h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Gnomon's retirement.... This time I think he means it; I shall miss him a lot. It is entirely understandable that he has had enough - he put so much into it, and it must have seemed all give and no take to him in the end.

Although I am always daunted by your endless knowledge in so many fields and dazzling intelligence (yours, his and Azara's), I hope we shall keep in touch.

And one day, I shall come to Dublin. Let me know if there are any concerts I would like - it would give me a date to work on. Sometimes I do crazy things and Ryanair has made mad dashes to Seville and London possible - now they do Dublin-Karlsruhe, it should be easy.

Sorry to have taken so long to reply . . . just noticed this in my list. How did I miss it?

Yes, I can certainly recommend concerts and more . . . what part of the year do you fancy making the trip?

Ah yes well - I'll come back to you on that. Before too long, I hope.

I'm coming and going a lot this summer: boating in France, viol course in Czech, Kerry in August, cycling in England in Sept . . . it's a hard job but someone has to do it. But let us know.

I gather Gnomon is simply reducing his commitment here, very understandably. I think he's lurking a bit, and certainly he's pursuing his own projects here . . . but his voluntary contribution has been heroic over the past years. They can't expect him to do it forever.