Another year draws to a close, and it’s been another year packed with activity for the Johnes clan.

I’ve continued to enjoy things at work. My various research activities have taken me to Stockholm and Budapest this year in connection with an EU funded research project on the economic effects of private sector universities in Eastern Europe. (Yes, I know, Stockholm is not in Eastern Europe!) I also had a short trip to Athens to give a conference paper. My main research area continues to be the economics of human resources. It seems that the more you study something, the more gaps you see in human knowledge, and the more you want to do something to plug those gaps.

Jill’s part-time arrangement at work has increased from 25 to 40 per cent, and she is now once again able to devote time to her research. As well as her conventional role as a lecturer, she has been an active student this year, taking evening classes in painting in watercolours, and also studying French. How she gets all that she gets done is always a mystery to me – it has to do with her excellent organisational skills, I know, but excellent organisation always was beyond my comprehension!

Becky is now in her final year of junior school, and so we’ve spent the last few weeks visiting secondary school open evenings. There are several excellent schools in our area – both in Lancaster and in Kirkby Lonsdale – and we’ll be keeping fingers crossed that there will be no problems. She continues to play the violin, and has recently taken up the piano. Becky is still an avid reader, and only takes her head out of the book if it is to play a musical instrument or if it is under duress!

Tom and I have continued to go to watch Morecambe play football regularly, and Tom has been signed onto the club’s under-9s team. This sees him train every Saturday morning and he plays in matches on Sundays. His game is developing well – he’s a midfielder, good on the ball and has a good feel for the game. He won an award as footballer of the week at his summer soccer school. The most memorable part of the year for Morecambe must have been the FA Cup tie against premiership giants Ipswich. We were there, and despite the 3-0 reversal, it was a great day. Tom has recently joined the cub scout pack in our village, and is loving every minute of it.

Katy is now 7 years old, and, like Becky, is a member of the local Brownies. She is keen on drama, and was delighted when the school started a drama club. She has acted in a couple of plays that the drama club has performed at school. Katy has followed in her sister’s footsteps by learning to play the violin. She has a really sunny personality and attacks everything she does with enthusiasm.

We had our summer holiday in France again, staying in three places – just outside Paris, Alsace, and Champagne. The children loved visiting EuroDisney (as did we!), and we all enjoyed doing the tourist thing around Paris. Since we were near the border in both Alsace and Champagne, we took the opportunity to visit Germany (the Black Forest), Belgium and Luxembourg on day trips. Our favourite area was definitely Alsace, which we are sure to return to in the future. It is great to see how the children have come to be increasingly comfortable staying abroad during our holidays; on one occasion this summer, I was ordering food at a restaurant when Becky interrupted in fluent French to say that she had changed her mind and wanted something else from the menu!

Foot and mouth disease constrained much of our leisure activities this year. One of the earliest cases was a farm which we can see from our living room window, and all the footpaths and cycle paths near us, as well as in the Lake District, were closed for months on end. We couldn’t do much birdwatching for months, either, because the local reserves were closed. To compensate for all this, we joined the lawn tennis club in our village, and had a great time playing several times a week through the summer. The children were given weekly coaching sessions, and their games improved markedly as the season progressed. Jill and I entered the club’s mixed doubles tournament at the end of the season. The best that can be said for our performance was that at least we won one match!

We hope you will enjoy the Christmas season and have a good 2002.