Gone East but back soon

 

It’s been so long since I put fingers to keyboard for this blog, that it’s hard to know where to begin. It has been a really busy few weeks, since I got back from Singapore in early March. So much for my hopes of quietly and leisurely finishing off the Seapower 5 book while getting on with repairing the damage to house and gardening  caused by previous neglect. Indeed  the book has been done and dusted and posted off to the Publishers. Because so much has changed since the 4^th edition in 2018 it turned out to be a much bigger project than I had originally anticipated and took much more time. Doing it was quite satisfying, mark you, but I am really, really glad that it’s over. That will definitely be my last single-authored academic book. I know I have said that before but this time the experience proved that the  opportunity costs are just too high. Another problem is the threat of more or less instant redundancy given the sheer pace of change and the slow production times of big publishers. So, that’s it !

The highlight of the period of course  was the family trip to Marrakesh for my official BIG  birthday. We stayed in a Riad – only it didn’t have a fountain in the open central courtyard, around which the occupants lounge, eat and sleep, so shouldn’t really have been called that. There were one or two hiccups, like the temporary loss of  WiFi but nothing serious and as usual complete harmony in the group. I won’t describe in detail because other people’s holidays are always so tedious and in an case, most of the readership was actually there. But we were all greatly impressed by how nice everyone was. I think we were all expecting to be constantly hassled for baksheesh as one is in Egypt, but not at all. There was of course a certain amount of bargaining over the price of things but the ladies of the party held their own, or at least we came away thinking that they did ! Seeing everything there was to see was hard work of course. On one day I clocked up 23,000 steps – nearly four times what old gentlemen like me are encouraged to strive for. Probably the best image was of us loping past in a camel train. Taken from a phone propped against a stone. Absolutely Lawrence of Arabia !  

Otherwise, there were a lot of domestic chores to get fixed, Covid jabs and blood tests,  the car MOTd and re-insured, Servicing of boilers and fire-extinguishers, keeping an eye on an old chap over the road who’s just lost his wife, voting, getting the tractor mower fixed – all the usual nif-naf and trivia, plus the Wiltshire Churches group. The time just flew past and looks like it’s going to continue to do that for a while, as quite a number of overseas gigs (as my younger colleagues would say !) coming up. It’s surprising how much time it takes sorting this kind of thing out – travel arrangements and the like. Arranging an intricate Hamburg and Newport safari took nearly 3 hours on the phone with BA at one stage. Sometimes things just can’t be done, I’m going to have to miss  the chance of a lifetime as far as I’m concerned, helping to run a conference on the Prince of Wales in Singapore as I’m already locked in to something else.

On top of this I found it too hard to turn down a nice offer from Singapore to prolong my period as S  Rajaratnam Professor of Strategic Studies for another year. If I had any doubts about why my job is called that, all I need do is look at the big notice outside my office door ! He was Singapore’s first Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy prime Minister, and that’s the name of the School. 

I sometimes have my apple lunch in one of the pavilions in the University’s rather splendid gardens, complete with lake, turtles, exotic birds etc. Just about visible is the roof of the building where our flat was, overlooking them, when we first came here all those years ago. The old original building -mid 1950s has just been refurbished  is quite distinctive I think. But really dwarfed in a campus so big three tube stations are being built in it !

Another highlight of my time here was a big naval conference which also involved cocktail ship visits at the naval base.  It was EXTREMELY hot and sticky but great fun, especially a Chinese frigate. There were two of them , one decidedly locked down, perhaps because all the effort was being made on the other one which was packed with naval types from all over and some of my colleagues. Lots of drum banging and general displays and a folk dress show. In order to get a clear shot with my phone, I was standing slightly ahead of most other spectators. The young lady on the left came uo to me at the end an I had a terrible fear I was going to be asked to dance or something like that, but no she offered a bowl of firewater. 

It tasted rather as one imagines anti-freeze does but was not without effect as we all agreed afterwards. We all had a good time as you can see - well actually you can't - I couldn't get the zip extractor to work on the collection of pics I was sent. The Captain likewise. An interesting evening. Of course I also called in on the RN ship and that was somewhat less exotic and they were running out of tonic but also very agreeable all the same.  

So, going East again for just a bit longer than planned certainly has its consolations…..