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We flew from Krabi to Koh Samui on 6 April where we met Carol.  Also there to meet us, with a mini bus laid on by Christopher, was our very dear friend Johnnie Birt. 

Johnnie had been at Sandhurst with Mike and they had served together in 7GR as well as playing rugby together for many years.  Johnnie had left the army from Hong Kong and worked for a commercial real estate company before being posted to open their office in Thailand.  Since when he had made his home there and had been instrumental in getting numerous investors to build luxury rental properties on Koh Samui.  He set up a company to manage the luxury holiday lets thus bringing enormous prosperity and employment to the island.  Unfortunately we knew Johnnie had been coping with cancer for a couple of years and was clearly less well than when we had seen him the previous year in Nepal.  (Sadly, Johnnie was to die less than three months after this gathering.  He was hugely generous, charming and delightful and was given a massive Buddhist cremation by his company staff who all adored him.  He will be greatly missed).

We had a fabulous few days staying at Christopher and Suzanna’s lovely villa.  Wonderful meals, copious drinks and plenty of talking around the pools and late into the night.  The Lees family are all very active so swimming, tennis and long walks were the order of the day.  The children had a riot together and did not stop, rushing form one activity to the next, in and out of the pools and the sea.  Carol and Mike had an island tour with Johnnie Birt and Christopher arranged a mini bus to take everyone on a visit to the night market.  We were also able to visit Jeremy’s school and see first-hand just what a wonderful job he has done in turning it around and making it such a success.

Our visit to Koh Samui was a really special treat, and we can only thank our generous hosts Christopher and Suzanna for looking after us all so magnificently.