overlap

Just starting to look forward to getting back to work, it occurs to me that I'm rather replicating a familiar pattern. In the mid to late 1980s I spent five consecutive easter holiday periods in foreign parts, which undoubtedly helped my foreign language skills (as was the point) but did me a lot more good than that in terms of growing up, seeing a bit of the big wide world and shaking off the chains of my parochial hometown. Some things you can barely see in close-up, and it's only as you move away you get sufficient perspective to see what's really going on. These days my easter trip (four consecutive years and counting) is probably my first priority in terms of getting away, partly because the place has an awful lot to offer and partly because for just four holiday days I can get a full week away and an extra day of acclimatising to being home again. I can certainly say that it's very much in my plans for next year. It's good to get away, but it's at least as good to know where my home is.