Another year has passed, where did the time go. The new year is merely a day away and as always one ponders what it brings. The option are plentiful, it can go either way, I think all options are on the table as certain people used to say. It has been unusually warm this year, the winter as we know it has yet to come. Only little rain has been received and the mercury is every day close to or above 20 Celsius, way to much. If it continues like this, with little rain, then the next crisis in the country is already programmed, i.e. the electricity crises will be joined by the water crises, which combined with a lurking trash crises could make for a lethal mix. So please let it rain and lots of it.

Early Morning drive - southern Highway

What to say about the past year, in retrospective, it passed fast and remembering last years new year’s eve in Germany, hard to believe it is twelve months later now. It had brought some travels to south-east Asia, Germany or course, Cyprus as well, one could say the usual suspects. Nothing extraordinary happened during the year, some illnesses that were overcome, getting a bit older every day, feeling a bit more tired more so often. With regard to photography, two new lenses were acquired, first the 7-14 Olympus and then later the 30 Macro lens, also from Olympus. Both are superb lenses and I am very happy to have acquired them. Another purchase was a drone, the DJI Spark which is a recent acquisition. It gave me a bit of a headache to figure out how to set it up properly, attributable to my impatience and lack of resolve to read lengthy explanations on how to do things. Thanks to the help of YouTube and various DJI forums I finally figured it out and made my maiden flight in the apartment as my present location is not the most conducive for drone flying. The real test will be soon in SE Asia where I will take it into outdoor action and hope it can add some more interesting perspectives to my little movies I am making.

Afterglow - Five Palms

So, 2018 is coming soon, what will it bring, what to expect. Well I am uncertain yet on how it might go, since of course I don’t know how it will go, as I can not see into the future. I have my eye on early retirement, in summer of the year, no exact date yet. Analyzing the possible scenarios, sometimes I am not so sure if it will be the right decision as I sometimes believe that I may not achieve what I want to do. If indications prevail that early retirement maybe counterproductive at this time, I might, as hard as it will be, decide to push it a bit backwards until the time is right and pieces have been put in places to make it a success. Also I am looking forward to jump ship, the water must be right to jump, no sharks or similar around so I can make it safely to shore, sort to say. Will be travelling to SE Asia soon, then on to Germany and possibly again to Cyprus in order to canvas for apartments that would offer me the place for a retirement retreat. We’ll see how it goes

Back from the future - I'll be back

Next year could get hot politically, internal and external. To much is happening in the region, some dangerous developments in the last days and months that may have tremendous repercussions. As always time will tell and despite all the negative signs one has to remain positive, despite it is not always easy. I still have to do some photo assignments to do for my own projects, like ‘Rue Hamra’ and some others for my photo book on the place here.

Southern  Seas - Frigate and palms

Anyway, lets remain positive but lets keep an eye on developments and the monkeys with hand grenades in top positions.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2018!

The umbrellas may protect us in 2018!