My office has a
splendid view of the sea and famous Pell road bridge which was built
ambitiously high so that battleships and aircraft carriers can get underneath
it. My view the other way isn't so grand though, as my office is tucked away
behind the big and very busy 'Protocol and Events' department. Their job is to
organise all visits and conferences and we have a lot of them, so things are
bustling all the time. All of the ladies there made a special point of looking
after me as the sole academic in their bailiwick. I think they were rather
proud of having one ! Nothing was too much trouble. This was evident from Day 1
when, on arrival, I opened one of the
parcels I had sent here from the UK and a lot of broken picture glass fell out,
slightly cutting me in the process. Before I could say 'oh dear' - or whatever-
they came to the rescue, wielding dustpans
and brush, vacuum cleaners and sticking plasters - and it's been like that ever
since.
But not
anymore as to my regret they are in the throes of moving to another part of the
building and their space is now an emptying wasteland of unoccupied cubicles
and boxes of stuff. The window of my office. the sun streaming through, can be
seen in the back left hand corner of the picture. The rest is a cluster of iron
poles. No-one is sure whether they are to divide the cubicles or to hold up the
ceiling - since this is a later 19th Century building that hasn't been terribly
well maintained. Anyhow they were very concerned that anyone coming in through what
passes as the front door behind the security barrier wouldn't necessarily know
I was there, so this was their solution at least for the time being. It was a
complete surprise - I was really touched
and delighted as I have always wanted my name in lights !
Another 'first' was my venture
into solo home entertainment . I gave my version of an English High Tea to two
colleagues from Newport and their wives- unbelievably the very first time I
have done anything like that in my whole life. Of course I over-catered, and
will be eating the residue for the next few breakfasts and lunch, but it all
seemed to go well. I think Cherry would have been proud of me coping with the
challenge. Family members will be reassured that the family tradition of
candles was maintained with two big ones lit by me for the first time. Afterwards
no-one reported being poisoned. It was a lovely day weather-wise, if on the
cold side and I took them to look at the Big House and to the edge of the cliff
where one can see the sea, the rocks and the hoi polloi passing by below us. Rich people round here know how to
protect themselves. Apparently property
owners here own not only the beach (with none of that democratic English
traditional stuff about only down to the high tide line) but the offshore rocks as well.
But of course, things have rolled on. As the virus
increasingly made itself felt in the US, it became increasingly clear that we
were on the edge here, as everywhere else, of big changes to our lives for the foreseeable
future. So far as we know (because the US hasn't been well stocked with testing
kits, Rhode Island hasn't been badly affected yet, but big precautionary
measures are being taken. Everywhere is much quieter than usual. All my trips (including ones home) are cancelled.
The War College hasn't exactly closed
down but nearly everyone has been told to work from home and we oldies to
self-isolate. This is just Day 3, but so far so good - and long may it stay
that way for all my readers !
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