Hello Maurice, The Japanese are OK. See here a New Year's note I received from kin in Trinidad. My editorial and photo links in bold
QUOTE
Dear Family,
Happy Seasonal Greetings! This year, 2005, has been another eventful year for the Chen family.
Masako achamchen.com spent an enjoyable 4 weeks from mid-May visiting with relatives and friends in Japan. A high-light of her visit was her attendance at a function at The Togo Shrine in Tokyo celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Japanese naval victory over Russia in the 1905 Baltic War [EDIT: hooray. sock it to them russkies; but what should I say to my brother Eugenig achamchen.com and cousin Iolanda achamchen.com ?]
The Japanese fleet was commanded by Admiral Togo who married the sister of M’s maternal grand father. [EDIT: the extended family seem to be full of adventurers and pirates] On her way back to Trinidad, she spent a busy week near Washington, D.C. as the house-guest of David & Jane xxxxxxxx & family who are good friends
Ken’s travels for the year were limited to periodical trips to & from Tobago to check on the household staff and pay bills etc
Jeffrey is still trying to market his Company’s sport fishing catamaran yacht in the Southern U.S.A. In the meanwhile, he is renting it out for day charter trips for interested parties. He is now the Chief Official Handicapper for the Caribbean which requires trips to other Northern islands hosting sailing regattas.
His big family news was the birth of Baby Dillon on 3 June last. Charmaine had a safe delivery of her 5th child who is hale & hearty and doing very well. He resembles his eldest brother,Jonah, and he is a friendly and cute baby His older siblings are all doing well both in and out of school The three boys are taking tennis lessons while our only grand-daughter, Isabelle, shows a keen interest in drawing and colouring with artistic potential.
Gillian and her two sons, Alexis & Baby Daniel, visited with us for 4 weeks from 5 July.. Due to business commitments, Ludovic joined them 2 weeks later; then we all traveled by the fast ferry to Tobago to spend the next 10 days relaxing at our Patience Hill property, beach visiting , sight-seeing etc. We hosted a tea party at Hotel Normandie the afternoon before their departure for family and friends with some 20 adults and 12 kids in attendance in a private room; a good time was had by all.
After returning to France, Ludo & Gilly had the big time-consuming job of removing from their small apartment in Paris to a 2 storey and more spacious house owned by Ludo’s parents in Viroflay, which is a short train ride from Paris and very near to Versailles We hope to visit London and Paris over some 3 weeks next summer to look up family and friends – D.V.
Masako is still very much occupied with translation requests from prospective purchasers of 2nd. hand Japanese motor-cars (roll on/ roll off transactions) imported for the local market; tutoring private students in Japanese language; acting as interpreter for visiting Japanese tourists, media and business personnel; special assignments from the Japanese Embassy etc. Ken is also kept busy with repair and maintenance of properties in Cascade, Diego Martin and Tobago, appliances and equipment, cars, Church & Societies work and meetings; tennis; family commitments and social activities. His hearing continues to be much impaired, so he is in the process of acquiring more powerful aural aids. His 6 year old I-mac Apple P.C. is down and needs an expensive central processing unit. In the short to medium term, it may be better to purchase a less expensive Dell or Compaq P.C. Meantime, he is using M’s Lap-top with a Japanese key-board, but it is slow processing!
Now. for some family news items. Ken’s only elder sister, Yvonne, died at 91 yrs. on 14 March 2005. She had been ailing for the past couple years and half paralysed from a stroke and was being treated at a private nursing home. Her funeral service was held at an Anglican Church and her burial afterwards at a cemetery in North London. Her daughter, Meiling Angela, was a tower of strength and support;
visiting her regularly; seeing about funeral arrangements; and acting as her estate executor. Ken’s cousin, xxxxx, passed away in mid-April last in his early 70’s after fighting a losing battle with cancer over the past couple years. His funeral service at St. Patrick’s R.C. Church was well attended by family, friends and business associates., after which he was cremated He is survived by his wife, xxxxx, married daughter & 3 sons who are carrying on the family’s successful construction firm. Cousin ******** suffered very anxious moments and worry when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, La. last September. Fortunately she was able to get onto a flight to South Carolina before the hurricane struck and stayed with her brother, Ken, and wife, Julie, for a couple months. She has since returned to her multi-storey apartment building which suffered little damage in the outskirts of the city which is slowly recovering.
Prime Minister & Minister of Finance Patrick Manning presented his 2006 Budget Speech in late September last with record expenditure of some $32 billion. [EDIT: seems like a Trini version of BurnAndKaput, with the difference being that the Trini helicopter money is backed by mucho oil and enormous amount of gas] It was more like a National Election Speech with something for everyone e.g. reduced tax rates; free drugs for senior citizens suffering from diabetes, arthritis, glaucoma etc.; free tertiary education for T & T. citizens who are academically qualified; more extensive Capital. Works Programme etc. In short, it contained a mixture of fiscal measures focusing on social and economic transformation. The driving force is of course the energy industry which is based on the exploitation of our natural resources of oil and gas with known reserves for only some 10 years.
A worrying concern to all sectors and classes of T & T society is the current crime tidal wave that will soon engulf the entire population, Government measures not withstanding. Up to today, there have been 363 [EDIT: one a day, like vitamins] murders for the year; almost daily kidnappings for ransom; robberies with violence; burglaries; rape etc. The Police and other appropriate Government agencies seem powerless or ineffective in ensuring public security and safety. Admittedly there are many contributory factors to be considered e.g. trafficking & transshipment of S. American drugs to U.S.A.. & Europe; illegal smuggling of arms & ammunition; gang war-fare in certain localities; legislative amendments to up-date obsolete laws & regulations; improving & speeding up the machinery of administration of justice in the Magistracy & Judiciary to ensure quicker trials and convictions; review of the additional resources required by the Police & Prison Services etc. Politicians on both sides of the House of Representatives of our Parliament talk a great deal and make many promises. However, fulfillment of such promises and implementation of proposals take a long time in coming.
Another matter of public concern is the high rate of road fatalities resulting from motor vehicular accidents, amounting to virtual carnage on the roads. Trintobagonians, particularly the younger ones are generally neither polite nor considerate drivers – they break traffic lights; disregard speed limits; overtake riskly etc. There are too many cars for the existing road system which must be improved as well as more Police Traffic Patrols on the highways. to avoid lengthy traffic delays. It now takes almost 30 [EDIT: imagine that, all of 30 minutes!!] minutes to drive from Cascade to down town P.O.S.!
As morale boosters, T.& T. sportsmen have done us proud at world class level. Brian Lara, a Trini West Indian batsman, broke the world batting record by scoring the highest number of runs 11,187 in International Test Cricket, surpassing 11,174 previously made by Australian skipper, Allan Border. In addition, the T.& T. National Football Team, dubbed “The Soca Warriors”, beat the Bahrain team to qualify for the World Cup Finals to be held in Germany in June 2006.. This is the first time in football history that a country with a population as small as 1.3 mn. has ever qualified for the World Cup Finals! [EDIT: hooray! I am guessing New Zealand, the land of Maurice, isn't doing nearly as well :0)]
With All Best Wishes for a Happy Christmas & a Prosperous New Year
Ken and Masako
UNQUOTE |
