119 22 Dec 2021
Dear All, Please accept my grovelling apologies ! I am horrified to be confronted with the fact that the last mail I sent out was a year ago. I suggested in that one that I was aiming to get going on sorting out more artwork during the winter. Needless to say I failed again ... MEA CULPA ! During last winter I had to get my head down to redesigning and rebuilding our local Community Association web site. I first did it in 2009-10 when our local internet access was pitiful at modem dial-up speeds of kilobits per second. So the site was intentionally sparse and extremely simple and visitors had to be offered a choice if any images were involved. In ten years things had changed significantly with speeds ranging from 8 to 28 Megabits per second and expectations had changed accordingly. So I was asked to redo it. The ten years also meant that the site had expanded into a sprawling beast. Anyway, it took all the time I had for about 4 months or so and the result is this - www.ogafcap.co.uk As I knew I would have to I then plunged back into the effort to complete the external repairs and maintenance that I had to abandon in the previous Autumn. Needless to say this last Autumn rolled around with much still left to do. In my dotage the machine is gradually winding down and inevitably grinding to a halt ! So much so that towards the end of this last summer I decided that although I felt fine while doing a four hour morning of garden labouring (my career in recent years) I was finding it more and more difficult to recover from it afterwards. So I finally decided it was time to resign. As it happened some others in the crew for various reasons and at various ages had problems of their own and were pulling out and the lady whose business it was also had health problems and the team closed down completely. So both Val and I are now without employment. So hopefully I really CAN finally get round to tackling those boxes of artwork again. I do sense a bit of a gathering sense of urgency to get it done as I really don't want to think of Anna and Ewan being left with this hanging over them when I drop off the perch ! Don't mean to sound gloomy and doom laden as I am really a "glass half full" kind of bloke and feel amazingly privileged to be still enjoying so much especially when there are so many who can't and who have suffered during these crazy times. In my early 20s, working late at Li Pearce's studio, Li's friend the doctor sat sipping scotch with him. After a bit he said "watching the way you work and drink and smoke I don't think you're going to make 50 Rod." I can remember laughing and thinking "50 ! Who wants to be THAT old ?" As it's turned out I'm very grateful I did get past it and another 23 years on top ... 24 years coming up in a bit. How lucky is that ! In the meantime I wish you all the very best for as Happy a Christmas and New Year as possible. I hope to be able to mail you again before too long to get things moving again. Please take care and keep well and safe ... and SANE ! Rod To be taken off the mailing list please reply with REMOVE in the subject or content. 
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