2017

As is now customary, here is the 2017 newsletter/blog. It has been a very full and very good year — there is much to be very grateful for, looking back on the past year.

The main "thing" for the year was that I was on sabbatical for the entire year, which provided some very welcome respite from a very busy period at work (in HoD and Acting Dean roles up to the end of 2016). While I didn't make as much progress on my research programme as I had hoped (probably the common experience of anyone who has taken a sabbatical!), I did get a paper published and made some progress on the next steps of my current work. However, the sabbatical did also provide some much-needed time to (1) move house, and (2) take an extended trip to Australia and New Zealand. But I think I am getting ahead of myself!

The year started in Pretoria with a short break with my friends Theo and Brenda. A real highlight of that visit was an opportunity to see the Moscow Circus in Jo'burg — a stunning show with excellent acrobatics and stunts (the "cage of death" with several whirling motorbikes in a tiny steel-mesh ball even survived a sudden power-cut!). I headed back to Grahamstown in mid-January for the Department's annual planning session, and the supp exams (with which I was still involved from my teaching in 2016). I also started the mammoth task of packing up my old home, which was no small feat after 27 years! A week per room was just about enough time with the move scheduled for 1 March. February brought a few work commitments (staffing selection committees and assisting the new Dean with with the registration of the Pharmacy students).

March started with the big move. On the first, my parents and I moved a few bits and pieces with a borrowed bakkie and trailer, then the removal company did the "big move" on the second. To say that was exhausting and stressful would probably be something of an understatement! I had always said that I would never move from the old house until it was time to carry me out in a box — this time I really mean it! The new house has been a wonderful blessing, with much more space than the old one, including lovely indoor and outdoor entertaining spaces. Having a study that opens onto the pool area has also been wonderful on hot days while working from home during my sabbatical. We had just moved in, when my sister arrived from the Isle of Man for her annual visit. When she asked if we would be moved in and unpacked when she arrived, I only committed to being moved in, but the guest bedroom was at least habitable. A week after moving, and a few days after Liz' arrival, we headed down to Cape Town for our annual road trip. We stopped off for a night in Wilderness en route, which was lovely (we had previously found a wonderful AirBnB just a few metres from the beach, and a short walk into the town). Cape Town was great, as always, although the reason for the trip fizzled out — the Argus/Cape Town Cycle Tour was cancelled due to extreme high winds. I had made it to the start line only to find that they were turning people back. That was probably wise, as the short ride from where my old school-friend Allan had dropped me had already proved rather hair-raising with very strong, and gusty/unpredictable winds howling through the streets of central Cape Town. Anyway, we enjoyed our visit to the Western Cape, and made the most of our time there. One of the highlights was a lovely dinner with good friends to start the celebrations of Liz' half-century. On our way back to Grahamstown we spent two nights in Wilderness, and used the opportunity to explore the Garden Route. A major highlight there was spotting a pod of dolphins frolicking in the sea between the Knysna heads (we had found a quiet beach at the base of the heads to have a snack lunch and looked up to see the dolphins, probably also snacking for their lunch!). Liz left at the end of March, after a quiet, but good celebration of her birthday with family.

April saw organisation for the planned Australia and NZ trip getting busy with visa applications, X-rays and medical clearance, etc. all underway. My plans to spend an extended time at a NZ university faltered, and so it turned into a shorter trip with one month each in Australia and New Zealand, but did mean I had more time to spend at home organising and furnishing the new house. In mid-April I flew up to Pretoria to spend Easter with Theo and Brenda — always a highlight of the year. I got back in time for the Rhodes Grad ceremonies and celebrations, which were good (and a little more relaxed, no longer being acting Dean!).

May started with a lovely house-warming party on 1 May (taking advantage of the SA public holiday!). Later in the week I flew up to Pretoria for a couple of days before flying out to Australia on the weekend. I won't go into too much detail, as there are several detailed blog entries on the trip on this site (see the blog entries below). Suffice it to say that it was a wonderful trip taking in Perth, Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, and Tasmania in Australia, and Palmerston North/Ashhurst, Rotorua, Auckland, Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch, Geraldine, Queenstown and Dunedin in NZ. While the countries and the sights were wonderful, the best part was reconnecting with numerous old friends and family members, some of whom I hadn't seen in decades. As that brief summary implies, after two months of non-stop travelling around the antipodes, I needed a holiday, which was serendipitously provided by Theo and Brenda who were heading down to Ramsgate for a ten-day break on the day I arrived back from Australia! They swung past the airport to collect me en route, and a lovely, relaxing mid-year break on the beautiful Natal South Coast ensued.

The remainder of the year has been spent doing some research, finishing off the process of furnishing and decorating the house, riding whenever the weather and circumstances permitted, and on various work-related activities (including two months on a University task team, which swallowed far too much of my time!). In August I was back to Pretoria for a very interesting seminar (Half-Time — essentially a good exploration of what the second half of one's life might involve in terms of meaningful contribution), and also for Theo's birthday. And October saw me in Port Elizabeth for the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit, which was as challenging and inspiring as ever. It was great to see Jody and Gina in Grahamstown in November, visiting from the U.K.

The end of the year was fairly busy, with planning underway for the 2018 academic year, Christmas preparations, and various dinners and lunches. As has become customary, I left on Boxing Day for a few weeks in Pretoria again, where I am writing this, while enjoying a relaxing break, the company of very good friends (who are about to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary — no idea how that happened as their wedding was just the other day!), a lovely family of very cute foster kittens, and the lovely hot highveld summer weather and spectacular thunderstorms.

The year ahead is looking interesting, with some new teaching assignments on the cards for me. Liz arrives in March for her annual trip, and, hopefully, the Argus/Cape Town Cycle Tour happens this year, wind, fires, protests, etc. permitting! I'm also starting to plan for a trip to the USA in June/July, as my friends' Colin and Janet's son Bryn is getting married in July. All in all it promises to be another memorable and blessed year.

Whatever 2018 may hold for all of us, I hope and pray that the best of 2017 will be the worst of 2018, and that we may all enjoy a happy, healthy and successful year in whatever endeavours we undertake in the year that lies ahead.