Guest Blogger!

Gaynor has asked me to offer a contribution today, so I thought I would say a little about how we met back at university almost twenty years ago in October 1989. We were fresh faced undergraduates beginning our first term at Lincoln College, Oxford. We were in the same group of very pleasant Christian friends, and every so often we would have a cup of tea together after lunch. We would listen to the Radio 1 lunchtime show with Gary Davies, or perhaps to a Simon and Garfunkel tape. We laughed a lot, and seemed to share a similar sense of humour. We were very different in some ways- she was an earnest Physicist struggling with the complexities of a very challenging course, getting up early each morning to attend lectures, taking part in practicals and then off to the library for a couple of hours, whereas as a Historian I might manage breakfast with a friend in that time! Our lunchtime conversations in that first year often began with a discussion of how much she had achieved in the day so far compared to my more relaxed efforts!

Holidays now are very similar. I love being at home, getting up an hour later than in term time, slowly preparing breakfast, listening to Radio 4 or 5 . Gaynor has often been up at least an hour or more by the time I surface. I come alive at about 10 pm, when she is generally ready for bed! Our differences are a great strength in our marriage. Gaynor is a superb navigator- I am a patient driver. The reverse is not the case! Gaynor is a brilliant organizer and full of ideas. I would happily watch ball by ball coverage of the Test Match series, only surfacing for light refreshments!

I hope that we are a good balance for each other, and celebrating our 16th wedding anniversary last week gave us the chance to reflect on how we would like next year to work out. As always I would like to commit myself to a whole range of extra activities- tutoring, singing at church, badminton with friends, despite the fact that I have frequent evening and Saturday appointments at school. I think we have have come to a sensible compromise, but watch out to see if Gaynor can remember my name come half term!