January 6 2018

THE MONTH.

Welcome to 2018, the seventieth different year in which I have lived. That seems an awful lot but I have enjoyed each and every one, learned something in each and every one and many of them you can read about on these pages.

Each year has been very different, even more so in my later years. I'm not sure that is how I thought things would be way back in 1968 when I started my working life. I think I imagined gradual progress, the reaching of a plateau, staying at that level until retirement and then just relaxing and doing exactly what I wanted until it all ended. To be honest, there were many moments in those early years when I did not even think I would get this far.

But I have, so far, and each year has seen me set new targets, gain new experiences and strive to new levels. If I succeed then I can assure you that 2019 will see yet more targets and if I fail then I will continue to work toward where I want to be this year or, go off on a completely different tack but no way will that notion of relaxing, which I guessed would be the way my final years rolled through, happen.

This month will see me start to put in place the various parts that will allow the project of “Bringing History and Geography alive” to begin in September. Much work has already been done, but things now need to be finalised. Sometimes I ask myself can I still do something like this? Am I too old? Is the motivation still there? Luckily I have been working over the last 15 months with some incredible people, who have not only helped me but also made it very clear that they totally believe in me and this project. If they believe, then so do I.