Dear all,

I like to inform all of you I am still 'alive and kicking'. My return to
Holland was one of my worsed experiences I ever had - it was impossible to
find any place to rent a house in half a year - me and my family found it
virtually impossible to live in our own home-country!!!. So, we had to camp
in a caravan to survive (while our belongings were stored meanwhile),
although we certainly could afford to rent a house. Even our names could not
be placed on the existing long waiting lists because I only had a short term
working-contract (waiting on these lists varies between about 1 year and
several years, depending on the community one chooses to live in). Anybody
who tries to move to Holland, be prepared for this type of problems, unless
you are rich, which is unlikely if you are a scientist ... this is just a
warning. This also explains why nobody received any news from me for some
time.
I am very glad I am able to continue work, especially on my books about
SI-analytical techniques, now at the IRMM, Geel, Belgium (renting a house
there was arranged in two days!). For my address, see the label at the
bottom of this message.

Considering my books, very soon I will upgrade the WEB-site and contact
authors on new developments.
For those who did not yet sent in their promised contributions, please
hurry - not much time is available to submit.
I will contact each of you personally within short time to set a short-term,
definitive and strict dead-line. These books have to be completed as soon as
is possible to avoid that already completed chapters are becoming obsolete.
If authors like to 'upgrade' their chapters, please contact me and we can
discuss this matter. Aim is to keep these books updated.....

Best wishes,
Pier.

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Pier A. de Groot
Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (IRMM)
European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC)
Retieseweg
B-2440 Geel
Belgium
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Tel. +32 14 571 691
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