February summary: Winter breaks and sad goodbyes

January had been an awful month in Cornwall with three major storms causing much devastation (January summary) so Barbara and I took ourselves off to the Spanish island of Tenerife in the first week of this month for a 10 day break in the sun and respite from the endless rain and wind.

We stayed at Los Gigantes, a small, quiet town on the west coast of the volcanic island, famous for its dramatic basalt cliffs called Acantilados de Los Gigantes, which rise 500-800 metres out of the Atlantic. To early sailors and to the island’s original inhabitants, these cliffs looked like enormous stone giants guarding the coast and Tenerife’s pre-Spanish inhabitants believed the cliffs marked the edge of the world.

Los Gigantes

Tenerife's volcanic landscape with Mount Teide, at 3715 m,
the highest point of any island in the Atlantic

Sunset over La Gomera, 15 miles from Tenerife
on the right is the Canary island of La Palma

Jon meanwhile escaped the Luxembourg winter to enjoy a few days gentle skiing with his daughter in the French Alps, before returning home for a minor leg operation, which precluded his attendance at the SME Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City, although he will be fit for April's Physical Separation '26 and Mineral Processing Circuits '26 in Cape Town.

This is the first year that I have missed the annual SME event since 2008. After 23 SME Annual Meetings I passed the baton on to Jon, but his withdrawal  meant no MEI representation this year. Hopefully Jon will be at the meeting in Denver next year.

Grandson Will continued his South American adventure. He and his girlfriend Liv, were in Peru for the first half of the month, taking in some of the famous sites

Acclimatising in Cusco

Above Machu Picchu and at 5036m on Rainbow Mountain

From Peru they flew to Canada then on to Tokyo! It's turning out to be an epic journey, so far Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Uruguay, Peru and Japan, with Malaysia and Indonesia next on the list.

Meanwhile Amanda has been in the county all month, enduring the endless rain, but managing to get out on the Helford River regularly to train for the upcoming World Gig Championships in the Isles of Scilly.

The passing of an old friend is always a reminder of your own mortality, and early in the month I heard the sad news that my closest friend throughout my six years at Leeds University had died at the age of 81. Bob Schofield and I shared a flat in Headingley during our undergraduate days and then we went on to spend a further three years of PhD research, after which Barbara and I took off to Zambia, and Bob and his wife Jean to Newcastle upon Tyne, where Bob spent six years with British Gas researching into the materials used for gas transmission, distribution and production. He then spent many years travelling around the world, working on major oil and gas pipeline projects in the UK, France, Netherlands and the Middle East, before becoming an independent pipeline consultant. He was still working when we met for the first time in 44 years in 2013, when he had no plans to retire. Our thoughts are with Jean and family.

Barbara and me with Bob and Jean in Leeds, 1967 and London 2013

There was also sad news of the death of pioneering mineral processor Roger Amelunxen, who I first met at Flotation '15 in Cape Town, where he and his son Peter represented their family business, conference sponsor Aminpro.

Roger and Peter (3rd and 4th left) at Flotation '15

I met Roger briefly again in Phoenix in 2024 and I am pleased that he was able to see Peter receive the SME's prestigious Antoine Gaudin Award (posting of December 22nd 2024).

Roger was 77 years old and there is little that I can add to Peter's excellent appreciation of his father on LinkedIn. Our condolences to the family.

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