An year ends and another begins in one insignificant life.

There is a sense of urgency and restlessness that unrelenting passage of time heralds.

One lingers over moments that touched ones heart – birth of a grandchild, another’s first day at school, climbing a wild rocky outcrop in a faraway land that one thought would never be possible, walking on hallowed land covered with vines, great wine consumed in the company of good friends.

One thinks of wonderful things to come – a daughter’s wedding, the first birthday of a grandchild.

One tinkers with an ever lengthening wish list – dawn hot air balloons over Bagan, rain forests of Borneo, pink city of Petra, Bekaa Valley, the Prado, vineyards of Slovenia, long railway journeys on the Anatolian plateau, the remote corners of Ethiopia.

One dreams – dreams of justice for the Palestinians, sanity in Iraq and Afghanistan and most of all, tolerance, justice and return to rule of law in the land of ones birth.