Hakloot

A busy 2nd half of 2008

End-June 08 was Speech Day at Leweston school and the closing of an important chapter for Leanne. She completed her A-levels and graduated from Leweston where she has spent the last 7 years in boarding school. We were all very proud to be present at such an important occasion for Leanne. Her grand-parents had also come over from Belgium. Nevertheless we did have a bit of a scare two night before at the graduation ball. Leanne got her knee banged in a dodgum and we had to rush her to the emergency ward of Yeovil Hospital to get her knee stitched. Quite an experience for all of us waiting for 2 hours in the emergency waiting room in black-tie and evening dress. The least we could say is that we stood out from the crowd. Leanne had to go up the podium for Speech day with her knee bandaged.

At the end of school we all returned to Belgium and spend a few days in De Panne enjoying all but a few sunny days at the Belgium seaside. With Louise, Lawrence and Lucas we tried out a new “sport” – “Geocaching”. A modern version of treasure hunting. With the help of a GPS one looks for hidden “treasures” that like minded “geocachers” have carefully planted. There’s a “Geocaching”website, where one can register, for free, download coordinates for treasures hidden in many places across the globe. Then it’s up to you to go and discover them and report your find on the website. Most of the time you take something out of the cache and replace it with a goodie of your own. The kids just love it. In and around De Panne we found four!

Mid-August 08 I traveled for business for his first visit to Turkmenistan. It borders the Caspian Sea, Iran, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. The start of the journey yielded an interesting surprise. Inside the aircraft were pictures of the President of Turkmenistan. It seems the current President took a leaf out of the book of his predecessor.

The capital Asghabat is rather impressive. The late president, Saparmyrat Niyazov “Turkmenbashi” – “leader of the Turkmen”, besides putting up a lot of statues and pictures of himself, also built a new part part of the city which is very well designed with beautiful wide avenues and impressive government and residential buildings. Turkmenistan may be little known but it has a lot of history and hidden treasures.

Most interesting was the visit to Merv, Turkmenistan’s first listing on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list. It’s a juxtaposition of five cities the earliest of which was built starting in the 6th century BC. Alexander the Great satyed here on his expansion East. The entire site was eradicated in 1221 by the Mongols under Tolui’s command, Genghiz Khan’s most brutal son, as a revenge for the slaying of Genghiz’ emissaries in 1218.

The visit to Tukmenistan’s Caspian Sea port, Turkmenbashy, the center of the country’s oil and gas production, was completed by a short trip on the Caspian Sea. The ship was appropriately named “Parfiya” for the Parthian empire’s capital was in Nisa, just 10 km outside Asghabat, from its founding in the 3rd century BC till the Mongols destroyed it in the 13th Century.

End-August 08 Lawrence entered his new senior school “King’s Bruton”, in Bruton, Somerset. A big step into a new school leaving the familiar environment of Sherborne Preparatory School where he spent 7 years.

End-September I joined Leanne to London to enroll her at the London College of Fashion. It was a hectic week to help Leanne settle in to London. Finding out about her halls of residence, getting all the necessary things to “move in” to her new room. A lot of time was spent on learning the public transport in London and for Leanne to become familar with all the bus and underground connections.

Then end-October was Lucas’ 5th birthday and we organized a big birthday party for him. He had 12 friends join him and they played plenty of games and were thrilled with the bouncing castle (more like a truck) in the garden. Will be tough to beat next year …

Last Updated: 24-01-2009



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