunt Phyllis Albone (Grandma

Anderson's sister and the last of that generation) at the beginning of the year; and condolences to Anand on the death of

his grandfather in February. In addition to family and Anand, I have had the visits of many friends, including: Vajira

Liyanage from Sri Lanka (who came again for months touring Europe, using Divonne as his base); Carol Kelly from

North Carolina who is becoming one of the family; Daniel Tapia Takaki (who stayed while working at CERN on the

heavy ion and other projects), Omar Zein (now living in Turin), Mitaba Bayouma (from Togo), Ufoma Umolo (from

Nigeria). Meeting again Stefania Rago was a delight and we were able to go to a performance of a concert of two

guitars. We have a lively Christian Community in the Pays de Gex. Each month our pastor at the Eglise Protestante

Unie de France, Hyun-Seok (Daniel) Oh leads a very interesting and revealing bible study; for the Lectio divina, we

alternate with the local Catholic Community; and the GROG ecumenical group meets each month. The ecumenical

service in January was at Cross Roads Church in Ferney, father Roger Herbert preaching. When I have English

speaking visitors I often worship at the Anglican Church. The garden flowers have been even more splendid this year

and lasted till early November when we had the first frost. The fruit crop was not very good this year; but I had a good

crop of vegetables. Mushrooms (non-edible) were in abundance in the garden with the mild September weather. There

is a large variety of birds in the garden, the hedgehog and brown squirrel are frequently seen in the summer and also the

urban fox. For the whole year, I have kept more or less around 80 kg. I was pleased to learn that Eric Cocheteux made

such a good recovery after a lung replacement. Congratulations to Omar Zein on the publication of his book “Culture

and Project Management”; managing diversity in multicultural projects.

Christmas 2015 was spent with family in Coventry. Anand and I came back to Divonne for New Year's Eve

celebrations, joined by our friend Carol Kelly from North Carolina. We had a party on New Year's Eve at my place and

on New Year's Day at Jacqueline Forget's. There was a delightful and in places emotionally moving performance of the

"Magic Flute" at the Geneva Opera on the Sunday afternoon followed by dinner at Rita Seiler's. It was an unusual

setting without cuts in the Singspiel. The Mayor's reception in Divonne was on 10 January. Mike Ruse and Grzech

Chronowski arrived that week from Edinburgh and were very active in visiting friends and places. We were already

getting snow. Mike has an interesting job as an itinerant GP in the Highlands and Western Isles of Scotland, stationed

in Edinburgh, where Grzech is working. Mike is buying a place to live in Edinburgh following the Brexit vote. Work

called and they were unable to stay for my Annual Open House, where we had a good turnout of 30 to 40, mainly local,

friends. My Syrian friend Omar Zein came from Turin bringing some delicious local farm cheeses. There was quite a

good performance of La Traviata at the Esplanade in Divonne with professional lead singers and an amateur chorus.

The ending brought tears to the eyes, which is the sign of a good production. A haggis from Mike was a good excuse

for a Burns Night dinner, with tatis and neats to which I added pumpkin and some good malt whiskey. We were 8;

Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America were represented. We had Scottish music and quotations from the Bard. One

guest observed interestingly that while Welsh is still spoken, as the Bible and Book of Prayer were translated and

printed in Welsh; whereas an attempt to publish a Celtic version of the Bible did not succeed and so Celtic languages

are dying out. While the Grand Theatre is being renovated the Geneva operas and ballets are being performed at the

temporary "Theatre des Nations", very conveniently located near the Place des Nations with handy parking facilities,

which I visited for their open house. I was at the opening night which was a performance of Handle's "Alcina", rather

truculent in places and beautifully sung and played. Leonardo Garcia Alarcon conducted and the Cappella

Mediterranean provided the chorus. Premiered in 1735 the story was originally taken from the epic poem of Ludovico

Ariosto's Orlando furioso (like those of the Handel operas Orlando and Ariodante). The beautiful Alcina seduces every

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knight that lands on her isle, but soon tires of her lovers and changes them into stones, animals, plants, or anything that

strikes her fancy. Despite being warned the heroic knight, Ruggiero strides off to meet this sorceress; and falls under

her spell. Before the performance I was at DPRK reception for the "Day of the Shining Star", Kin Jong-Il's birthday,

where I saw many of the usual guests. Next day I left by TGV for Paris and the Gala evening for the Aix en Provence

festival at La Monnaie. Bernard and the team received us. That morning there had been the signing with the Chinese

concerning cooperation with the Pekin Opera. In introducing the recital the former Minister of Culture referred to the

three important events that evening: the football match with Chelsea; a pop concert and our Gala! Stanislas de

Barbeyrac (tenor) was accompanied by Alphonse Cemin on the piano. The dinner was excellent, starting with Chou de

Homard, served with the Roederer rosé; Jaret de veal followed with mushrooms and vegetables, served with the reserve

de a Comtesse 2007, Pauillac. The dessert was a poire pochée, glace de marron et meringue, accompanied by a 10 year

old Tawny Port (Adriano Ramos Pinto). I had the driver from La Monnaie take me back to the hotel after a delightful

evening.

A couple of days later I took the BA flight to India to attend the Khajuraho Dance Festival. Now visa on arrival in India

is straight forward and seeing many former Indian visas in my passport I entered without finger printing or photo! I

spent a couple of days at the Habitat Centre in Delhi where Daniel Tapia Takaki was at a Conference, then we flew to

Khajuraho, where Anand warmly received us with his family and we stayed at the Isabel Palace near to his home; but

usually had lunch with the family, where Priyanka looked after us very well. Anand's mother and brother Bharat joined

us later in the week. Rahde is full of life and reminded me of my great nephew Daniel. That evening we went to the

Opening Ceremony of the Festival scheduled for 7 pm but with the dignitaries arriving late it was closer to 7.45 pm.

There were several speeches before the dancing started. Entrance to the performances are free, with the Festival

financed by the government of Madhya Pradesh. Each evening there are three different groups displaying classical

dances from various regions in India. There is a Master of Ceremonies who introduces each group and gives some

history of the festival in its 42nd year. Dancing was originally part of the worship at the temples but then was

influenced by the cultural changes brought by the various invaders predominantly the Moguls with Islam and the

British with Christianity. Some dances were accompanied with live music, others recorded. The festival complex has a

series of stalls and handicrafts as well as an exhibition of local art. Each morning during the festival there are lectures

organized by the Indian Archeological Survey. As in the Fez festival, the audience is very poorly disciplined, getting up

and walking around during the performance!! Very early next morning before dawn we left for the Wild Life Park,

hopefully to see tigers. Before the sun rises it is quite chilly. The park is only about 40 kms from Khajuraho but the

roads are awful with short sections of tarmac and then tracts of rough road under construction. We reached the park at

dawn and had to wait to check the registration of people for entry. There is a strict quota and only 20 cars a day are

allowed into the park. We picked up our guide and set off through the sub-tropical forest and scrub land. The park is

quite extensive with various wild life, mainly different species of deer and antelope, of which we saw many as well as

monkeys and wild boar. There are different bird species and we saw several serpent eating eagles perched on trees

looking out for movement on the ground. Crocodiles bask in the waters of the river which flows through the park. We

went to many places where tiger is often spotted but without a sighting. There was a tiger tracking vehicle but it did not

point to any sighting. At 9 am we returned to the exit and made our way back to the hotel where I was pleased to have a

cup of coffee. Later we had lunch at Anand’s home before going on a visit to the main temple complex. Anand is a

fantastic guide giving a detailed explanation of the history and the concept of the temples built by the Chandela

dynasty, (mainly from 950 to 1050 ) which survived 5 centuries. The temples were protected from the Islamic invaders

by their isolation and the tropical jungle. We spent most of the time at the large Lakshmana Temple and Anand

explained in detail the different freezes before we went into the temple. I have difficulty walking bare foot on rough

stone! Taking a marsala chai near to the Shiva temple of Kandariya-Mahaddev, we got into conversation with three

very interesting guys from Allahabad, (Uttar Pradesh) with whom I have stayed in contact. Dinesh Kushwaha and his

similar aged nephew, Nitish Kushwaha are writers, while their friend Lokesh Srivastava is a poet. Dinesh has recently

published his latest (8th) novel "Muqamal Ishq Ki Adhoori Dastan" (The Unfinished Story of Love). It was getting hot

but the tea revived me and we walked around the other temples and then took a motor tricycle back to the Isabel Palace

to relax and freshen up for the evening's festival performance: Methil Devika (Mohiniattam school); Madhu Natraj and

troupe (Kathak and Contemporary school) and Natya Ballet Centre (Odissa school). I very much liked the

contemporary school.

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Next day we went to the Eastern Temple complex which consists of three Jain temples in a walled complex, the largest

of which is the Parsvanath. There are two main Jain sects, one of which is very austere and devotees have no

possessions, not even clothes! They only eat what they are given by hand. There is a strict non-violence approach in

Jain philosophy. The main temple is built on the classical style and has some beautiful and exquisitely carved

sculptures; but no erotica. Nearby is a functioning temple. Daniel left us that afternoon to visit colleagues in Jammu

and we dropped him at the new airport (opened that day). It is spacious with only a maximum of two flights a day!

There are temple decorations around the walls. The security is strict and I did not have my passport but we talked our

way into the first area to say farewell to Daniel. At the festival in the evening we had: Daniel Freddy (Kathak school);

Madhusmita Mohanty & Ramesh Chandra Jena (Odissa school), and Sukant Kumar Acharya & troupe (Saraikela and

Chhua), each quite different. This applied also to the festival performances on the subsequent evenings. We went to one

of the morning lectures on temple architecture, where there was a presentation not only of the classical temples but also

examples of small less well preserved temples in the region as well as Neolithic cave paintings (which are not open to

the public). I also fitted in a visit to the tailor for a few items. One evening we were invited to a wedding, which was the

first reception night given by the groom’s parents and held in an open area. The food was very tasty and, of course, no

alcohol. We went early and left after 9 pm when many people were arriving. It was the 20:20 Asian cricket series with

India playing Pakistan; so a large TV screen was set up on the grounds to project the match. India won so jubilation!

Next evening was the wedding of the couple for which we had been to the reception previously. It was held in a

different place. We saw many of the same people and the food was excellent. We arrived as the bridegroom was

coming on his horse with a band accompaniment, lights and a procession. I was surprised that there was an armed guard

in uniform at the wedding. While people place their used plates and cutlery in the baskets provided they throw tissues

and paper cups directly on the ground; so that soon everywhere there is rubbish. We did not stay for the dancing all

night.

The next day we visited Anand's relatives in Bijawar, travelling via Chhartapur to pick up Lucky. We continued for a

further half an hour to the Aswathi family home in Bijawar, where we were warmly received by Prijanka’s parents.

Only the men sit together and the ladies should not be seen in the presence of Anand’s father. The grandparents and a

couple of uncles and aunts live in the complex as well as two younger sisters. We were treated to a sumptuous lunch.

Mid afternoon we set off to visit the Bhimkhund temple (some 26 kms away). I thought that the time was short and

realised that it would be very tight when I saw the quality of the road: very little tarmac and mainly rough road so very

bumpy. I was apprehensive both about the car and the time factor as soon after 6 pm it would start getting dark! The

road passes through virgin forest with many teak trees. The ground is very dry and the countryside brown due to lack of

water. We passed several small hamlets and there were infrequent local busses. Even small hamlets have schools

(compulsory and free to 14 years and uniform and books and a midday meal provided). The temple is based around a

very deep natural chasm with side channels (water varies but is at least 80 m or perhaps 250 m deep and contains fish).

The water level was low due to the dry season but we saw pictures of the water level 30 or 40 m higher. Bhimkund is a

natural water tank and a holy place, located near Bajna village in Mayurbhanja district. The water of this tank is fully

transparent and believed to have measureless depth. Locals say that the water level of Bhimkund soared about 30

meters when last tsunami hit in 2004. The legend reveals that Bhima, the second Pandava used to take his bath in this

pool when the Pandavas were passing their incognito life in Birat Nagar, said to be the present Kaptipada. Here river

Vaitarani flows through a gorge in steps forming a series of picturesque rapids until it settles down in the pool called

"Bhimkund". It is encircled by a precipitous stone wall. During Makar Festival in the month of January thousands of

people gather here to take their holy dip. The great Hindu epic "Mahabharata" links Bhimkund with Pandavas. Tired

and weary under the hot scorching sun, Draupadi fainted of thirst. Bhim, the strongest of the five brothers, hit the

ground with his gada (a kind of club with a round head, made of metal) and lo and behold, water surged out and the

pool came into being. The pool is a lovely indigo blue which contrasts well with the red stone walls. There are some

caves around it but no one has been adventurous enough to find out where they lead. There is something mysterious

and exciting about this place, so much so that one almost tends to believe the pool’s epic origin. We were disciplined

and only spent some 20 minutes, leaving for the return on the bumpy road before 5.30 pm. It took a good hour to get

back to Bijawar where we picked up Priyanka. Lucky decided to come with us to Khajuraho and we were able to take a

short cut road avoiding the traffic of Chhartapur. The traffic was light until we reached the main road.

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Next day we visited the non-Jain Eastern temples, which are simpler than the Western temples and built around 1050.

The government is now enclosing the Eastern temple complex to make a protected park. We continued to the temple

nearer the airport which is atypically west facing. It was realised that a distant mountain would block the rising sun so

the temple was constructed west facing so that the statue of the god in the temple sanctuary would be lit at dusk. We

were there to see this phenomenon.

It was a sad moment to leave Anand's family and I flew to Delhi and Anand took the night train. We stayed at the Lalit

to be in place for Ishan Traxl's wedding. There was a performance with Shovnah at the Indian International Centre. The

occasion was UNESCO’s designation of Varanesi as Creative City of Music (2015). Initially there were all the

speeches, which were far too long. It was mainly a ladies night, with the chairman of the nomination committee, and

several others, including Mridula Sinha, the Governor of Goa. The first performance was by Kumodi from Varanesi,

singing Thumiri gazels. There was also Vartica, a poet who recited to accompaniment. Later in the evening Shovnah

danced and made some comments partly in English for the foreign guests. Herbert had organized that the wedding

group would eat in the restaurant on the first floor. There were some 8 student friends of Ishan’s from USA and UK as

well as from Austria and locally. Shovnah’s sister, Ranjana joined us whom I had met previously. I met Ishan's wife,

Perkha Ahmed, who is of Pashtu Pakistani origin but the family lives in the USA. Monday was the religious holiday to

celebrate Shiva's marriage, so many shops were be closed (and no alcohol served). In the afternoon we had a coffee

with Ashutosh Tiwari, Anand’s cousin on the maternal side, whom I had met at Maruthi's wedding five years earlier. In

the evening the Lalls took us for a delicious and copious dinner at the Indian Grill in a Connaught Place. We

reminisced about old INTOX friends and afterwards I sent photos of the evening to Mike Ruse and Nida Besbelli.

There is a convenient metro connection to the WHO office and I met with Lesley Onyon, and caught up with SEARO

activities. In the afternoon Isaac Sheikh came by with his son Kabir, an 11 year old budding modern musician. It was

interesting to see that Isaac had not changed very much in the decade since we last met. We were expecting to have

dinner with Goldy Verma but he mailed to say he was ill and we joined Pradeep Menon, who now works and lives in

Gourgon and had dinner at the Hyatt with Jitu and his American girlfriend, Leanna Worrell, who was in town. The

Mogul Gardens at the Presidential palace are only open for a few weeks a year. Previously they had been closed to the

public, but Shovnah told me she used to play in the gardens as a child. I took a camera, which was a mistake as no

cameras allowed, and I had to leave it at the consign; but of course all the Indians were taking photos with their mobile

phones! I was surprised that there was not a queue, the entrance to the gardens is free and we could walk around on the

designated paths. Each area is beautiful with various themes including a bonsai garden and a herbal garden, with the

uses labeled. I decided to wear a barong rather than a suite for the wedding reception that evening, and there were only

few people in the receiving line as we went to present our respects. The couple were receiving everyone with the

traditional touching of the feet! The line was filmed and photos taken of everyone presenting their greetings and good

wishes. The friends of the couple were either in saris for the ladies or the traditional hats with a scarf for the men.

During the receiving line proceedings finger food was served (veg. and on-veg.) and there was a good selection of

alcoholic drinks and juices. Several very distinguished guests came such as former prime minister, Manmohan Singh,

and P.J.Advanti (former opposition deputy leader of the BJP), and the Indian Vice-President. Herbert met them on

arrival and accompanied them to the reception line and then for their departure. Anand and I talked with a number of

people including the lady (Seerat Raj Narndra) who had helped dress the wedding party. The wedding line was almost

out of the hall door much of the time and it finished around 9.45 pm. The wedding party had some 20 minutes for a

drink before the religious ceremony began and it was a shortened version of about an hour and a half (as they had had

two wedding ceremonies previously; in the USA for Perkha's family and friends, in Vienna for the Austrian friends as

they live in Vienna). Anand knew the Sanskrit mantras well and explained to some of the Austrian and American guys.

Ishan and Perkha did not understand Sanskrit so the pundit had to cue them for the Vedic Wedding ceremony with the

exchange of various items and the processing around the fire. The ceremony over, we had dinner, although I had eaten

very well. I managed to get hardly a couple of hours sleep before leaving for the airport and the flight to London.

I stayed with Alan and Margaret Jones in London and was able to relax before going to the Gala reception for the Aix

festival (The International Friends of the International Lyric Art Festival Aix en Provence IFILAF) at the French

Ambassador's residence that evening. Short speeches preceded the recital with Rupert Charlesworth (tenor)

accompanied at the piano by Edwige Herchenroder. It was a collection of evening or night music. The meal was simple

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but sophisticated, starting with terrine de foie gras en mille-feuilles de céleri et poudre d'huile de truffe; then tournedos

de lotte rôti, fricassée de salsifis aux graines de fenouil de sa sauce à l'huile d'olive d'Aix, with a champagne Louis

Roederer 2008; and then for the dessert, biscuit aux amandes de Provence crême brûlée à la lavande et premières

gariguettes with a Ramos Pinto Port 2000 (which surprised me for a reception at the French Embassy). Next day I flew

to Geneva and had a short time at home before picking up my sister Catherine at the airport in the evening. Daniel

Tapia Takaki arrived the next morning.

There were several dinner parties and occasions for Catherine to meet friends during her week's visit and she tackled

some clearing and tidying of the blue room. There was a fascinating lecture by Nigel Rolins, (the chairman of the WHO

ethics committee) on Epigenetics for the fourth Anglican Lenten series. Among some of the interesting information he

gave us was the impact of the first trimester of gestation on obesity (if the women has been starved in this period the

children tend to be obese in later life); most of our characteristics are determined in the first two years of life and sexual

orientation is a small genetic modification. My Iranian friends Hana and Shahab Basharat visited for the Easter

weekend. They now live in Oslo and Shahab is working in the renewable energy department of the Statoil, particularly

developing offshore wind energy. Mitaba Bayouma from Togo joined us the next day. Easter Saturday was glorious

and we made an excursion to the Alpes vaudois via Les Diablerets, the Saanan valley to Gstaadt and Gruyère. After the

Easter morning service we were invited to Jacqueline Forget's home. The showers abated for the egg hunt in the garden

before lunch. We were 16 for lunch at my place on Easter Monday, for which I roasted duck and guinea fowl. That

week there was also a performance of Gounod's opera bouffe "Le Médicin malgré Lui"

A mission to Burundi was scheduled for early April, and with an administrative mess-up, I was obliged to get a visa on

arrival. I went to Kenya for a few days on the way to Bujumbura, staying at the Ole Sereni which is convenient for the

airport. Stephen Chege and Edward Ndungu visited me on the first day and Paul Mwangi and John Gathurai on the

second. On the Saturday morning Edward took me by car to his family home in Kinangop where he has a cattle farm

and is building his home with Anita. After lunch we continued through the beautiful Aberdare countryside to

Nyahururu where Stephen has set up his farm to raise chickens, rabbits and pigs, and is now well established in his own

house. I stayed at the delightful Thompson's Falls Lodge opposite the falls, where you may have your own bungalow

with open wood fire. At 2300 meters one notices the altitude. Danny Mwangi came by to say hello after dinner. While

chilly at night the weather is delightful. I returned to Nairobi on the Sunday afternoon ready for an early flight next day

to Burundi. Jérôme Karimumuryango came to the gate to meet me and he had the papers for me to get a visa on arrival.

Everyone was friendly. The luggage was waiting. At 800m Bujumbura was much warmer than in Nairobi. We went

directly to the hotel Safari Gate where I had a pleasant ground floor room with AC overlooking the garden and pool. It

is a beautiful location with the DRC mountains on the opposite bank of the Lake Tanzania. The restaurant is bedside

the lake and closes at 7.30 pm. as people do not go out in the evenings. People apparently disappear overnight and no

one knows what happened. There was a strange atmosphere of pseudo calm. The meeting room was next door to the

hotel and on both days the proceedings went smoothly. I was warmly received and no sign of anything amiss. While

waiting for the flight to Nairobi I met Edmond Mugisha, the programme assistant for Urgent Action Fund-Africa

(UAF-Africa), which is a pan-African and feminist Fund, established in 2001 in Nairobi, Kenya. Using a rapid response

grant making model, the Fund supports unanticipated, time-sensitive, innovative, and bold initiatives which enable

African women's rights organisations to seize windows of opportunity, fracture patriarchy, amplify their voices,

enhance their visibility, and become significant actors who can influence policy and law while shaping discourse. UAF-

Africa fills a unique grant making niche within the African feminist movement, providing stepping stones to activists as

they use their agency and resilience to achieve social, economic, political and environmental justice. Edmond and I

have kept in contact. Back in Nairobi I met with John Mwangi who visited me from Sambura. Next morning I was up

early and the car was waiting for me at the hotel door, where stood an English gentleman in a dark suit, who asked if I

was going to the airport as his car had not turned up. He announced himself as the UK Ambassador to the UN. I told

him that he was not, as I know Matthew Rycroft! In fact, Peter Wilson is the deputy, but has ambassador rank. He had

been on a Security Council Mission to Somalia and we were both on the KLM flight to Amsterdam. I offered him a lift

and we traveled together having a very interesting conversation, sharing our various experiences.

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I was able to catch up with Sam Adu Kumi, visiting Geneva, before flying the following week to Guinea, where I

stayed in the Petit Bateau. The traffic and quality of the roads does not improve in Conakry. My mission was to

promote the ratification of the Amendment to the Basel Convention on Hazardous Waste. As always it was a pleasure

to work with Sano Mory, whose passion is fishing. The President of the Parliamentary Commission for the

Environment and Sustainable Development, Mr David Camara, gave his support, although there were procedural

complications in ratification through the parliamentary process and it has taken a number of months for Guinea to

submit the articles of ratification. I always learn a lot about the country and its regions and ethnic groups talking with

Oscar Monemou and Mata Diallo. There is always a good selection of masks and I was able to add to my collection. I

arrived back in Divonne in time for the Mayor's lunch for senior citizens and I ended the evening with the transmission

of Boris Godunov from Covent Garden in the original 7 Acts version and a superb interpretation by Bryn Terfel as

Boris. There was a very interesting "partage et rencontre" over tea with a Malgash Church group visiting France, who

were surprised to find so few young people. I joined Susan Peters and friends for the annual wild boar BBQ in Sorel.

It was a full Whitsun weekend, invited by Christine and Jean Pierre Carnal at les Thivaults in central France. Willem

Bruls invited me for the opening night of Tristan and Isolde. I drove to Paris the night before and went to the Beouf sur

le Toit, one of my favorite restaurants for oysters. Anand flew in from India the next morning and we managed some

sight-seeing avoiding the showers. The opera, performed at the Theatre de Champs Elysées, started at 6 pm and we met

up with Willem and friends for drinks beforehand to fortify us for the four hours ahead. It was a fairly classical

production with modern staging, directed by Pierre Audi, who is appointed as the new Director of the Festival of Aix en

Provence. Several leading people on French cultural scene were attending. Willem got us all in to the first night

reception, where I talked with several people including the singer of Tristan.

Heading out of Paris in the early afternoon we made our way to Les Thivaults, near Pruniers-en-Sologne in the Loir et

Cher, where Jan and Dot, Cath and Nelson had arrived a little earlier and we were later joined by a Swiss couple. The

next day Anand and I left for the wedding of Guillaume de Wiljes and his Rumanian Princess, Angelina. There was a

chilly wind although it was partly sunny. It was an interesting two hour ceremony with the bride's family being

Rumanian Orthodox and the grooms's Roman Catholic, appropriately held in a 10th century church which predates the

Great Schism. The service, conducted by the bride's uncle, began at the door of the church with exchange of vows and

rings. Then the wedding party moves into the centre of the church for the coronation ceremony. Much of the time one

stands and everything is repeated three times in typical orthodox tradition. The music is a cappella, and sung partly in

French, Russian and Rumanian. Then at the end everyone files passed the couple to congratulate them at the altar. The

reception was held at La Sauverie on the front lawn and there were stands of different cuisines: Canadian, Russian,

Dutch, Rumanian, French. We returned to les Thivaults that evening. Sunday morning we went to the Whitsunday mass

at the main church in Romorantin; then went to visit the Château du Moulin (Perle de la Sologne), at Lassay-sur-

Croisne, built in 1492 by Jacques de Persigny, court architect and young friend of Charles VIII, which is a monument

to the Franco-Italian style. The chateau provides a Strawberry Conservatory, which perpetuates the memory of

Amédée-François Frézier (1682 –1773) a French military engineer, mathematician, spy, and explorer who is best

remembered for bringing back five specimens of Fragaria chiloensis, the beach strawberry, from an assignment in

South America, thus introducing this New World fruit to the Old. We continued to the Chateau de Cheverny which is

one of the best preserved castles of France and reflects both classical and Renaissance styles of architecture. Begun

around 1500, the chateau was concluded in a few years between 1604 and about 1634 by the Hurault Family whose

ancestors still live in the building.

On the return journey to Divonne we made our way first to Guédelon Castle, which is a construction project located in

Treigny, the object of which is to build a castle using only the techniques and materials used in the Middle Ages. When

completed in the 2020s, it should be an authentic recreation of a 13th-century medieval castle. Local stone, clay and

wood are used as well as horse drawn transport. The original idea of building from scratch a 13th-century-style castle

came to Michel Guyot while restoring his nearby Saint-Fargeau property. The shape of Guedelon is similar to that of

the original shape of Saint-Fargeau. It matured to become a complex project focusing on several aspects. The

construction site can be visited. Guided tours are organised and a medieval restaurant welcomes visitors. The site is

now a major tourist destination, being the most visited tourist attraction of the region, with more than 300,000 visitors a

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year. The project is open and adapted to groups and school excursions. One can learn about work conditions in the

Middle Ages and the different professions of the time. The project team uses and tests scientists' and historians'

knowledge of medieval construction techniques. In this rural and isolated area, the project created 55 jobs and attracted

200 volunteers. The site employs youths facing difficulties, helping them through on-the-job professional training. For

example, some of them obtained stonemasonry certifications. We spent several hours looking at the site.

The 36th Congress of the European Association of Poison Centres and Clinical Toxicologists was held in Madrid in the

third week of May and covered some interesting topics such as: household product safety; the aerotoxic syndrome; e-

cigarettes – the good, the bad and the ugly; toxic aspects of ammunition; clinical toxicology of cannabis and

cannabinoids; current challenges of opioids; advances in critical care of poisoned patients: imaging and treatment; risk

communication - detection, assessment, management and communication of risk in mass human toxic exposures.

Arriving a day early we were able to explore Madrid, for which my last visit was several decades ago. Besides the

famous monuments, churches, opera house and royal palace, time was spent at the Prado, the Spanish national art

museum, which features one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from the 12th century to the early

20th century, based on the former Spanish Royal Collection. Founded as a museum of paintings and sculpture in 1819,

it also contains important collections of other types of works. The numerous works by Francisco de Goya, the single

most extensively represented artist, as well as by Diego Velázquez (with his famous Las Meninas), El Greco, Titian,

Peter Paul Rubens and Hieronymus Bosch are some of the highlights of the collection. The opening Congress

reception was held at the famous football stadium of Real Madrid, Santiago Bernabéu Stadium and we were in the main

box overlooking the field. The grounds were being prepared for a match at the weekend. We had a cocktail party with

finger food and a brief speeches by Alex Campbell and Ana Ferrer Dufol. The Congress banquet was held at the

splendid Teatro Real opera house and was a fitting finale. Founded by King Ferdinand VII in 1818 the Royal Theatre

was inaugurated on 19 November 1850.

The day after my return from Madrid I left for Nairobi and the preparatory meeting for African countries of the Basel,

Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions, which was held at UNEP headquarters, and I was able to catch up with Cyrille

Siewe who now works in the Executive Director's office. We had a glimpse of Turkish President Recep Tayyip

Erdoğan during his official visit. I had a surprise visit of a Nigerian friend, Ify Chiedozie, who was in transit in Nairobi

on his return home after playing in a football match in Mombasa. At the weekend I visited Nyahururu, staying again at

the delightful Thompson Falls Lodge, and seeing the Mwangi brothers and a number of friends, as well as the naturalist

and guide Joseph Mochoge. There was an American medical missionary team (working mainly on ophthalmology

cases in the villages) staying at the hotel who invited me to join their group that was going to the Bible Baptist Church,

where we were received by Pastor Peter. The service is at 11 am, and from 10 am there is bible study (there are three

groups: children, youth and the older people). The proceedings and the service was conducted in Kiswahili and English.

I stocked up with avocados and mangoes for the return home next evening. I had ten days for the birthday celebration

preparations at the end of the month before I left for Morocco. Vajira Liyange arrived from Sri Lanka to spend three

months in Europe and he was very helpful in doing many odd jobs around the house and keeping the garden tidy. He

made a number of visits to friends in Scandinavia and the Netherlands. Daniel Tapia Takaki had an intensive period

with his experiments at CERN and in planning new investigations.

In response to the exponential increase in international travel and trade, and emergence and reemergence of

international disease threats and other health risks, 196 countries have agreed to implement the International Health

Regulations (IHR), a binding instrument of international law which entered into force on 15 June 2007. The stated

purpose and scope of the IHR are "to prevent, protect against, control and provide a public health response to the

international spread of disease in ways that are commensurate with and restricted to public health risks, and which

avoid unnecessary interference with international traffic and trade." Because the IHR are not limited to specific

diseases, but are applicable to health risks, irrespective of their origin or source (bacteriological, viral, chemical or

radiological), they will follow the evolution of diseases and the factors affecting their emergence and transmission. The

IHR also require States to strengthen core surveillance and response capacities at the primary, intermediate and national

level, as well as at designated international ports, airports and ground crossings. They further introduce a series of

health documents, including ship sanitation certificates and an international certificate of vaccination or prophylaxis for

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travelers. To assist countries to strengthen capacity to implement the IHR and assess the most urgent needs within their

health security system, WHO is organising a series of Joint External Evaluations, whereby a multi-sectoral international

team consisting of individuals selected on the basis of their recognised technical expertise from a number of countries

and advisors representing international organizations carry out missions with interactive technical presentations

covering the self-assessment results, joint multi-sectorial discussions and site visits to laboratories and other relevant

facilities as well as to points of entry. Nineteen Technical Areas are assess with country experts and scored to provide

guidance for subsequent action. This year I was invited to join five such country missions. The Morocco Joint External

Evaluation was held in Rabat. Morocco enjoys strong achievements in IHR capacities, as demonstrated in 2015 by the

outstanding and globally recognized response the country displayed in the Ebola outbreak; and in previous global alerts

such as SARS coordination, Avian and Pandemic Influenza resource mobilization. Morocco has made substantive and

ongoing commitments to fight cross border spread of diseases under the IHR and has decades-long commitment to

public health and to social services in general, all backed up by a high level of institutional development. The national

parmaco-vigilance and toxico-vigilance centre is one of the most developed in that region of the world. The mission

gave me the opportunity to revisit Rabat and catch up with a number of Moroccan friends. I was back in time for the

splendid 50th Birthday celebrations of Andrew Kinley at the vineyards of Treytorrens Cully. My celebration followed

the next day on 25 June in conjunction with the birthdays of Anand and Jason (who was over from Australia for the

occasion). We had some 70 guests and many helpers for a memorable event.

Anand and I left for Aix en Provence on 30 June for the opening night of the 68th Festival with Christophe Honoré's

production of Cosi Fan Tutte set in Ethiopia during the Italian occupation in the 1930s, in which he explores the power

relationships between the five main characters who are ruled by desire, extending the light-hearted story with a

commentary on racism and fascism. The officers Ferrando and Guglielmo are engaged to two sisters, Dorabella and

Fiordiligi. To prove to an old philosopher that their beloved fiancées are faithful, they pretend to have been called away

to war, only to return in disguise (as African rather than Albanians) to court the women under false identities. But their

plan comes unstuck when they each find themselves trying to seduce the other’s fiancée. The Freiburger

Barockorchester, under the direction of Louis Langrée conjure up the atmosphere of humid sensuality, with the chorus

provided by the Cape Town Opera.

Händel's oratorio "Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno" (The Triumph of Time and Truth) conducted by

Emmanuelle Haim and produced by the Polish director Krzysztof Warlikowski followed. The four characters "beauty",

"pleasure", "time" and "truth" play out the story. Beauty chooses to ignore that existence is finite, preferring to admire

herself in the mirror of Pleasure. But Time and Truth constantly remind her that “beauty is a flower that blooms in a

day and then dies.” The discussions and arguments of these four allegorical figures provide the young Handel with the

material for his first oratorio, composed for a very Catholic Rome on a text by Cardinal Benedetto Pamphili. The work

was immediately a stunning success. It has a modern setting in a night club with adolescents experimenting with

ecstasy and "beauty" hospitalised with an overdose.

Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande in a stunning split staging by Katie Mitchell was the third opera with the Philharmonia

Orchestra under the direction of Esa-Pekka Salonen; and the Canadian soprano Barbara Hannigan and the French

baritone Stéphane Degou in the lead roles. In a forest where he has lost his way, Golaud happens upon Mélisande. He

marries her and takes her back home to the family castle. There, Mélisande gets to know Pelléas, Golaud’s half-brother.

Something happens between them: “something that is stronger than I”, sighs Mélisande, and something that Golaud

will struggle to make sense of – and that will ultimately lead to the tragedy. The symbolist writer Maurice

Maeterlinck’s drama of light and shade inspired Claude Debussy to weave an opera steeped in mystery and shot

through with silence. Katie Mitchell brilliantly highlights the dreamlike realism of this masterpiece providing

movement in the frequent scene changes where Debussy provided the incidental music.

“Tell me the story of those two men whose friendship, shattered by a treacherous liar, was transformed into hostility

and hatred”, said the King of India to the prince of philosophers responsible for teaching him to reign. Thus begins one

of the chapters of this great classic of Arabic literature, The Book of Kalila and Dimna, written by Ibn al-Muqaffa' in

the eighth century, based on an ancient collection of animal tales from far-away India. In a reworking of the fable of the

Lion, whose friendship with the Ox is maligned by the ambitious Jackal, this world premiere opera by Moneim Adwan

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treads a fine line between the human and the animal, fable and tragedy, Arabic and French, Western form and Eastern

music, to tell the story of idealism crushed by ambition. Olivier Letellier stage directed the production conducted by

Zied Zouari from the violin in an opera form that showcases all the musicality of the Arabic language.

There were a number of excellent orchestral performances by the Freiburger Barockorchester and Philharmonia

Orchestra, including a memorable evening of music by Igor Stravinsky: Fanfare for three trumpets; Symphonies of

Wind Instruments; Agon (Choreography by the Karole Armitage Agon Dancers); and the Rite of Spring. A free day

provided the occasion to visit Christine Gaskell. We were back home in time for the last evening of the Montperreux

festival where Stuart Patterson and Florence Boissolle presented the results of six weeks of work with six trainees

ranging from French operetta to German lied, including bel canto and American musical comedy.

One of the highlights of the summer was the visit to Europe of my nephew, Chris and his girl friend (now fiancée), Kat

from Auckland. We had a garden party in glorious sunshine at my sister's for their arrival in Coventry which brought

together a good group of Naya relatives as well as friends of Chris from the UK. They arrived in Divonne a few days

later joined by their friend Matthias, now working for The Economist in London. Dinner at the Auberge de Bogis-

Bossey provided a suitable venue for their welcome, followed by a BBQ next day with friends. The classical route to

chateau Chillon, les Diablerets and Gruyere gave a taste of the Vaud Alps; while a visit to Zermatt showed the Valais

and high Alps. The weather was splendid and we were able to reach the Gornergrat with excellent views of the

Matterhorn glacier. A BBQ at Brigitte's gave the opportunity at least to sit in the Garbino Ferrari, if not to drive it. One

has to be rather athletic and agile to get in and out; moreover, I found the visibility is poor as one is so low! Catherine,

Nelson, Claire and the boys arrived the following week for 10 days and we were fortunate with the weather and had

several BBQs and an excursion by boat to Yvoire as well as by train to the Rochers de Naye which at over 2000 meters

overlooks Lake Geneva near Montreux and Villeneuve. Filet de perche is a speciality that everyone appreciates and the

Creux de Gentod provides an excellent setting. Claire joined her friend Kamy for some partying during the Fête de

Genève.

A couple of days later Vajira returned and we had the visit of his Bavarian friend Nadim from Wurzburg who brought

some excellent samples of Franconia wines. On the Sunday afternoon Marionne and Veronique Baenninger along with

Xavier organised an excellent fondue dinner at an alpage buvette, Le Chalottet, above the Valley de Joux, finishing

with tizane and a choice of desserts; mainly tarts and meringue with double cream. We returned home via the the Jura

crête road to La Cure. We were too tired to stay up to watch the closing ceremony of the Olympic games in Brazil. The

following days temperatures reached 36 °C.

I bought a season ticket for the 8 concerts of the 19th Chamber Music festival of the Pays de Gex, the first of which

was an evening dedicated to the music of Astor Piazzolla at the Esplanade in Divonne. It was Argentinean tango style

but often inspired by Baroque. A verre d'amitiés always follows the concerts. The second concert was at the Orangery

of the Ferney Chateau, which started with the Mozart string quintet for two altos and then after a short break we had the

Borodin string sextet which is incomplete and only two movements; then the Richard Straus string sextet

"Capriccioso", written as the overture of his opera by the same name. As an encore they played the 2nd movement of

the Brahms string sextet. The third concert was at the Salle Pierre Jaques in Versonnex : two Vivaldi concertos, Haydn

piano concert, and in the second half, Grieg Holberg suite and the Benjamin Britten "Simple Symphony". They played

three encores! The remaining concerts were in local village churches where it is essential to take two cushions, one for

the seat (hard wooden benches with a split in the middle) and the other for the back. The concert at the Church in Sergy

was entitled "a Romantic Voyage" of cello (Hélène Dautry) and piano (Sandra Chamoux) sonatas: starting with the

Chopin sonata Op 65, and the Schumann Op 94. In the second part they played the Cesar Franck work, with two

encores. The wooden ceiling of this old church gave a beautiful sonority to the music. The Trio Fenix from Belgium

played at the Church in Grilly, starting with the Beethoven Serenade, op.8. The second piece was new by Jean Cras,

who was an admiral in the navy and wrote music (reflected some sea shanties in places). The third piece was the

Mozart Divertimento K563. At the St Pierre Church Pouilly St Genis the concert started with a Bach sonata for strings

and oboe, followed by Mozart quartet (K370). We had drinks in the interval outside but it was getting quite a chilly

wind. In the second part they played 2 pieces that I did not know: a trio for strings and clarinet by Alexandre-Pierre-

François Boëly, then a quartet by Anton Stepanovytch Arenki (written at the end of the 19th century). They played a

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Mozart piece for strings and clarinet as an encore. The last concert of our chamber music festival was held at the church

in Crozet, which has a lovely location on the side of the Jura mountains near the tele-lift and a good view of the

Geneva lake and valley to the alps and Mt Blanc range. The concert was excellent of late 19th early 20th century music,

starting with the Romance of Richard Strauss written in 1883; followed by Rachmaninov sonata for cello and piano op

19, a monumental piece, written in 1901. In the second half we had the Shostakovich. Quintet for piano and strings,

first performed in 1940. It has a very live scherzo which was played as an encore.

The French Protestant church always holds its Kermesse on the first Sunday of September, for which there was lunch

with a range of choices from the classical veal sausage or entrecote and chips or boeuf bourguignon with pasta, to

"cuisine du monde" with a choice of Bolivian, Camerooni, Malgash, and Korean. Our Catholic neighbours had their

Kermesse the following Sunday. In the early evening soupe à l'onion is served, after which I went to an excellent

performance of Henry Purcell's a semi-opera the "Indian Queen", first performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane,

London in 1695. The libretto is a revised version of the play "The Indian Queen" (1664) by John Dryden and his

brother-in-law Sir Robert Howard. The last act was completed by his brother Daniel after his death. The play is

complex and has a narrator. It is set at the time of the Spanish conquest of Central America and Don Pedrarias Davila,

the captain general and governor of Terra Firma is arriving with his wife Dona Isabel to take up his duties along with

the conquistador Don Pedro de Alvarado. He falls in love with the Mayan Queen Teculihuatzin (and she converts to

Catholicism and becomes Dona Luisa) and they have a daughter; then he abandons the Queen refusing to marry her,

taking the daughter. He and his troops massacre the local people!! The queen returns to her traditional gods. The music

is beautiful as well as the singing and production. The text is quite erotic and sensual in the relationship between the

conquistador and the Mayan Queen. Claude Gerber was at the performance and her health was greatly improved. Later

in the month there was a performance of the Opera "Manon" by Jules Massenet. It was very well sung with Patricia

Petibon as Manon and Bernard Richter as Chevalier des Grieux, and Marko Letonja conducting. With a production by

Olivier Py it could only be passionate and sensual.

The DPRK reception on the occasion of the 68th anniversary of the founding of the Republic was on the eve of the

Jeûne Genevois holiday; and I met a number of new people. The warm weather continued. Jim Salter's 80th birthday

celebration was held on 17 September in London at the home of his daughter Naomi Beer, who with Hava organised a

splendid celebration, with about 40 guests who were mainly family and close friends, including a few of us who were at

University with Jim and lived together in the same New College residence. We joked a lot about our student days and

all the mischievous things we got up to! There were some nice tributes and speeches to Jim, some of which were quite

emotional. I returned to Divonne that evening. Two days later I was in Zurich for the 70th Anniversary of Winston

Churchill's Famous speech in 1946 after the War in which he called for a united Europe and a reconciliation between

France and Germany. The anniversary took place exactly to the day and was held in the very hall of the Old University

building. There was a Symposium in the afternoon covering the context and content of the speech and its significance

in 1946 as well as in 2016. Mr Allen Packwood, Dr Werner Vogt, Lord Watson of Richmond, Professor David

Reynolds, Mr Felix Klos and Dr Andrew Roberts gave presentations and there was a round table discussion with Ms

Bridget Kendall, Lord Powell of Bayswater, Dr Andrew Roberts, Ms Laura Sandys, Lord Watson of Richmond and

concluding remarks by Mr Randolph Churchill. Europe was completely devastated and Nazi Germany crushed. The

French wanted to take revenge, but Churchill said put centuries of conflict behind you and build a new Europe based on

cooperation between France and Germany and the speech ends "therefore I say Let Europe Arise". Six months earlier

Churchill had given his famous "Iron Curtain" speech at Fulton, Missouri and it was now essential to demonstrate to the

Americans that Europe would unite and rebuild if the arrangements of the Bretton Woods Agreement would be

implemented and the Americans would finance the European reconstruction. The Symposium was followed in the

evening with an introduction by Johann Schneider-Ammann, President of the Swiss Confederation and a main speech

by Jean-Claude Juncker, President EU Commission. Coming in the wake of the Brexit vote it was significant that

Junker indicated that a fair arrangement would be made for the UK to leave the European Union. However, from

comments of the Swiss President it was obvious that the discussion earlier in the day concerning closer Swiss

cooperation with the EU had not gone as he had wished. There was a number of Churchill College friends at the event

including Maurice Rice. At the end of the week I was back in the UK for the Cambridge Alumni weekend and annual

dinner at Churchill College. The new Cowan Court was formerly opened by HRH The Duke of Gloucester, and I was

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able to stay in one of the rooms. As always it was a pleasure to catch up with many old College friends as well as to

have lunch on the Sunday with Eve Cole (née Haines).

October began with a double IHR Joint External Evaluation Mission for WHO, starting in Sudan. Khartoum is located

at the confluence of the White and Blue Niles. Until 2011, and the breakaway of the South, Sudan was the largest

country in Africa and now is the third largest. The Northern part has deep historical roots going back several millennia

and was home to numerous ancient civilizations, such as the Kingdom of Kush. Instability on the boarders to the south

and west has given rise to a significant refugee situation which calls for rapid intervention by the health services to

respond to health emergencies. A serious challenge for the health sector is the high turnover of the health workforce.

Experienced staff tends to migrate for better work terms and compensation into neighbouring more affluent countries.

The country is under sanctions by a number of states, which affects imports and may have affected the country's ability

to mount adequate responses to some infectious disease outbreaks and humanitarian crises. The team was well received

and we had several meetings with the Minister herself. The civil defence and security sector is well equipped to deal

with emergencies at least in the main urban areas. At the end of the Sudan mission I flew to Entebbe for the JEE of

Somalia, held in Uganda due to the precarious security situation in Mogadishu. Administratively, the Somali Republic

is divided into three zones (Somaliland, Puntland and South-Central) which are governed by their own elected

governments and have their own Ministries of Health. Puntland and South-Central zones operate under the Federal

Government. Given the independent status of zonal governments and involvement of a large number of actors in the

health sector, multi-layered coordination mechanisms have been put in place. The Health Advisor Board operating in

Nairobi, Kenya, is the highest level coordination mechanism including the three Ministers, UN, donor and NGO

representatives. Experts representing each region came to meet with us in Entebbe for the Joint Evaluation.

Consequently, we were not able to make any field visits; but otherwise the mission went well. Among the challenges

are: the lack of legal background to support the planning and implementation of public health capacities; the very

limited governmental budgets, staffing, and institutional development capacity for IHR implementation and

sustainability; the complex organizational and political system and high reliance on external support for public health

related activities, and the current security situation limits access to, and provision of, public health services relevant to

IHR implementation in several districts especially in the South-Central zone. Entebbe is situated on north western shore

of Lake Victoria, the main source of the White Nile. We were at the excellent Laico Lake Vistoria hotel, but the

lakeshore provided a change for a beer and dinner.

A few days back home and it was time to fly to Ireland for the 65th Wexford Opera festival. Catherine and I met in

Dublin and enjoyed a day visiting the sites of the capital, including Trinity College; as well as meeting with Marie

O'Driscoll. The Book of Kells is located in the Old Library of the College and the Long Room holds thousands of rare,

and in many cases very early, volumes. In the 18th century, the college received the Brian Boru harp, one of the three

surviving medieval Gaelic harps, and a national symbol of Ireland. We arrived in Wexford for the afternoon

performance of Il campanello di notte (the Night Bell) by Gaetano Donizetti; a once act opera in which we meet an old

doctor, Don Annibale Pistacchio, who has just married a young bride by the name of Serafina. During the wedding

night, they are constantly interrupted by the ringing of the night bell. Each time it is Serafina’s rejected former lover,

Enrico, in a different disguise. Samuel Barber's "Vanessa" was performed in the evening. That atmosphere is

Ibsenesque since the action is set in an unspecified northern country, around 1905. The libretto by Gian Carlo Menotti,

Barber’s partner, tells of how Vanessa, her mother (the Old Baroness) and niece (Erika) have waited 20 years for the

return of Vanessa’s lover, Anatol. When he arrives, it transpires that he is the man’s son, also named Anatol, and that

the lover is dead. Nevertheless, Vanessa and the younger Anatol are drawn to each other, leaving Erika – seduced by

Anatol on his first night at the house – pregnant and suicidal. When Vanessa and Anatol depart for Paris, Erika settles

down to wait and, as her aunt had done before, gives orders for the house to be closed up.

Ralph Vaughan Williams' "Riders To The Sea" was composed in 1927 and is based almost verbatim on J.M. Synge’s

early twentieth­ century drama of the same name. Music of eerie, elegiac beauty illuminates the theme of elemental and

watery death as experienced by the Aran Islanders, west of Galway. The central role is that of Maurya, who by the end

loses her husband and six sons to the sea, experiencing a kind of cathartic release when her last son’s death leaves her

with nothing more to fear. Realising that the sea can hurt her no longer, Maurya concludes, ‘No man at all can be living

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forever, and we must be satisfied’. Maria de Rudenz is one of Donizetti's later operas premiered 1838 in Venice without

success. Maria in love with Corrado has been abandoned by him in the Catacombs in Rome. Being considered dead,

her cousin Matilda, now in love with Corrado should be the heir of Maria's father and family due to her absence. Just in

time, Maria appears back in the family castle to destroy the marriage plan and to murder the possible heiress. She

herself still in love with Corrade but fails to win his love back even by threatening him to reveal his real ancestry of a

decapitated father and murderer.

The Bear by William Walton first heard at the 1967 Aldeburgh Festival was inspired by Chekhov. The central character

is Madam Popova, the young widow of a landowner who moves from obsessive bereavement to fiery independence,

complaining along the way of her husband’s infidelities. She is visited by one of Popov’s creditors, the tempestuous

Smirnov, and when they begin to quarrel – she calls him a bear and a boor – pistols are drawn, but they find themselves

unable to fire; they realise they have fallen in love. Observing all the action with bemusement is Popova’s manservant,

Luka. Félicien David’s four-act grand opera Herculanum is in the Roman town of Herculanum, near Pompei in 79AD

where a chaste, Christian couple – Hélios and Lilia – are up against the machinations of a wicked, pagan Olympia and

her brother, the proconsul, Nicanor. Olympia successfully seduces a weak-willed Hélios with the aid of a magic potion,

but Nicanor is firmly rebuffed in his advances on the upright Lilia. The brother, in a fit of pique, declares that Lilia’s

God does not exist whereupon he is promptly dispatched from this life by a thunderbolt (or as in this production, by a

well-aimed rock to the head by Lilia). Nicanor is replaced by Satan who shows Lilia her betrothal’s infidelity. The

Devil then proceeds to steer the story towards its apocalyptic conclusion where one and all perish in the explosion of

Mount Vesuvius but not before Lilia forgives her erring lover. We met the conductor, Jean-Luc Tingaud and several

performers at a Bravora lunch. The Gala concert was held on the Sunday evening and the Friend's Party after the

performance of Herculanum. The Tom Walsh Lecture was be given by John Julius Norwich (John Julius Cooper, 2nd

Viscount Norwich, CVO) one of the most distinguished and charismatic writers and broadcasters of our time. After a

career in the diplomatic service, he became a writer, particularly on history, art and travel subjects.

The Symposium for the 50th Anniversary of the Swiss Toxicology Centre "Clinical Toxicology Through the Ages" was

held on 11 November in the same Aula Auditorium at the Zurich Old University as the Churchill event. The first part

dealt with Humans and Animals, covering food poisoning and venomous animals in Switzerland including the exotic

snakes that people are registered to keep as pets! Hips, Pain Killers and Mushrooms was the title of the second part

covering heavy metal poisoning from hip replacements; poisoning by paracetamol and Amanita phalloïdes; and chronic

intoxications. The third part was from Critical Care to the Opera, covering management of severe poisoning-induced

cardiovascular compromise; chemical terrorism; novel psychoactive substances; and poisons in the opera with musical

excerpts suitably chosen by Alex Campbell. It was an occasion to meet many friends, which concluded with a

reception. I stayed the night in Zurich and flew early next morning to London for the 50th Wedding Anniversary of

Alan and Margaret Jones, held in the Penthouse Suite of the Dorchester Hotel in Park Lane. It was another splendid

event to catch up with family and friends of the Jones', as well as former Saints, over a superb luncheon.

I returned home that evening as I was leaving to Singapore a couple of days later for the 15th International Scientific

Conference of the Asian and Pacific Association of Medical Toxicology (APAMT) “A Toxicologist’s Rendezvous –

Meeting of the Disciplines”, held at the Tan Tock Seng Hospital. My first night in Singapore I could not resist chilly

crab at Newton Circle. After Anand's arrival we had a day to re-explore this City State located on the Equator,

including enjoying a Singapore sling at the Long Bar in Raffles hotel, eating peanuts and throwing the shells on the

floor. The Conference was excellent with a variety of themes and good presentations. the APAMT Fellowship Lecture

"Successes and Challenges in Strengthening Poison Control and Prevention in the Asia Pacific Region" was given by

Professor Thomas CHAN of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, who is a good friend. The conference dinner was

held at the Majestic Bay Restaurant, Gardens by the Bay. As "father" of the APAMT it is always a pleasure to meet up

with and watch the progress of many friends and colleagues of the region. I enjoyed talking with the Norwegian former

President of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) about the issues of development and challenges facing the organization’s

commitment to publicizing the issues encountered (“Silence has long been confused with neutrality, and has been

presented as a necessary condition for humanitarian action"), which the organisation opposes this assumption.

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A busy few weeks ahead, I returned home after the Conference. There was a performance of Heinrich Marschner's

opera "Der Vampyr" directed by Antú Romero Nunes with the Swiss Romande Orchestra conducted by Ira Levin.

Inspired by the Italian style and the German Singspiel, the work introduces modern aspects that strengthen the

psychological dimension of the action and characters. The vampire, a creature locked outside the world of the living

and the dead, seeks a home, and principally an identity, in a unique ambiance imbued with wild romanticism. The

sacrificer becomes the sacrificed unless he can find the balance between Eros and Thanatos. Three virgins have to be

immolated in twenty-four hours. It is a work full of blood!

Next day I left for a Joint External Evaluation Mission of the IHR in Tunisia, the meeting for which was held at the

splendid Carthage Thalasso Resort, Tunis. We were some 15 experts from various disciplines and it was a pleasure to

work again with a number whom had been on earlier missions. Tunisia is back to normality after some of the

disruptions following the Arab Spring and we were able to make an excellent evaluation of the IHR capacities. Security

is tight with the instability of the neighbouring situation in Libya, which is essentially now three jurisdictions (not so

dissimilar from the Somali situation). We had a very interesting briefing from the WHO Representative who covers

both Libya and Tunisia. A good national centre for toxico-vigilance and poisons control exists in Tunisia and it was a

pleasure to be in contact with colleagues of the centre; but unfortunately my friend Professor Nabil Ben Salah was on

mission in Morocco at the time. However, it was a delight to catch up with Mustapha Chouikha and his nephew Amir.

I was home for a night before leaving for the JEE mission in the Ivory Coast. The afternoon flight via Casablanca

enabled me to participate in the Church Advent choukroute lunch, which is always very copious! The WHO mission to

Abidjan was organised by the Africa Regional Office so there were a different set of colleagues from the previous

Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office organised JEE missions. French was the working language and the meeting was

held at the pleasant Palm Club Hotel, which is not located on the Plateau so visits were time consuming with the heavy

traffic. I covered the radiological as well as the chemical events for this mission. The country is back to normal after the

civil war disturbances prior to 2006, but some of the infrastructure damaged in this period has not been fully replaced. I

has previously been in Abidjan before and immediately after the disturbances. It is a pleasure to be met off the aircraft

and taken through formalities; as well as for departure, which my friend Appolinaire Ahidje (Tommy) who works at the

airport was able to do. I met Jean Charles Kouadio a decade ago when he started working in the Ministry of Finance

where he now occupies an important position, and he always invites me for dinner at his home with his wife and three

growing children. Mohamed Kone, from Niamey, Niger, now works in San-Pedro and he made the journey to visit me

in Abidjan. I was home in Divonne for the nativity play at the Anglican Church and the Christmas lunch; then had a

busy few days writing up the reports of the recent WHO missions. Preparations for Christmas were in full swing. A

concert of Christmas Music was given by the Pays de Gex classical choir and string orchestra at the Catholic church in

Ferney, with Corelli's Concerto grosso "Pour la nuit de Noël" and Eberlin's four sacred motets and Missa secundi toni,

with the Handel's Judas Maccabeus march as the finale. Vin chaud et Pain d’Epices were served after the concert in the

courtyard where it was freezing cold with a bitter wind. As I was leaving within a couple of days for Christmas with the

family in the UK I realised it was not possible to complete my annual letter for 2016 and would have to revert to the

French custom of sending greetings in January. I turned down a mission to Malawi just before Christmas and one to the

Maldives week after New Year.

I arrived in Coventry in time for the family Christmas traditional dinner before Caal and Daniel left to spend the

holiday period with Stefan in Germany. Anand joined us for the classical Christmas celebrations and fayre. In ten days

it was not possible to see more than a few friends. We were back in Divonne on 29 December to prepare for the arrival

of Carol Kelly from Chapel Hill and Ufoma Umolo from Abuja; as well as the celebrations for New Year's Eve which

was planned for twelve. I roasted venison and Anand prepared an India vegetarian feast. Jacqueline Forget received us

for brunch on 2 January and we went to see Puccini's moving "La Boheme" at the opera next day.

I have resisted making any comments about the momentous events of the year, both the tragedies and strives as well as

the political choices made through the "democratic" processes; with which we will have to live. This new year will

probably see many changes and further challenges. Nevertheless, I wish all my friends and family good health, peace

and satisfaction in life throughout 2017.