But the main excitement of the year came in the months from April through July. With Jill still being on an extended period of unpaid leave, we could take full advantage of my first ever sabbatical by visiting Australia. The first ten weeks were spent in Canberra, where I had a job as Visiting Fellow in the Research School of the Social Sciences at the Austr alian National University. It was terrific to be working in such a stimulating environment with a group of extremely able colleagues. We rented a house which was only 4 minutes walk away from my office, and which suited us really well. It afforded great v iews through trees and across Lake Burley Griffin to the splendid new parliament house and the national library. The children spent a couple of mornings each week at one of the university's pre-school centres, and very much enjoyed the experience. To say th at we all fell in love with Canberra would be a serious understatement. The built-up areas of the city, which include some sensational architecture, are interspersed with plentiful areas of undeveloped bushland. The surrounding countryside is fabulous.

After Canberra we moved on to Brisbane where I worked for a few days at the Queensland Treasury, and where I had a couple of conference papers to present. We then had a magical 5 days on the Great Barrier Reef, staying on one of the coral cays in the reef itself - Lady Elliot Island. This was a very relaxing time, where the greatest energy was spent walking on the reef, swimming and snorkeling amongst the most amazingly beautiful fish and coral imaginable. After a further few days on the Gold Coast and sta ying with friends in Sydney, we returned home (via a Singapore stopover). The experience has left us all besotted with Australia, and keen to return at any opportunity. The children all developed a lot while we were out there, and hopefully Tom and Becky will remember something about Sydney harbour, parliament, and kangaroos!

Actually, I did return to Australia a few weeks after returning to the UK - to give a paper at a conference. I left one weekend and returned the next, having taken stopovers at Bangkok and Hong Kong (the latter being especially enjoyable), and having feasted once more on the sights of Canberra and Sydney. A few weeks later, yet another conference took me briefly to Germany.

Shortly after coming back from Australia, we had something of a shock when we learned that Jill had a malignant melanoma on her back. Fortunately she had found it in good time; the mole and surrounding area were quickly removed and the prognosis is good. Earlier in the year, Katy was our resident invalid - she h ad double pneumonia which remained undiagnosed for 2 months - every time we took her to the doctor, she stopped coughing and just flirted with him!

In September, Becky started in school and Tom started in playgroup. Both are greatly enjoying their new e xperiences. Becky's three R's are coming along in leaps and bounds, and we were especially pleased when the school singled her out to receive a merit award for always working hard. Jill has got involved in the school, helping out in the library on an occa sional basis. Tom is also developing fast, and is now drawing well and even starting to write without help. He is as keen as ever on trains, and has developed an astonishing fervour for the colour green. Katy started walking at the beginning of November, and is a bundle of mischief.

Jill - as I mentioned earlier - is still on unpaid leave, but she has been allowing herself to be bought in to do some casual teaching in the department. So, for example, she was working a day each week during Lent term. During this time, the children wen t to the campus creche.

I still go regularly to watch Blackburn Rovers, who - having won the Premiership title earlier in the year - have nobly decided to give other teams a chance this season. We still go birding when we ge t the chance, though we miss the rosellas, cockatoos, galahs and kookaburras with which we were daily spoilt in Canberra.

We hope you have a happy Christmas, and that 1996 will bring you a good year.

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