Hello everyone,

General:
First of all, may I wish everyone a very happy and prosperous New Year with many publications!

There is now a bit of news which I would have preferred not to have to write, but you will understand that I am happy to help David out in the emergency situation which he unfortunately finds himself in.

In short, as I think you all have been told, he moved back to the UK in December, having sold their house in France. Selling the house appears to have been the least of his problems. As he and his wife were just about to move in, they discovered that their new house had been flooded. At first, when I read his email, I thought it was a natural disaster, but I had a long telephone conversation with him last evening. It appears that the problem was a plumbing fault: something like a tank in the roof void developing a leak of some kind, and water flooded down through the airing cupboard and covered the ground floor. I think also that because the water level had dropped, the valve remained open, and the water kept on invading the property. If that’s not the right interpretation of what David said, well, it’s a disaster of some similar kind. Anyway, whatever the reason, the house was unfit to live in, and they had to seek an alternative property to rent. This they have done, but the property they are renting has no telephone. He can use his blackberry to send and receive emails, but this is very limited and time-consuming in use. As the problems about the house moving mount – not least with dealing with the insurance and refurbishing, he has very reluctantly come to the conclusion that it is impossible for him to continue at the moment to stay acting as leader. I have agreed to step in until things return to some semblance of normality, but this seems unlikely to be less than three months.

As he has arranged with various members to organise the remaining challenges, I will generally keep an eye on things with running totals and so on, although because he has set things up so well, I don’t think this will prove to be onerous. I’ve got a list of challenge organisers, so I’ll be in touch with each of you. At least, I’ve got a PC working (my last one has had to be ditched), and have relatively good broadband connection. The thought of connecting up a blackberry to a PC each time to send an email would be very off-putting.

As a result of all the problems with using the blackberry, it might be as well if you didn’t overburden David with mass emails, although he says he’d enjoy some of the shorter ones which would keep him in touch. I’ll speak to him again and get more clarification of what he means: he may be able to get some kind of access to a computer in a library when systems start to work in the new year.

Many thanks to those of you who resent some of the files which I lost when my PC went into terminal decline. I can switch it on sometimes, but mostly it lasts but a couple of minutes before diverting into its own course of action). It is very 'unstable' according to my PC man.

Christmas Quiz:
You will all now have finished all you want to do with my Christmas Quiz. I understand some of you found things difficult: but I don’t like setting Quizzes where anyone gets all the answers right! I’ll send the answers out on the next Alpha Day – I may be away between 4th and 7th.

Group story:
The group story is something which will have to be looked at, and when the first chapter reaches David, he’ll see what happens and how to go from there. I’m keen to keep it going, (at least I am until I see what has been written before my turn comes).

Finally...:
It does seem strange, but when I spoke to David on the phone, I felt I was talking to an old friend I’d known for ages. I felt the same when I met Sally last April (sorry about the 'old’, Sally). I’m sure I’d feel the same if/when I meet any of the rest of you.

Best wishes all

- Olaf