30 November 2016

The world is white outside and the sun is scanty. There is hard frost in the trees and it is terribly cold. The horses are already wearing coats. All the shops play only songs of Rudolph the red nosed reindeer, and people are shopping as if it is going out of fashion.

I am on my way to Coventry for a meeting, about an hour per train from London, and then about another half an hour with a taxi.

No one on the train are talking to each other, everyone is too busy in their own little worlds on their phones, and no one notices the fairy landscape outside.

We are now in our tenth European winter, and there is nothing to be done but cuddle up, switch on the heaters, sip on hot chocolate and go to bed early in the evenings. It is also colder much earlier this year.

But there is of course no time to rest in this season of rest. Weekends are made for whisking around – life is indeed short. This weekend we are in Norfolk, then there is the BBC’s Good Food Show at the Hampton Court Palace, then canapés at a friend’s birthday in Brighton, then it is Christmas, which we will be spending in Bournemouth.

Before we can wipe our eyes the new year will be upon us with all its challenges and problems, but also its excitement and promise. I have a suspicion that the pace at which we live will also not calm down; it will pick up when we start to count down the months to the next summer.

We will make sure that we enjoy every moment in the UK. One never knows which turns life might take. We can only hang in there and carry on: The future is on the way and waits for no one.

Greetings

Anton van Zyl