10/12/93                                          19 Barleyfields
                                                           Didcot
                                                             Oxon
                                                         OX11 0BJ

Weekdays 0793 785267
Evenings 01235 816583
Weekends 01202 747171

     Just a quick photocopy to let you know how I've been getting 
on this year.

     The  main  event of the year was my purchase of  a  flat  in 
Bournemouth at auction.  I'd been looking for one for over a year 
when  a super two bedroom flat converted from the top floor of  a 
beginning  of the century detached house came up.  It had been  a 
repossession on the market at £48,000 but I managed to get it for 
£37,000,  although I would have gone up to £40,000 if  necessary.  
It  is  located  near Parkstone station one mile  from  the  sea.  
Jasper  loves running down the chines, digging up the  beach  and 
swimming in the sea.

     I  spent  most of the summer at my flat so the  only  visits 
were a couple of weekends caravanning in Wales.  I also managed a 
day  trip  to  Cherbourg from Poole with my  friend  Andrew  from 
Oxford.

     At work, in spite of discretionary increments and honoraria, 
morale  has plummeted.  When the Royal Naval Engineering  College 
closed  down  at Manadon but didn't relocate here, the  sense  of 
unity  between  the academics and the military  evaporated.   Our 
Principal announced that Cranfield University (our new name)  was 
reneging on security of tenure in anticipation of losing the RMCS 
contract  in  1995.  The two maths professors who  promptly  left 
(one  to  Oxford and one to Huddersfield) are the first  to  jump 
ship.   My  only job hope came when the University of  New  South 
Wales took up my references for a chair, but nothing more came of 
that.

     By  the time you read this I shall be in Florida on  holiday 
with my father, Harry.  We shall be staying with his step-brother 
(01-01-305-428-0467) in Deerfield beach near Fort Lauderdale.

     Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!