After a 24 hour break it was time for something longer. It was my first boss, Colin Jones, Dean of Cape Town, who recommended that everyone at the Cathedral should have one three week holiday a year. It takes about five days to fully disengage and unwind and then another few days to prepare to return to the mad house of home and work; but if you have three weeks then you actually have a decent amount of time to enjoy your holiday. And our three week holiday, once again in an old stone house in the wilds of Snowdonia, set between the mountains and the sea, was once again, wonderful. I have been going to the valley and the house since I was a few weeks old and it is as miraculous, beautiful and restorative now as it has always been. 
We climbed mountains, I swam off just about every beach and in almost every river and lake that I could, while the children said 'silly Daddy' and Jane read her book. We taught the children to gamble [with matchsticks] and Jane played games of cards, again and again and again... We saw castles and towns and beaches and tortured a fair few crabs. We enjoyed great food and wine and sat for hours around the fire with family and friends and I [just] failed to get up and down Cnicht in an hour [PB 64mins 55secs]. It was a good holiday in an amazing place in with we actually did very little.
Back at home I am now trying to read two very long reports on the Primary Curriculum so that I can write a rather short essay. The joys of being a student again!
