April summary

The first week of the month was spent in Cape Town for Comminution '25 at the Vineyard Hotel. A great week of networking with the 237 delegates from 29 countries, with 3 sundowners in the hotel gardens and a memorable conference dinner at Simon's restaurant at the Groot Constantia wine estate.

Simon's restaurant at Groot Constantia

And thanks to a generous invitation from one of our regular sponsors, Russell Mineral Equipment, we enjoyed a great evening at the Cape Point Vineyards situated between the Atlantic and Table Mountain.

At the Cape Point Vineyards with Cherylyn and John Russell

We always stay on after a conference to see as much of this wonderful country as we can. The weak Rand helps make it a haven for tourists and our pound stretched even further after President Trump set his arbitrary tariff rates, South Africa having a 30% rate imposed on its exports to the USA, which caused the Rand to plunge further, amidst global chaos. UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer warned that "the world as we knew it has gone". A few days later Trump backtracked on his early decisions, but the Rand remained weakened due to the enormous uncertainties.

Jon and Amanda stayed on for a couple of days and hiked from Green Point to Lion's Head, a strenuous 19 km.  Lion's Head is one of the great Cape hikes, affording panoramic views of Table Mountain and the Twelve Apostles.

The Twelve Apostles from Lion's Head

Barbara and I spent a week relaxing in one of the lesser known wine areas, Hemel 'n Aaarde, near Hermanus, renowned for its Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays. Heaven and Earth is the English translation of the Afrikaans name for this region, and the title is justified as this is a tranquil and beautiful area, an ideal place to chill out after a hard week in Cape Town, only a 90 minute drive away. 

Unlike the busy wine routes of Franschhoek, Stellenbosch and Paarl, it is mostly empty of cars and people and the wine estates are pristene, in wonderful settings, no more so than at La Vierge.

Despite the awful weather, the panorama from La Vierge was impressive

And if tranquility becomes too much, the seaside town of Hermanus, the "whale watching capital of South Africa" is only a short drive away.

During our two weeks in the Cape, the weather in Cornwall was apparently glorious, but that all changed on the day we arrived back, with the return of the cold and wet. Ski resorts in the Alps have celebrated the biggest late-season snowfalls on record after almost two metres of snow fell in 36 hours in some areas.  Jon and family experienced it first hand in the French resort of Meribel, where the snowfalls brought havoc as roads were closed and power supplies interrupted.

The major international news this month has been of the death of Pope Francis, so our thoughts are with our many Catholic friends around the world on the sad loss of their Pontiff.

After an interesting month, we are now settled and concentrating our efforts on our next major conference, Flotation '25, in Cape Town in November. A reminder that abstracts should be submitted by the end of May.