It’s been another interesting and highly enjoyable year for us all.

The highlight of the year was an extended stay for us all in New England. I was invited to teach a couple of courses of intermediate microeconomics at Dartmouth College, an Ivy League institution located in beautiful rural New Hampshire. So, from the end of June to the end of August, we lived in the upper valley of the Connecticut river. From a professional perspective, this was a great experience for me – teaching students of an unbelievably high calibre, and having the opportunity to mix with a fresh bunch of colleagues. For us all, it was a wonderful opportunity to see part of the American northeast. We had weekend trips to Boston, Montreal, and the White Mountains, and grew to be extremely fond of the place – and of the Boston Red Sox baseball team! At the end of our stay, we enjoyed a wonderful two week vacation, travelling through the Adirondacks, and the Finger Lakes region to Niagara Falls, and then back through the Berkshires to the Atlantic coast and Cape Cod. Our flight back to the UK was delayed by Hurricane Floyd, and so our last day in America was an unplanned visit to New York – what a wonderful bonus!

During our time in New Hampshire, the children were active. Becky and Tom attended a day camp (called Playground) virtually every day, and engaged there in many activities – crafts, games, sports and so on. Katy was too young to attend this, but she did spend two weeks at the Hanover Nursery, a time which she much enjoyed. It was a good experience for the three of them to meet new friends in an environment quite different to the one to which they are accustomed. Jill, meanwhile, managed admirably with the need to drop me off at work (early), Becky and Tom at Playground, Katy at nursery, and then run the various errands which needed doing. On our holiday and weekend trips, she navigated wonderfully, and even planned the route – given her terror of all things geographical, this was no mean achievement!

The USA wasn’t my only trip abroad this year. In the spring, I had a whistlestop (well, there and back within a week) trip out to Australia, where I was offered a job as a professor at the University of Newcastle. The beaches and weather were nice, but the department was in a state of civil war, and after seeing the place I didn’t fancy the move. Right at the end of the year, I was offered another job – this time as professor at Bangor in North Wales. Lancaster responded by offering me a professorship to stay, and after much thought we decided to do just that.

During the year, Jill has continued to work part time – currently four mornings per week, though her contract is still just for 25%. Most of her teaching is in quantitative methods for economics and she continues to do a great job in a field that few students regard with great enthusiasm.

Becky continues to enjoy life. She has kept up well with learning to play the violin, and in December played a solo in a school concert. In the States, her confidence grew visibly. She developed a real taste for travelling, and enjoyed the cities in particular. She is a real bookworm, and regularly disappears for hours on end to read a book from cover to cover!

Tom is still a keen footballer; he practices regularly with, and occasionally plays games for, the village under-10s team. His preferred position is in defence. He also enjoyed the various sports on offer in the US, especially baseball. At school, he is progressing extremely well, and despite having turned 7 only in November, he has moved on to the juniors. While in the US, he adopted for himself the nickname Teejay (from his initials). Both Becky and Tom enjoyed a trip to see the Spice Girls in concert in December.

Katy started school in September, having had a really big summer. While we were in the US, she learned to swim (without armbands), read and write. A week after our return, she learned to ride her bike without stabilisers. She has started school in a very confident frame of mind, and has settled well there. She is an extremely talkative girl.

Tom and I were sad to see Blackburn Rovers relegated from the premiership this year, but are hopeful that the stay in the lower division will be temporary. We have all continued to go birding from time to time, but the nature highlight of the year was seeing a young roe deer on the field behind our house in May.