Hail and Farewell

 

So here I go again, off back to the US for what will probably be my last longish stay until the end of June. I have actually started this in the departure lounge at Heathrow, making the most of my BA Gold Card. It seemed very strange at first after a gap now getting on for two years  but already seems to be slipping back into the old and familiar ways.

It's been a tumultuous few weeks marked by both great news - the arrival of Elowen - and the unexpectedly sudden loss of Shelagh and what may be thought of as the Austin- Bristol connection. We shall all miss her. In both cases the great bulk of the resultant heavy lifting is being done by the next generation rather than by me, but it still has consequences. I think overall that I have been quite well organised over this time but all the same closing down the house for 4 months and organising a transfer back to the US has been a challenge, especially in this age of Covid. I shall be glad of the rest when I eventually get there !

And that's what I am hoping that it will be to a greater extent this time than before, since the great project of the latest and last sole-authored book is in the final stages. Not without its tribulations though. I had a bit if a fight to get this design for the paperback cover as it needs to be paid for but it's so exactly on the theme of the book that I just had to have it. It reads 'Struggle Hard to Build a Mighty Navy'

My first air trip for over 18 month did indeed prove quite an adventure, but a pleasant enough one for all that. I surprised myself by managing the secure closing down of the house and packing up for a 4 month stint in wintry New England in relatively good time. So there was no panicked last-minute packing, just minor details like palming surplus cucumber,  lettuce and celery off  onto a compliant Nathan who turned up at just at the right moment and shoving into the freezer other things that might just survive the time way. The taxi turned up on time (always a major relief) and we had a fast run to Heathrow T5 as there wasn’t much traffic and there were no climate protestors sticking themselves to the road. I was looked after  very well in the lounge taking full advantage of my gold card and all the points that I had devoted to a trip to Hawaii in 2019 that got cancelled because of the Covid outbreak. The flight in a Dreamliner was fine, though I do think them a bit cramped compared to some of the bigger ones.  It wasn’t a full flight and I was well looked after and had a pleasant and constructive time, especially after the first G&T.....with beef and yorkshire pud to follow

Arriving at Boston was more of a challenge, as in comparison with most other big international airports it’s not that well set up. The absence of free luggage carts and no easily accessible WiFi made for problems in communication and in  struggling through the snow and slush to the limo car park, but I managed it and Joe my driver was there waiting for me for a fast unimpeded run to Newport. My host was back from his Newport Reading Room dinner and I was rapidly settled in to his quaint, rambling 1860s house, full as you might expect of books, prints, pictures and antiques. I felt very much at home. A reasonable night then coddled eggs, bacon and coffee in a mug from the Royal Naval College Greenwich, so what could be better ?

I woke up early of course, this being the view out of my bedroom window of the wintry scene outside. My host has converted his garage into a stand alone luxury study/library in  the centre of the picture. The next picture shows the front of the house, later in the morning. More later, on my own newly rented house and car.  

So far I have been admirably looked after. But arguably not as well as Vivi my host's Cairn terrier. The poor thing is quite old at 11 and has developed a twisted oesophagus which means she can only eat soft things and only when sitting  on her owner's lap being fed with a silver spoon. It's quite a sight. In all, other respects Vivi is a perfectly normal dog, much interested in sniffing for things under the snow. 

Tomorrow an Australian colleague arrives and the serious work of academic production and the dreaded business of serious administrative on-boarding will begin, so this period of departures as well as arrivals  has been something of a lull in, rather than before, the storm. And of course with what's going on in the Ukraine at the moment, urgent commitments and requests are starting to come in