Owning up

 

I suppose it was probably inevitable. The plan was for this to be my last couple of months over here and that I would go home at the end of November, bowing out gracefully from the Newport experience. The problem of course, is that everyone seems to expect me to stay on for my last half year in 2023, and plans are already being made for next Spring. Then there won't be a problem as my contract and my work visa both end in the Summer of 2023. At that stage the decision would be out of my hands. It's true that Covid and the high percentage of people working more at home means that the College is less congenial than it was, but it's better now than earlier this year since people seem to me to be drifting  back towards a more normal work/life balance. I don't suppose it will go all the way back to normal, and even I, with every incentive to go in to see people, enjoy my three day weekend (even though I'm still working !).

I do have lots of people to see here too. An American naval officer who I really liked when we were both back in Greenwich in the 1980s has a big admin job here. He also lost his wife recently and we frequently exchange notes and reminisce. There's a Russian lady, married to a US Commander, who I met in Hawaii years ago  who I have now helped to get on a PhD programme at King's. She's at the Russia Institute here, takes me to a French confectionary and is really interesting for an insider's view of Russia and the Ukraine war. At a class on Monday there was a visiting speaker, on the war, an American but at St Andrews University, who came in to the seminar room. He did a really classic double take and greeted me across the room like a long-lost brother 'Geoff, he said,' I didn't know you were here !'  He then explained to the class that I had examined his PhD so he would need to be on his mettle. I didn't admit that I had completely forgotten that ! I shall miss that kind of thing when it finally stops. I've also picked up a new class called the 'Advanced Strategy Programme' of high flyers (quite literally in one case - a B52 pilot) who are staying on for an extra year being prepared for policy jobs in the Pentagon and such like places - and they are very stimulating people, and extremely friendly.  

The final reason for my hesitation at breaking free is also that next Spring I would be able to teach my normal class based on my new book which came out in September. All my classes so far were part of the evolution of the book, but it will be really interesting to see what the students make of the final version !  I can also hardly persuade the College into a small bulk buy, if I am not really going to be around to use it ! They really are an interesting and impressive set of people, and I learn a lot from them, too. 

So for all these reasons I was in any case beginning to think again about the original plan, being tempted to stay on for just one more gig.  I don't think it has crossed anyone's mind that I wouldn't stay for the rest of my time. They always seem slightly bemused that I go home at all ! I've also got the new office virtually sorted out and at least some of the pictures up. Most of what's there won't be coming back as there's no room for it at Wansdyke, so it would be nice to give it all one last run for its money.

But the last straw this week was an e-mail from my realtor, asking whether I would like to rehire the current rental for the Spring and early Summer as my new landlords (a couple living I think in California ) are wanting to make their plans for a Summer stay here, but wanted to accommodate my wishes. That offer was too hard to turn down ! So it looks as though March to mid June will be the final curtain call if in fact two weeks shorter than usual. This all subject of course to Covid and everything else that might happen between now and then. And these days who knows about that.

Observing the shenanigans that's been going on back in the UK, or rather listening to it on my phone as I cook and wash-up, has been amazing. people speak to me about it in hushed tones, as though at a funeral. But in no sense of superiority as many of them seem to think the US is in danger of imploding as we approach the mid-terms. Some of  the things one hears on the national public radio just beggar belief. But one remembers what Churchill said about Democracy  'the worst form of government except for all the others.' Dead right !     

I must say I do quite fancy sitting in my porch which will be completed by then, sipping my mint julep and looking out over the water in the warm Spring sunshine. Not of course that it would be a mint julep since we tried it in Carolina years ago and thought a really disgusting drink. Being able to keep my stuff here and not go through the exhausting business of shifting it back into office and out again like I had to this time would be a real bonus too.

Otherwise, I'm thoroughly back in the routine now, revisiting the mansions, walking on the beach etc. Until recently it's been really quite warm, but I've been surprised at how few people there can be about on Second Beach on a sunny Saturday afternoon. That's the Chapel  of St George's Public/Private school on the hill. It's all too English for words. I am constantly reminded of Britishness here, not least because of the large number of ex-pats there seem to be living around here. I met a couple in 'Stop-and-Shop' desperately hunting for a kettle and told them where to go. The receptionist at the old Redwood library had I thought the remnants of a British accent. She said,' I have to ask THE question..' She didn't need to. 'Yes, I said 'and I was going to ask the same.' She'd come over 32 years ago and hadn't lost the accent, but said all her friends said she shouldn't as everyone liked it. But I don't think that will be a problem for me as. My accent is in no danger through an overlong stay. Honestly.   

Gone West

 

Amazingly, I got nearly everything done back at Wansdyke before departing for the US though it was a bit hectic. This included in the last week (the one after my return from Singapore)  getting three separate injections, having  a dental check, hosting two Peppermill lunches for friends  and even exploiting friendships ruthlessly for help in getting a huge apple crop either  juiced up on the spot or taken away for later juicing. I was really pleased and grateful for this as I can't abide waste ! I closed up the house, though of course Nathan and Carline will be looking after it, and even did some pre-emptive de-micing and de-ratting !

My flight back to Newport by contrast was completely hassle free. Everything worked perfectly. The meal on the plane was really excellent and the service couldn't be faulted.  I must say when BA gets its act together it really is very good.

Of course coming back to the College did involve hassle. I spent the first whole day in Newport collecting the car, being taken on a walk-round of my new rental and then the really arduous business of collecting all my stuff from my office on the third deck (this is a naval college after all) at the of the old Mahan building. As well, there's been yet another re-organisation of office accommodation. I've lost my former proper (shared)  office but am still in the one I temporarily perched in on my own. Because I thought I would be moving out of that bolt-hole everything in it had all been boxed up and so had to be un-boxed.  When that's piles of books and papers, it's no joke ! On top of that all my stuff from my 'proper office had been boxed up and moved in and also had to be unboxed. Worse still so had all of colleague John Hattendorf's because he had been moved in with me. Presumably the thinking was that those two old half time codgers would be perfectly happy up in their eerie and not get in anyone's way. Which is perfectly true ! I spent a whole day sorting  this chaos out and was aching all over when I stopped. It was the long weekend of the Columbus day holiday so there was no-one else around at all. It was also a hot day - over 70 Fahrenheit. It was just as well no-one saw me too closely.

But it's done. Personalising my new house, on the other hand was fun. I enjoyed unpacking everything  and discovering things I had forgotten about, including an old Burmese lunch pot I thought I had inadvertently left behind in the Carriage house when I scuttled away from Covid two years ago. The house is a single storey wooden two bedroom cottage built around 1900, with fittings that in part date from the 1960s I should think. Here's a picture, with my new rental car - Snowflake III the third white one in a row.

To the right of the tree you can just see the sea. The house is part of a small estate centred on a large house of about the same period that is divided into condos. It's surrounded by trees but provides a view of the ocean from the back porch. A view, I might say, currently dominated by two huge cruise ships in port for the holiday weekend. Behind my dining area there's a large window looking out on some superb and large rock formations. My landlords live in South Carolina. I don't think there can be much wrong with them since they left me a bottle of gin and four bottles of wine, plus a whole load of food ! Mind you I did have to give quite a lot of the cutlery and cooking equipment  a good clean before using it. You can't have everything.

A few minutes away there's this rather splendid statue of General Rochambeau who arrived  with a French Army in 1780 to help the struggling George Washington drive us Brits out. Weirdly, he seems to be pointing back at France, perhaps acknowledging that supporting revolutions didn't turn out to be a very good idea as far as the French were concerned  !  So far, at any rate, I have concluded that being here still does look like a good idea, but we'll see.