Xmas 2000

I spent Xmas 2000 at my mother's home near London but the Christmas dinner was served at my sister's place. Most of the family was there - here they are enjoying the sinking of the Titanic. From left to right, my mother, hiding from the camera as usual, my brother Peter, my niece Lucy, sucking her finger, my brother Simon (the rich one), my lovely wife, Catherine, my nephew Adam, picking his nose, my sister, Julia, scratching her ear, my smartly dressed brother-in-law, Claude, my nephew Max, sucking his thumb, my brother-in-law, Howard, scratching his cheek, and my nephew Sam.

Here (below left) is a subset of the little monsters, this time playing Nintendo. Gilbey (embarrassed), Lucy (happy), Sam (ecstatic) Myriam (enthralled), Max (grim) and Adam (anxious)..

The photo below right shows moi surrounded by my sisters Fiona, Caroline and Julia.

Next, Myself, Catherine and her brother Claude, in front of my mother's mansion.

We Brits borrowed a few bits and pieces from the Parthenon in Greece and put them in the British Museum...

I particularly liked the expression on this huge Egyptian sculpture.

The new Great Court and the renovated Reading Room at its center are pulling in the crowds to the British Museum. Built to handle 100 thousand visitors a year, it now welcomes more than 6 million. And still no entrance fee! We Brits must be crazy...

Oh, by the way, 'my mother's mansion' was really Hampton Court Palace, once the home of Henry VIII.