Winter Solstice Newsletter 2016

Phew. Another year nearly over and it's time to delve deep into my memory banks. As usual, my brain is not up to this challenging task, and so I have to rely on the year's photos, which have been somewhat prolific. Over 20,000...

We'll get the life-changing events out of the way first. For me, personally, the sale of my business has to rank high on the change'o'meter. In April I finally said goodbye to over 45 years of veterinary life. Big moment. No pictures...

Then, as my life gradually disappears down the pan, another has started...

 

Welcome Sienna, granddaughter to these old pensioners, daughter to Lisa and Christian, niece to Luke & Marta, Jon and Sophie & Ulrich, cousin to Lyzëa. 

 

 

And so to more mundane issues. Much of this year's quota of energy has been expended on our new forever home, with the main house being finished early in the year...

 

 only to start on the next project soon after...

 

I do like projects.

 

As I settle down into dotage, watching our own youngsters progress has had its ups and downs. Lisa, adapting to life as a parent, Sophie too, with Ulrich away in the army, Luke and Marta finally to move into their own home, and Jon, whose year has been in turmoil, starting a new life. Kids can fill you with sadness and joy at the same time. 

Overfilling all the spaces between these life-changers has been, at least, diverting. Our usual couple of months based in the Pyrénées was great, even if the snow wasn't! 

 

 

 

Predictably, my love of old buildings took us to many different French villages, including Sarlat in the Dordogne. 

 

as well as revisiting Cordes in time for the annual medieval fair...

 

Our revitalised camper van took us to new places...

On top of all this, we up and flew over to Mallorca...

 

and saw two long separated brothers back together...

 

Spot the difference.

Apart from several trips to the UK, we dropped in on Northern Ireland to admire the Antrim Coast...

 

The crowning glory of our trips away was 10 days in Tanzania. Utterly fabulous. Much of this elsewhere, but I'll bung in a couple of photos here...

 

 

 

No newsletter can be complete without photos of all those who have visited this year, friends and family. (Editors note; this does not refer to the above photo!) You guys have been so supportive and so caring, it chokes...

Here's a short video slideshow capturing most, but not all! 

Like I may have said, Phew! Retirement does not seem to bring stagnation.

A Merry Winter Solstice to you all. If you get the chance to visit us over the hols, come and join us for a drink and maybe a game of snooker or two!

Yes, Annick's been et loose on the snooker room...

In Search of Mythical Beasts

The last time we went to Ireland, when the kids were small, was not good. It rained. The kids moaned. The only one really happy was Danny.

The dog.

Thus is took some persuading to go again. This time it was to stay with friends John & Susie. Lured there by the promise of Guinness, dragons and, of course, leprechauns.

 

Being the good hosts that they are (and they are good hosts) they spent the week doing the tourist thing and showing us the sights of Northern Ireland. 

We started with a visit to the local Glen, shrouded in golden leaves. Here surely would be leprechauns galore. 

 

Nope.

 

Then to Belfast. This was a little disappointing as no bomb craters could be found. Someone had been cleaning up. We did however go and see a giant exhibition about a boat. We couldn't find the boat either.

 

We did visit, with some reluctance, a couple of famous local hostelries, sampling their fine wares, finishing at the 'most bombed hotel in the world'. It's good to be famous for something...

On entering the hotel, a stunning coincidence. There was being held a Faculty of Homeopathy (yes, there is such a thing) conference, hosting one of my arch-enemies of the pseudoscience brigade, he who loves nano-particles instead of medicine. Sadly he had just left. When enquiring after him, I was asked if I was a fan. My response was not printable. Still I thought, there must me more chance of seeing a leprechaun here than of homeopathy actually doing something. No luck in either department.

We then went on to visit a hoard of hives (I'm not sure of the collective noun).

You may wonder at this being on the tourist trail, but you must understand that both John and Susie are somewhat obsessed with these little buzzing beasts. Totally obsessed. They have bee magazines in their toilets.

However, these hives were right next to one of the places where Game of Thrones was filmed! My chance to see dragons!

 

For me, this was special. I'm a great fan, and was hoping to see some filming, but their filming season has changed as 'winter is coming'. 

 

So no dragons. Or leprechauns.

We also has a day's trip up the Antrim coastline. Beautiful.

Let the pictures speak.

 

 

You may notice a distinct lack of leprechauns.

 

A great day, but we arrived at the north of the coastline too late to see the Giant's Causeway, forcing my now fatigued hosts to take us there the next day.

 

 

 

Although, as you might have guessed, no mythical little creatures.

Well, that is not entirely true. For a couple of days in the Emerald Isle, there were a couple of little creatures (Jac & Tia) staying with our hosts.

 

They were certainly mischievous if not mythical. At least I caught up with my Dr Seuss reading.

A great week. Lots of good food, lots of good Guinness (lost count after thirteen pints) and lots of sight seeing. 

We were sad to have to return to Belfast airport for the journey home. Although that was the only place I did see leprechauns...

 

Mahale

Our last three nights in Tanzania were to be extremely remote and remarkable indeed. After several intense days on safari, it was time to chill. 

The Mahale Mountains National Park is at the western extremity of the country, on the shores of Lake Tanganyika. 

Roads? There are none. The only access is by crossing the country in a small plane and then by boat from the short and slightly scary airstrip to the Greystoke Mahale camp.

 

It's a long trip, but a couple of years shorter than it would have been a hundred years or so ago. It is oh so worth it. It is not just an amazing camp, it is also smack-bang next to the largest known colony of chimpanzees on planet earth.

The camp is both beautiful and relaxing. There were only five other couples there with us, plus the amazing staff. Great food, great comfort, there can be few places like this on earth.

 

The mornings of the two full days we spent there were used in search of our quarry, our closest living non-human relatives, the chimps. There are about 800 chimpanzees in the mountain rainforests behind the camp. Most are left completely wild, but one troop of about 70 individuals are habituated to humans, although they generally ignored us completely.

 

On each day we had excellent sightings of the chimps over a long period, thanks to our guide Butati. A total of one hour's contact on each day was spread out to make the mornings fascinating and absorbing.

Watching the antics of the youngsters was a thrill.

 

Being close to the alpha male, humbling.

 

Watching their interaction, you realise how close to we humans they are. Agression, empathy, love, it's all there.

 

Whether sitting thinking...

 

or simply hanging around...

 

these creatures are full of expression...

 

The differences between us are minor compared to the similarities. Genetically, they are nearly identical. Most evolutionary changes involve epigenetics (changes in the gene switches) rather than actual gene mutation. Look at them and you are looking at us.

Their social interactions are complex, but very similar to our own. I could have stayed there watching them for a very long time, but visits are strictly limited so as not to interfere with their normal lives. We were priveledged indeed to be there.

The afternoons were spent winding down, the evenings eating, drinking and being merry. That I can do...

With much regret we left Mahale to head home. Nearly 10 days in Tanzania. But leaving, for me, is not the end. The small matter of nearly 7,000 photos taken whilst there was to be real compensation. So far I've whittled them down to about 250. 

I hope you enjoyed them.

 

For all photos of Mahale, click here

If you have nothing better to do, I've shoved all the photos from the safari into one place here.  I'll undoubtedly be adding more in the coming months.

Thank you Tanzania, you are a truly amazing country.

The Serengeti - the good, the bad and the ugly.

In nature, there is no good, no bad. There is just your point of view. A crocodile pulling down a young Gnu beneath the water with its mother helplessly looking on, crying out. Is the croc bad? A crocodile feeding to survive, is it good? 

To our eyes, the leopard is graceful and beatiful, the Gnu it hunts and kills is ugly. This seems a little unfair on the poor old Gnu.

Our trip to the Serengeti had been awesome. Only three nights spent there, but over thirty hours on game drives thanks to our amazing guide, Ian. Between long hours spent with big cats, elephants and experiencing the Mara crossing, there was an apparently endless stream of wildlife.

There were birds stunning in their beauty...

 

varied in their size...

 

and in their beauty or lack of ...

 

Along with herbivores large...

 

herbivores petite 

 

and herbivores less than pretty

 

The Endless Plain (the Serengeti) could not go on forever. We reluctantly had to leave. Our next stop however (our last in Tanzania) was to be a stunning climax to an awesome week.

Superlatives are just not good enough...

Here's some photos that haven't made it into the previous blogs...