Christmas Letter 2005

Alan Hodgkinson Reckenbühlstrasse 12 CH-6005 Luzern, Switzerland alan.hodgkinson@alum.mit.edu http://www.softxs.ch/alan

I'll start this year's Christmas letter with some closing remarks from last year. You may remember that we visited the Maldives last December. There was evidently some confusion as to where we were on the 26th, the day the tsunami struck. In the event, we had departed from the Maldives on the 22nd, four days before the tragedy. We subsequently heard, much to our relief, that the island where we stayed suffered only minor damage and no one was hurt. Many thanks, by the way, for all the emails and letters of concern.

Tsunami aside, the Maldives are a tropical paradise, with beautiful beaches and warm clear water. I spent most of the holiday paddling about with snorkel gear looking at all the brightly colored tropical fish. It was better than being in an aquarium. The high point of the vacation was learning to scuba dive. The resort had a dive center and while Sandra has enjoying her wellness treatments, I decided to try scuba diving. The result was that I got seriously hooked and I ended up completing the beginner's course and getting a diving license. This set the stage for further adventures during the year.

I can report that last year's knee operation was a success and I was able to complete the 2005 Engadin ski marathon. My knee held up perfectly and only my muscles ached at the end, which is normal. I also continued my Kung Fu training, and managed to advance two grades during the year. In early November I scraped through in a four and a half hour long, and very physically demanding, grading test to complete the second form.

For my birthday at the start of May, Sandra and I went for a long weekend to Muscat. We had been to Oman before, so this time we stayed put in the capital area. Before leaving, I contacted a dive center next to the hotel and arranged a second scuba diving course. This consisted of five dives, including one to 40m, where the water was, surprisingly, warm enough without a wetsuit. By this time I had bought a new digital camera and underwater housing. You can see my attempts at underwater photography on my home page.

For Sandra's birthday in June we visited Singapore and the Island of Bintan in Indonesia. Singapore is amazing. It's a shopper's paradise and you really do shop 'til you drop. We liked the city and saw quite a bit over the four days we were there. I particularly enjoyed ease of travelling around and the wide variety of food. Singapore is well organized and if you've never been to Asia, it's an easy introduction. Bintan was not quite what we expected. We were at a very nice resort with beautiful beaches, but were plagued by sand flies and mosquitoes. The visit was further marred by Sandra being stung by a jellyfish. I did manage two scuba dives, but the water was murky and I didn't see much. It seems we were there in the wrong season.

In July we made a short visit to the island of Elba. We stayed with Sandra's sister Sonja and her husband Danilo, who were there on a weeklong holiday. Danilo has relatives in the area and knows the local history and more importantly all the culinary specialties. The food, especially the seafood, was delicious. Elba was hot, really hot. It was nearly 40C during the day and didn't seem to go below 30C at night. Luckily the water was cool, so I spent a fair amount of time swimming to escape the heat. We also found a dive center and I went on two scuba dives, in amazingly clear and quite cold water.

In August we had a visit by friends from England with their family. They were on their way to a camping holiday and stopped over in Luzern for the weekend. Unfortunately, it rained hard during their entire visit, ruining their camping plans. They ended up driving south and staying, coincidentally, in the area near Elba, where they had a nice sunny vacation. Back in Luzern, when the rain finally stopped, there were major floods all over the country. Luzern itself was flooded and much of the Altstadt, the historical center of the city, ended up under about a half meter of water. Sandra and I were safe as we live on a hill, but many homes and business had their basements flooded.

In November we had yet another tropical holiday, this time to Praslin, in the Seychelles. This was a short trip and we didn't see much outside the resort. Still, we got to lie on the beach and swim in the sea. Like in the Maldives, there is abundant sea life. While snorkeling from the beach I even saw sea turtles. I also made three scuba dives. On the return trip we spent a day in Doha the capital of Qatar, which is an interesting place. The city is of full skyscrapers under construction and seems want to become another Dubai.

My business continues to prosper. I visited our main customer in Iceland in April. In October I attended a tunnel construction conference in London, with our new marketing and sales director. He commutes between Zurich and Turin and works with us part-time.

Other highlights of the year include visits to the Italian lakes (Como, Bellagio, Lecco), Piemonte, London (twice for fun, once for business) and the Zeppelin museum in Germany; and some fun visits from old friends.

Sandra and I wish you all the best for the Christmas holidays and the coming year. Thanks for last year's cards and letters. We look forward to hearing from you in the coming year.

Alan.