My wife has decided that she wants to split up with me, so I have moved back to my old home in Utrecht (the Netherlands). I am very sad, because I really saw a future for us together in Sweden, and writing this actually brings tears to my eyes. When I am as sad as I am now, I often try to think of Monty Python’s song ‘Always look on the bright side of life’. But this time that thought provides little comfort, because ‘Always look on the bright side of life’ is the song that was played during our marriage ceremony, so the song reminds me of her smiling and singing.

Having said that, I think there is a lot of brightness awaiting me. I have started teaching a course on electromagnetism at a university in Amsterdam, I’m writing a popular book on relativity theory which will appear in May (with a foreword written by Nobel prizewinner Gerard ‘t Hooft), and the Dutch climbing & mountaineering federation has made me Dutch paraclimbing ambassador!

And what about Sweden? I’m not letting go of my mission to spread paraclimbing in Scandinavia. In October I have given a talk about paraclimbing in Norway, and at the end of April there will be a sports camp in Sweden, where a wide variety of parasports (adaptive sports) are represented. I have been invited by the Swedish climbing federation to come and represent paraclimbing. You haven’t heard the last of me yet!

Dutch open nationals, Sittard; November 2019