Out & About January 2018

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2018

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Jonathan Hopson Reflects on time past, present and future... I can’t quite believe more than 12 months have passed since the editor kindly asked whether I’d like to write a series of monthly articles for Out&About. articles and I’m looking forward to coming up with some new themes. Looking forward to 2018, I’ve set myself

several personal goals – these aren’t New Year resolutions as such and mostly relate to sports I compete in. I would love to complete the 1.1-mile Walbury Hill Climb in less than seven minutes – my current personal best is 7m43s, so I have around nine months to continue the training schedule and hopefully find a 10-per-cent improvement from somewhere. There is also, hopefully, further room for improvement in the Newbury Triathlon and next year I am looking to complete the 300 metre swim/22 kilometre bike ride/5 kilometre run in less than 1h20m. Not sure at this point in time whether my son and daughter will be taking part again to repeat this year’s Hopson family mini competition, but I feel 80 minutes is somewhere close to my performance zenith so further improvement will be very unlikely. Thinking about less competitive pursuits, I am planning to play a little more social bridge, while, at the same time, seeking to improve my technique. Perhaps I can take this opportunity to wish Out&About readers all the best for 2018.

So this seems an appropriate time to briefly reflect on the past year and at the same time look ahead to 2018. Firstly, I would like to thank the various Out&About readers who have kindly taken the time to pass on their feedback when we have met by chance while out shopping, cycling, running or walking dogs etc. It’s encouraging to know that some of the previous articles have been well received and indeed May’s article on the joys of mowing was prompted by a neighbour suggesting the subject after witnessing my delight at cutting the grass. The beginning of the year had an outdoor theme with cycling, table tennis and skiing and this was followed by pub walks in Berkshire and Hampshire, cricket, and tennis in the Algarve. A recurring topic has been classical music, – I’m a passionate fan of Mozart’s music – and more recently there’s been a return to the great outdoors with articles on the Newbury Triathlon and the Walbury Hill cycle climb event. It’s been fun researching and writing the

Four Quartets by T S Eliot BURNT NORTON Time present and time past

Are both perhaps present in time future, And time future contained in time past. If all time is eternally present All time is unredeemable. What might have been is an abstraction Remaining a perpetual possibility Only in a world of speculation. What might have been and what has been Point to one end, which is always present.

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