Back from the Old Country, where all six of us (nuclear family) were from the 25th to the 3rd. It was very hectic, each day rushing off to see members of Dad's or Mum's family, sometimes both. I saw relatives I hadn't seen in 12 years or more, and in other cases met relatives I'd never met before, so it was a really interesting trip. We stayed with Mum's twin sister (not identical) and her two children, in a village of 2,700 called Tarporley. It's 10-20 minutes east of Chester, a city of 80,000 situated about 45 minutes southwest from Manchester.

On the eve of the 31st, we all played various family games until midnight, when we went out to watch the fireworks. Tarporley put on a show as good as or better than Fredericton's typical Canada Day display, but the thing is, every town, village, city, and even individuals had displays, which meant that in a country as densely populated as Britain, the view from anywhere decently high up (as we sortof were) was unbelievable. We stood and watched over the Cheshire Plain as for half an hour, the horizon was continually lit, over all compass points, by blips of light and colourful bursts. The sound drifting to us over the plain was a continual rumbling, like distant artillery fire. Next time I'm there at New Year's, with this in mind, I'll be heading to a real high point, like local Beeston Castle, which is up on a high hill overlooking the plain. On the drive to meet cousins on my Dad's side the next morning, we saw a lot of colourful bits of plastic from exploded fireworks, and paid serious attention to the possibility for unexploded ordnance to be lying around.

Sadly no photos of this incredible display, but I will post some more shots of English countryside later.

I have no New Year's resolutions, it's not something I do. With a memory like mine, I cannot remember them unless written down somewhere, and then I'd lose the paper. Or forget to check the file if it was on this thing. This therefore becomes extremely ironic, because one of the things I want to improve about myself most is my memory. However, my main resolution was formed many years ago and hasn't been well adhered to at all: to stop leaving stuff until the last minute and then doing a rush job and handing it in late. I can still do a fine job at the last minute, but the lack of room for error is problematic. Basically I have a problem with time management, which I'm working to fix. I'm pretty happy with myself besides that. I would like to be fit for more than the field season, but I'm not completely out of shape even after two weeks of pub lunches and restaurant dinners and a complete lack of exercise besides hide and seek with my young cousins.

More to come later, when the Clavinova in the next room has stopped calling to me to go play.