F2F in Yale

 

This past couple of weeks has certainly been different from the hum-drum life described in the last transmission. For a start my peace and quiet was marvellously disturbed by the gallant arrival  of Philippa and Martha, safe and sound. For five splendid days I had their company and the opportunity plus incentive to play hooky from college and tour the local  sights. This included  a couple of mansions and a famous topiary garden which I hadn't been to for decades, and the sea side. Martha pirouetted on every occasion, Philippa tried out her new camera getting a splendid shot of a red-winged blackbird got some great pictures of seals from a harbour boat trip and collected clam shells. I just enjoyed their company.

We ate out every night and had a couple of breakfasts/brunches too - including of course the famous 4th Street Diner, doomed at some stage to close.  This is a fabulous piece of old-style Americana, and it's simply enthralling to sit and watch to see how efficient the staff are at delivering so  much so fast to so many people. Probably not the most healthy food in the world but the experience is certainly unique. Handy Andy's on Thames (pronounced as it's spelled, unlike our own dear river)  street isn't bad either, though I'm not sure I would go for their shepherd's pie again.

Once they went back, life seemed quieter and rather flat but a few days later I was off to Yale University for a naval conference. The very gracious campus is right alongside a frankly sleazy and potentially hazardous area of New Haven  - an extraordinary and immediate contrast between the top and the bottom sections of American society. One side of College Green we were told was much safer than the other. I managed to squeeze into the Gallery of British Art (next to a very convenient  Starbucks) which has a marvellous collection that Christopher and I discovered last time. Sadly I didn't have time for their main art museum, but did get a conducted tour of virtually the whole campus.

It was the first conference - face-to-face  (F2F) - that I and most of the others had been to for two years and was a huge reminder of how much we have all missed, Zoom notwithstanding. It's all the marginal chats over coffee that one misses. Here's a picture of part of the panel I was chairing, with colleagues  from Germany and the US I have known for years. It was all quite exhilarating and it was nice for the conference ( a small and very select affair of about 30 people, all of whom knew most of the others) was held in what was a rather charming ballroom of a late 19th Century New Haven industrialist's mansion. All very gracious. 

The final treat of this period was a journey down to Fall River to visit the USS Massachusetts, a Second World War Battleship  with my students and some colleagues. We held our teaching session in the old wardroom and then had a guided tour all round. It was all a bit decayed but great fun for all that. My students are an interesting bunch, US naval of course, but a civilian China specialist from NCIS, a couple of Army guys, a charming and very bright Madagascan, and a Coastguard officer. I normally have more Internationals but only one this year. An Italian ambushed me some weeks ago complaining she hadn't been allowed to do it for some reason. I think the authorities ration them out so that all the Electives run. Even so they have been a good mix, very engaged, They were not all in the picture, some were still poking around in the ship's innards - and others were from the other class we historians are teaching. 

 

And that effectively marks the end of the first half of this 4 month trip. It's amazing how fast the last two months have flown by. It takes a few weeks to settle in and by the time one is fully acclimatised to what is a very different style of life, it's time to start thinking about leaving. I'm already starting to take bookings for 2023 - assuming I go on with this sort of thing of course

   

A Day in a Newport Life

Because so many people telework at home these days, the College is thinner of company than I remember it, although I think there is a slow trickle back to normality. I go in later than I used to but it still seems fairly quiet even at 0745-ish. So a ten minute drive to work and provided I have remembered all my passes, easily in past the armed Marines at the gate. I park down at the (temporarily closed) Officers Club by the water and take the walk across Dewey field up towards the white Museum building which was once the Naval College, over to my left the big grey replacement built in the late 19thCentury . Often the field is full of Canada Geese and even when it's not, they leave their mark !

There's usually a big Stars and Stripes flag flying but I get inside before 'Colors' when the anthem belts out on the tannoys and everything stops.

Inside , I am hovering between two front facing offices at the moment  one has a roof window just to the left of the second doorway along of the old grey Mahan building on the left in the picture. All the modern buildings are behind and out of shot. Inside all is late Victorian, creaking but rather fine stairs with turned balluster shafts. Into my 'sorting  office'  on the 'third deck.'  Plug in the kettle for some tea open up the desktop and check in through the authorisation system, log into WiFi, connect to printer, enter my physical presence  tap into WORD - all this takes about 10-15 minutes;  read overnight  e-mails and triage them. Maybe another hour or so. Then off I go with more urgent stuff. Often to do  with great boxes of papers on the floor hidden behind the desk.  .

Thereafter all days are different, but at some stage I will take a walk to several buildings along (involving entry passes of course) to a place where I can get a machine sold  Starbucks cappucino, which isn't bad. The real cafe is temporarily closed. I really miss that  and used to do some teaching in there. A bit of teaching , sitting in on a 'War Game' on the Falklands. Bad title -  it's no game.  About 12 hours teaching time last week, not counting a no show in Malaysia

Some little adventures sometimes. Last week I passed two internationals on the stairs (all staff and students are in casual civilian clothes). They stopped and looked back at me. One looked vaguely familiar. 'You are Professor Geoffrey ?' he asked. He was a Colombian. Apparently I had been in a meeting with him and some others some years ago. He turned to his colleague, a Sri Lankan I think who was just looking puzzled. He said 'That's him, he's the one who wrote all those things we have to read !' I smiled and apologised and went on my way.

I hope it was all in the language. I taught another class for 3 hours last week too. Their normal professor thanked me afterwards and said he thought the students had gained 'quite a lot from my presence.' In the American sense I hope, rather than the British.

I use two offices at the moment, as I said. The nicer (shared) one is all very neat, and tidy with my pictures on the walls etc  ;  the other down the corridor  where all the boxes of papers are and where I currently spend most of my time. I'm perching there until a 'New Hire' arrives which I hope won't be for a while. I have a nice line in constructive chaos I think. Loads to do sorting all those papers out and jettisoning most of it I hope....as well as keeping up with e-mail streams etc etc.  

I usually aim to leave about 1600, do some shopping or do one of my regular walks if the weather is OK. Easily accessible by foot is the great sweep of Easton's beach, roughly 2000 steps each way. The grey sand has huge numbers of clam shells scattered around. Easy to see why they are a local speciality. On the hill to the south the tower and pinnacles of the Church of St George's School almost a caricature of a Victorian English Church. As an alternative  walk, behind the beach there's a large reservoir/lake with a path around it. Last time I went there I came across two huge turtles (a couple of feet across) sporting about in the bottom of a water filled ditch. I was much more startled than they were. Coming back from that circuit involves going past a lot houses. All interesting, all different and not mansions, though substantial. A profusion of flags. A lot of blue and yellow Ukrainian ones, even the odd Union Jack. 

The other alternative is some variation of the Cliff Walk. It's nice but give me the North Cornish cliff path any time. But the real point is that it's on hand for a spot of instant exercise before coming home to more banging away on a lap-top (providing the internet is  running which it isn't at the moment).

And of course, there's shopping to be done at the local supermarket 'Stop and Shop' within easy walking distance of the house, for small things. Over the road the posher 'A Market,' full of organic produce, more like a big English farm-shop. More expensive of course, and the food over here is much more expensive than in the UK. Nearby there's the booze shop (not allowed in the supermarket) I just love the name - but again not the prices. On average half to once as much again on British prices for  non-US stuff.

    

I've given up on 'HelloFresh'  now. Ready ingredients and detailed instructions on how to cook them. Too much hassle and cutting up little packets of spices, salt and pepper seasoning etc. The result was usually quite nice (British style) but not worth the hour so it took actually to produce it. And certainly not worth invariably setting the smoke alarm off when opening the oven to get the 'roasted wedges' which seemed to accompany every meal.

But next week, I hope all will be different when my ladies come, and the week after that it's away for a conference in Yale. All being well. I say that with some crossing of fingers on account of Covid messing everything up. I should be better protected shortly as I have had my second booster. I must say in view of the much criticised limitations of the US health system, it was ridiculously easy even for a foreigner. I simply went on line to the local pharmacy chain and booked an appointment. It was for the same day, a store 2 miles away, I was in and out (barring the 15 minute post-jab loiter time) in 5 minutes. Completely free. The email giving all the details about the batch I had had came though while I was driving back to the house. Very impressive.   At the moment, Rhode Island has far lower case rate than the UK, it seems. But I'm still on the cautious side as oldies ought to be.