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I'll start with a bit of Sheila wisdom. As you get older it's not more time to get things done
that you need - it's more energy and that comes from being fit. And that's where our holidays come in - they are active and stimulating so even our brains get a bit of excercise.
So for 2009 I wish everybody good health and a bit of 'zap'. Well I have started getting energetic and have a
new screen saver on my computer - the 'Energiser' battery rabbit - it whizzes about like I'd like to do more often.
So what have we all been up to this year? The biggest decision I made at the beginning
was to get a new bus
for carrying you all about. So we ended up in March with a Renault Trafic. Steve chose the colour and
how near the vehicle dealership was to Newquay chose the make. This van has received favourable resposes from all who have travelled in her. It has
more leg room than the old charabanc, the seats are more comfy and from the driver's perspective it has more 'zoom'. Nice.
The next most important thing was last years dire weather or was it? If it put any of you reading this from taking a break shame - I have lots of lovely pictures of our groups and friends
on gorgeous sunny days doing interesting things. So next bit of Sheila wisdom 'Don't listen to the weather forecast'.
HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR YEAR
(In any order) The baby adder that tried to crawl up Robbie Selley's leg. Janet and Phil Sharpe, Steve and I and Robbie Selley were coming back from looking at the
Late Mesolithic flint site on Newlyn Downs when I espied a 'doggy poo'. It was a young adder basking in
the sun in the middle of the path and it was April 1st - so the adder instead of nipping off into the undergrowth tried
crawling up Robbies leg. Was this it's 'April Fools' joke for the day. Robbie of course was non plussed - he takes wonderful photo's of adders
by getting in the middle of colonies of them - this requiring much patience and calmness - and often has snakes slithering over his boots.
At the end of May an American - Carl Muendel (Delaware Mineralogical Society) arranged with me to take him to Ting Tang mine dumps at Caharrack for a half day of mineral collecting.
We did really well, no enormous specimens but a good variety including I found cassiterite which isn't listed for the site and a nice little chalcophyllite.
I got a lovely surprise sometime later when I received a book from Carl - all the way from the USA - a signed copy of 'The Pegmatite Mines Known as Palermo'.
Obviously a labour of love by its producers and what struck me is that perhaps there is space in the mineral circuit for more books on British single sites like this.
Earlier in the year I had some good news about a specimen I had collected from Ting Tang the previous year and identified as parnuite. The lads at our Russell Society meeting had said it must be meta-
zeunerite and because I must have looked so crestfallen and I wouldn't believe them our Chairman took the sample away for analysis. It came back as parnauite.
Yes yes yes.
Steve and I got sent another book - this time by one of our own - Ron Linfield who is a long time visitor to the Chichester.
Ron photographs dragonflies and this book was of his work. How about that (Still waiting for him to sign it). I was very impressed.
Then the picture of Patricia Hewitt laughing - from our first group the Norfolk Mineral and Lapidary Society in March through to our last
group at the end of October we have fun, always there is a lot of laughter. Pat was on a walking week in October with her hubby and I think they laughed their way round the Cornish coast. Lovely.
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