It's been another busy, full and generally good year. It got off to a hectic start with a long stretch of lecturing the second-year class. Unusually, I wasn't able to get away for the Easter short vacation - the first time in many years that I have missed spending this in Pretoria.
I was very blessed to be able to get away in June/July for a mid-winter break to Ramsgate with Theo and Brenda and Theo's family (the photo is of me and Jemma making footprints in the sand!). As was the case last year, we had some excellent weather and were able to enjoy the beaches, sea, cycling, geocaching, etc. We took our time over the trip down and overnighted in the Natal Midlands.
In August/September, I travelled overseas for a conference in Denmark (just North of Copenhagen). The photo here is of a military fort/barracks in Copenhagen (not too far from the famous mermaid sculpture). That was a great experience, and I was able to fit in some sightseeing, before taking a train and an overnight ferry up to Oslo in Norway on the recommendation of some good friends. Oslo was stunning, and my only regret is that my time there was so short. Coincidentally, Jacob Zuma (President of South Africa) was on a state visit at the same time, so they had bedecked central Oslo in South African flags in honour of my visit! I really felt at home. If you squint carefully at the flag poles in the image below you can just make out the SA flag bunting in front of the Royal Palace in Oslo.
From Oslo I flew to the UK and spent a week or so with Liz, and then a rather frenetic few days in the UK catching up with various friends (as many as I could pack into the few days available). The highlight of that was the (completely coincidental) opportunity to be there for my godson Alistair's baptism. While with Liz, I managed to do some geocaching on the Isle of Man (the photo below is of me at Liz' local train station after finding a cache there), and we went out for a first-class meal at one of the island's top restaurants. The local museum also had a display of sporting highlights including a lot of cycling-related displays (a lot of them focused on the career of Mark Cavendish). While in the UK I was able to visit Oxford (for the first time), and also Bletchley Park (home of the WW2 German Enigma code-breaking effort).
I got back home from that trip just in time to dive into another busy stretch of lecturing.The rest of the year seems to have flown by in something of a blur, and it's very hard to believe that the year is almost over. A recent highlight was a dinner to celebrate 25 years of service to the University by myself and two colleagues (Dave Sewry and Richard Foss). In some ways it seems like just the other day that I was a very young graduate starting out as a Junior Lecturer!
2012 promises a number of changes, challenges and excitements. After nine years (i.e. three successive three-year terms) as Head of the Department of Computer Science, I will be handing over that role to a colleague. I am really looking forward to having more time to spend on my research programme. One of the perks of being Head of Department is some extra sabbatical leave, so I will also be taking a few months off in 2012. In March, I plan to ride the Cape Argus cycle race in Cape Town, a world-famous event which attracts 35000 participants each year. That has been on my "bucket list" for some time, but I am almost always lecturing in March and have never been able to get to it previously. My good friend Theo will be joining me for that adventure, which will be a great bonus. Then in September I am organising a conference in Grahamstown (the next edition of the conference that has taken me to Austria and Denmark in the past two years).
And that's about all the news for 2011 and forth-coming attractions for 2012. I hope 2012 is a good year, filled with health and happiness for you.
