ahh finaly i have layed my hands on a good computer, here i amin central amsterdam with Jon an old friend of my fathes. but alas it s 2 oclock in the morning so i will be breif, but don't worry i will be back on ths computer i'm sure. unless im to busy adventuring.
so what has been happening lately?

well i will begin by showing this dialogue that my uncle Gerry provided me with at his house in spain:

From: Giselle de Barfleur.
Forgive my English; but I do not know if you are French fluent. I believe you may have a relation - Henri Oeuf, an artist who live in Champignon, a small village between Rue and Berck. I am his housekeeper since 1972, and for many years I put together his history. His grandfather - his mother's grandfather - was Welsh, Roy Hughes. He was a brother to Edward Leslie Hughes. If you related please reply.

From: tididol
Hello Giselle, thank you for your e-mail. My father was Edward Leslie Hughes, so please send me more details.

From: Giselle de Barfleur.
Thank you for reply. It is good I have the right person. Roy Hughes had an affair with a French actress Celeste Luneville, when she is touring England. This affair was not approved to the Hughes family, and so they separated. It was only after Celeste return to Paris in 1932 she discovered she is pregnant. She married a clerk, Gaston Oeuf, and they brought up her daughter, Silvi, as their own. They lived in Vouziers, and didn't have any more children. Silvi married Etienne Oeuf, a carpenter, in 1954. Etienne was a good friend of Andre Durain, the painter. Durain was going to be Etienne's best man, but Durain was killed in a motor accident only days before the wedding.

The death of his friend deeply upset Etienne. He and Silvi had two sons: Andre, born in 1955, and Henri, born in 1959. Etienne very much wanted Andre to be an artist. Andre had great talent, but he argued with his father and objected to being forced to work much hours. One night Andre came to his younger brother, Henri, very nervous, gave him his paints, his clothes and his record collection, and said he was going to Paris. He said he would never speak to his father again. But if Henri wanted to find him, he could meet him at 8 o'clock in the evening of June 8, at Notre Dame. He said that if he didn't make it this year, he would keep going back at that time each year until he saw his brother. Andre implored Henri not to tell their father of this arrangement. Then he left.

The next morning, discovering his son's departure, Etienne was very angry. Henri kept his brother's secret. But his mother was deeply distressed too. She guessed he was concealing something. After many tears, he told her. She told her husband. He made the trip to Paris to find his son. His son, however, didn't turn up. Henri believes that Andre saw him, and stayed away.

That is thirty years ago. Now, both parents are dead. Still Henri has had no word of Andre. He has believed himself to have no relative in the world.

I am using the Internet and traced his family history and can find no relatives living in France, no mention of Andre Oeuf. The only connection is a family of Edward Leslie Hughes and Norah Patricia Swann. It seems from my researches that one son emigrated to Australia, and another went to Africa.

Henri now is making a regular annual pilgrimage to Paris. He visits his "friends"—his favourite sculptures and paintings—and stands before Notre Dame, at 8:00 pm, as a mark of respect for his departed brother, and with a glimmer of hope that perhaps his brother may turn up.

From: tididol
Bon jour, Giselle. What a fascinating story! I have a dim recollection of hearing that my Uncle Roy had an affair with a French girl, but never heard her name and no mention was ever made of a child. I would very much like to meet Henri myself but unfortunately will not be able to call in on this trip back to the UK from Spain where we spend the winters.

However by chance we have one of the Australian family who is travelling around Europe at the moment and is I think planning to be in Paris about the time you mention that Henry makes his pilgrimage. His name is Harry Hughes and he too has artistic aspirations. He has a grandfather who also paints.

From: Giselle de Barfleur.
Thank you for your e-mail. I do not think that Henri would like to meet Harry. He is shy, and his English is poor. But I will make the suggestion to him when he return this evening.
From: Giselle de Barfleur
Hello Gerry. I am pleased to say that Henri is very excited at the prospect of meeting with another cousin – though very distant. Would he like to meet him in Paris at his Notre Dame vigil? They can watch for Andre together for an hour, then go for a meal.

Unfortunately I am shortly leaving to Austria this evening and will not be back until late in June. You should understand that Henri is a little eccentric. He hate machines. He walk everywhere, refuse to fly, or even to be driven. He make his annual visit to Paris on foot. It take him a week to walk there, he stay for three days, and he take a week to walk back. He done it faster, but he say he like to take his time.

I hope you persuade Harry to meet him and look forward to seeing you in the future.

well!!!!! "what would you do if your mother asked you?"*
of course i was very exited and said yes.

then alittle later, and further north in spain, madrid infact i recieved this email from bruce........

The other thing is that I have had a phone call from Gerry, veryexcited. He has tried to call you, but hasn't got through. He asked meto pass this message on:On the way through France, Gelle realised might be going near cousinHenri. They emailed Giselle, who said Henri had been re-united with hisbrother Andre. Andre had seen an ad that Henri had placed in Parisnewspaper.They were together in at a hotel in Roui (?).Gerry and Gelle went and met them there, along with quite a collectionof distinguished gentlemen and elegant ladies.Henri and Andre were both fascinated that you were going to Barcelona.Henri was there in the seventies, when he was your age, and was inspiredby the sculptures.He has booked onto a train to go to Barcelona. It arrives from Paris at8.34 a.m. on May 29.Gerry and Gelle had a great afternoon with the two re-united brothersand their friends, talking of art, philosophy, food, and the horrors ofmodernisation. Henri was very inquisitive about Harry (l'artistjeune!). When Gerry mentioned you and Charity were in Madrid and headedfor Barcelona, Henri's eyes lit up.He LOVES Barcelona. Says it has some of the most beautiful sculpturesin the world. He decided on the spot he would go down to meet you andCharity in Barcelona. He promised to "show Harry the way to look at Gaudi."The landlord of the hotel where Henri was staying, who is very proud tohave such a distinguished guest as Henri Ouef, said it would be hishonour to put Henri on the train.Some of the people at lunch (there were quite a few gathered) expressedsurprise at Henri volunteering to travel by train.Henri said "De l'audace, et encore de l'audace, et toujours del'audace!" He sounds like a great character. I do hope you can meethim off the train. I don't think his feet are too good, and he hasrelaxed his avoidance of artificial transport!Gaston Sands, the landlord, later rang Gerry and said to be sure to tellHarry that Henri would be arriving in Barcelona on May 29, at 8.24 a.m.At Barcelona Franca. He will only be able to stay in Barcelona for a day.Hope you can make it,all the best,Dad.
(for some unkown reson the computer has decided to bunch all the paragraphs from bruce's email into one big paragraph. i realy cant be botherd untangling it now.)

now it is 2:30 and i want to go bicycling around amsterdam tomorow. so i will go to bed and tell more later.

*The Cat In The Hat

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ok i'm back the next day, ready to type.

so....

Charity and I watched as people exited the train, contemplating each 40>60 year old and giving them a smile. I thought we must have missed him and then we see a man in a suit limping slowly towards us, this could be him as Henri had developed an ankle problem. he was wearing a berae and a scarf around his nose and mouth and he had sun glasses on. he limped towards us and our excitement mounted. it must be him. i stood up smiling. he looked at a photograph he had of me he had in his hand and stepped forward. "Harree!"he said. in his thick french accent. we greeted each other. i was extremely excited. I noticed the side of his cheek and his ear that was exposed, they looked familiar. well, he was a cousin. It looked like my dad's cheek. could it be hm? would Henri be insulted if I said i thought he was Bruce? I grinned... "Hi dad" i said. he pulled off the scarf and sunglasses and the cotton buds from his mouth. "now i can take these out"

we had a lot of fun that day as Bruce has commented in the post bellow. i discovered that Henri and Andre were both made up but, i still went and waited outside Notre Dame on the 8th at 8 just in case.