Graduating university
Matriculating at Oxford
After some agonising decisions Thomas took up his offer to attend Oxford. Happily he aced his A-levels with five A*s, and matriculated on a beautiful sunny October day.
So far he has thrown himself into university life with reckless abandon, rowing, playing ruby, debating, an awful lot of themed costume parties, and... hopefully somewhere ...a little bit of studying. Proud of you, Tom. Here is to four great years ahead! |
Thomas ponders the university life
After an exhausting autumn term Thomas returned home to receive some exciting news - he had been admitted to Yale! Yale was his "dream school" of all the American colleges that he visited, and so he was delighted to make it through the application process.
It is interesting to consider just how different the US college applications are from the UK ones - happily for Thomas because he was admitted 'early action', he doesn't have to fill out any more of them. For posterity we have posted a copy of his Yale application essay - a reflective piece reimagining his great-grandfather's journey to the Western Front in World War I. |
Shortly afterwards he followed that up by receiving a conditional offer to study at Oxford (his "dream school" in the UK), so now he has all kinds of difficult decisions to make!
Whatever he decides to do, we are very proud of him the academic success he has enjoyed. Well deserved after all of those years of hard work. |
Bodil's passing
Slightly over a year after her husband of 67 years, Bodil Arsvold also sadly passed on 11 October 2018. Like Torstein, Bodil left a large and loving family behind her. After struggling terribly in Norway in the post-war years and then as a penniless immigrant to Canada, they finally found happiness and comfort when the emigrated to Seattle and lived out the last half century or so of their lives.
2018 is here. Good riddance to 2017.
By most measures, 2017 was pretty horrible year in our household. It was marked by the death of Torstein in May, followed by the devastation of the twin Cat-5 hurricanes in September. Lisa and Matthew were evacuated by airlift. No sooner than they left than they received the news that Bodil was diagnosed with cancer. Our home was damaged, but not so badly that we couldn't shelter a number of other homeless families in the months after the storms. And that is before we count the financial costs of the loss and damage to our own property and the business.
And yet.
2017 was a year to feel alive. There may not have been too much about it that was fun. But you surely never feel quite so alive as when you are conscious of how thin the threads are that bind our world. And how quickly they can be blown away. There were plenty of things we experienced in 2017 that we would not want to wish on anyone. But looking back, in a strange way, you feel that you are somehow better than you were for having experienced them. You see with a rare sense of clarity when you count what it is that you really have. I hope that we never lose sight of that.
And yet.
2017 was a year to feel alive. There may not have been too much about it that was fun. But you surely never feel quite so alive as when you are conscious of how thin the threads are that bind our world. And how quickly they can be blown away. There were plenty of things we experienced in 2017 that we would not want to wish on anyone. But looking back, in a strange way, you feel that you are somehow better than you were for having experienced them. You see with a rare sense of clarity when you count what it is that you really have. I hope that we never lose sight of that.
Hurricane IrmaOn 6 September 2017 the BVI was struck by Hurricane Irma, an apocalyptic storm with sustained winds of 185mph and gusts of up to 225mph. Tortola went through the eye-wall twice suffered devastation on an almost unimaginable scale. Colin has written separately on the experiences of Irma and the aftermath. The newspapers in Edmonds recorded Lisa and Matthew's experiences.
Sadly for the BVI, the bad news did not end there. Irma was followed by torrential rainstorms, and then two weeks later Hurricane Maria, a second cat-5 hurricane, blew through. Although none of those events matched Irma itself, the cumulative effect was catastrophic. Like everyone else, we are working slowly and steadily to pick up the pieces. Amazingly, despite its exposed hilltop position, our house survived remarkable well. However, it was over 4 months before power was restored. But most importantly, all of our families and friends survived the experience alive and largely unhurt. |
Thomas goes to Yale. Sort of.Thomas seemingly had another strong academic year at Oundle (although his GCSE results will be the acid test). He picked up another four academic prizes: chemistry, computing, physics and Spanish, and was named Dux (pretentious Latin title for "top student") of his academic yeargroup.
After completing 5th form he travels to Yale to take part in the Yale Young Global Scholars programme, and hopefully to see if he would like to try and study there later in life. |
Torstein's passing
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On 5 May 2017 Torstein, father to Lisa and grandfather to Thomas and Matthew, passed on at the age of 94. He lived a full and varied life. He was born in Norway in 1922. After living through German occupation in World War II he joined the Merchant Navy and saw the world. He later emigrated to Canada and then on to the US in the 1950s, where he would live out the remainder of his life. He is survived by his wife of nearly 70 years, Bodil, five children, eight grandchildren and one great-grandchild. A gallery of some of our favourite shots of Torstein can be found here. |
Matthew Riegels. Taekwondo master!
Summer of 2016
The end of another school year. Thomas has another strong year, getting A* grades on eight out of ten finals, winning prizes in biology and Chinese and being named an exhibitioner (but not an exhibitionist). He relinquished his title as Dux, but it is tough to stay on top of the mountain. Still, next year is the big one - all the prizes count for naught if you don't perform in the public examinations.
We still await Matthew's end of year results but are hoping for good things as he prepares to sign off from Aldwickbury and return to the BVI.
We still await Matthew's end of year results but are hoping for good things as he prepares to sign off from Aldwickbury and return to the BVI.
More prizes....
Thomas continued his run of success at Oundle, winning the Dux of the 3rd Form (top student) and the Grocer's Scholarship (for something closely related but not quite the same thing). He also won prizes in chemistry and biology which means two things - firstly, he would make an excellent drug dealer, and secondly, he now has more book tokens than he knows what to do with. But whichever way you dice it, beating out 240 other students for both the top academic prizes is quite an achievement.
Matthew did not want to miss out on the fun, and also won his form prize at Aldwickbury (although it is a joint prize). Matthew may not have had to beat off quite so many competitors, but as he might say, you can't do any better than coming top. |
Hopefully both boys will both keep up the outstanding work in the upcoming academic year.
Lisa's neatly trimmed bushes
Lisa started 2015 with the purchase of a new house in Harpenden. In best Lisa fashion it is a bit of a fixer-upper, but the garden was a particular mess. Happily, after several months Lisa's bushes are now all neatly trimmed and under control.
The house also backs onto the church graveyard below. This makes for quiet neighbours, but does not bode well in the event of a zombie apocalypse. |
Thomas the prize winner |
Thomas followed up his scholarship to Oundle by winning two of the academic cups at Aldwickbury Prizegiving. He was also asked to be one of the two boys to give the leaver's speech on behalf of the boys, reminiscing about their time at Aldwickbury and thanking all the staff (although Thomas only actually spent four years at Aldwickbury, with a five year gap in the middle spent overseas). All of his teachers are extremely proud of him, and so are we.
He now moves on to Oundle with all the new challenges and opportunities that will bring. |
Thomas wins a scholarship to Oundle
Thomas looking tense on the day of his
final exam.
It seems like a long time ago that Thomas stepped off the plane from BVI a little awestruck, dealing with changes in climate, trying to play new and strange sports, and wrestling with the challenges of trying to learn entirely new subjects like French and Latin from scratch.
But after two years of struggling manfully with his studies, the hard work has paid off, and after getting through two gruelling rounds of exams Thomas has been awarded an academic scholarship to Oundle.
Thomas can now relax and enjoy his remaining time at Aldwickbury with peace of mind before he takes up his place at Oundle in September 2014.
It goes without saying that we are all immensely proud of him.
But after two years of struggling manfully with his studies, the hard work has paid off, and after getting through two gruelling rounds of exams Thomas has been awarded an academic scholarship to Oundle.
Thomas can now relax and enjoy his remaining time at Aldwickbury with peace of mind before he takes up his place at Oundle in September 2014.
It goes without saying that we are all immensely proud of him.
Colin is admitted in Hong Kong
In May Colin was admitted as a lawyer in Hong Kong after passing the Overseas Lawyer Qualification Exams. As these were the first exams Colin had sat in nearly 20 years, it was a bit of a dicey proposition, but despite terrible hand cramps for writing for three-and-a-half hours solid for the first time since University, he somehow made it through.
His admission was moved by Jonathan Chapman of Allen & Overy, who also clearly enjoyed the day! All meticulously organised by Colin's colleague, Ellie Crespi, who is keen to point out that Colin did not score as highly as she did on the same set of exams.
Afterwards everyone retired for a long celebratory champagne and sushi brunch at Zuma.
His admission was moved by Jonathan Chapman of Allen & Overy, who also clearly enjoyed the day! All meticulously organised by Colin's colleague, Ellie Crespi, who is keen to point out that Colin did not score as highly as she did on the same set of exams.
Afterwards everyone retired for a long celebratory champagne and sushi brunch at Zuma.
British Virgin Islands Commercial Law, 3rd edition
British Virgin Islands Commercial Law, 3rd ed.
The third edition of British Virgin Islands Commercial Law has now now been published. Like children, there seems to be a little bit less drama and excitement with each successive one, but it still a great sense of relief and achievement when it is over.
Book launches are planned for Hong Kong, Singapore and BVI.
Book launches are planned for Hong Kong, Singapore and BVI.
Lisa the Virgin (Islander)
Photograph of Lisa, circa 1982.
After 20+ years since first moving to the BVI, Lisa finally got naturalised as a citizen, and is now eligible for a BVI passport.
Not many people get to be made a Virgin at 44.
Not many people get to be made a Virgin at 44.