Hi Andrew,
Well after an annus horribilis (well, relatively
speaking) of my mother’s passing and Covid x 2, retirement is now complete and
the days are filling with family, travel and renewed studies! As often heard
from patients “I don’t know how I ever found time to work, doc”.
Late last year we did a cycling tour from the bottom of
the boot of Italy right up to Venice over about a month. Bloody hard - lots of
hills in Italy! The contrast in food, wine, culture, attitudes and wealth along
the way was most impressive. It is physically impossible to get a bad coffee in
Italy.
Enrolled now in Archaeology at the Alma Mater, and
blessed that the lectures are mainly in a lovely old wood-panelled theatre in
the Quad building. The University is so different in many ways to our glory
days - very transactional, very business-like (it is very much an export
industry now), social activism is but a quaint footnote. But at the same time,
the Quad, Anderson Stuart and the Holme remain as ever they were. Young
wide-eyed students are still young wide-eyed students, and the feeling of
relaxed, uncommitted freedom resurfaces. But maybe that’s just me looking
through the misty lens of 1972! Oh, and if one more 18 year-old congratulates
me on still wanting to be active and learning “at your age” I shall be
hard-pressed to resist ripping out their tongue-stud and nose-ring!
Sad to daily miss our old Jacaranda friends in the quad,
but their young replacements seem to be content and flourishing, and will no
doubt be “those old trees we used to sit under in the Quad” for future
generations of alumni.
Best regards,
John (and Shauna) de Launey
PS: I am trying to break a prior unbreakable commitment
for the reunion night - will let you know within days if successful.
