At the end of March 2024, I spent most of a day in London with my friend Simon Dalby. He was appointed to the Balsillie School of International Affairs (BSIA) in 2013 just before me and was in the office next to mine. He retired a couple of years ago and lives on Mayne Island, off the coast of British Colombia. He was in Europe for a series of meetings and to contact and visit family members he had never met or not seen for decades.

We took the chance to catch up. We are about the same age and have the shared experience of growing up in small towns, in his case Cork in Ireland, for me it was Mbabane. He went to Trinity College in Dublin, then Canada for post graduate studies, and got an academic appointment there. I first met him at Charlton University about 20 years ago. We had much in common, including feeling baffled at the Balsillie School of International Affairs (BSIA), and not knowing what was expected of us. Simon was better at operating there than I, though. He is a highly respected academic, known for his work on environmental security and critical geopolitics. His recent book, Pyromania: Fire and Geopolitics in a Climate Disrupted World (Agenda Publishing, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 2024), is relevant to today’s events, and is a sobering read.

We met at his hotel, The Tavistock. This is a short walk from Euston Square tube station. It is also somewhere I had stayed several times, though that was at least thirty years ago. It was faintly shabby in those days but has now been renovated and upgraded and looks excellent. Simon was waiting in the lobby and readily agreed to my proposal that we walk and stop where and when we wanted. It was a perfect day, cool but not cold, and dry and sunny. I had to shed garments as we walked in the sun and my temperature rose steadily. The first instalment of the walk took us through Bloomsbury, past the British Museum to Trafalgar Square. Simon had a day or two to fill so was delighted to have Foyles, probably the biggest bookshop in the UK, pointed out to him.

By the time we got to Trafalgar Square it was time to lunch. We stopped at my restaurant of choice L’Ulivo, on Villiers Street, an excellent and reasonably priced Italian eatery. I have been there many times, most memorably 10 years ago almost to the day, with the extended family, for a celebratory lunch to mark my award of the Order of the British Empire. I mentioned to the waitress it was a favourite restaurant in London. She said, “Yes I have worked here for more than 10 years, and I remember you”. I don’t think that was true, but no matter!

From the restaurant we walked beside the Thames for a kilometre or so, then turned into the city to visit St Paul’s Cathedral. There is, in the Crypt (basement) of the Cathedral, a large chapel to which OBE recipients are allowed to visit without having to pay the entrance fee. This would normally cost about £24 so it is a nice benefit to have. I thought it was only for the chapel, but on looking at the website I discovered it covers the whole Cathedral. When I have visited the chapel, the security has kindly allowed my companion in free.

It has only been the OBE chapel since the award was established in 1917. The chapel is ornate and inspiring on its own. However, it is right next to many of the tombs of the people who made London, England and the Empire. The most impressive is, without doubt, the tomb of Admiral Lord Nelson. This is a huge black marble sarcophagus, designed by Benedetto da Rovezzano (1474-1552) for Cardinal Wolsey (1473-1530). Benedetto was a well-known Florentine sculptor who worked in England from 1519 to 1543. Wolsey was Lord Chancellor to Henry VIII (1491-1547), although he fell from favour and was allowed to retire to Yorkshire.

Following an accusation of treason, Wolsey was returning to London where he would undoubtedly have been tried and executed, when he died at Leicester Abbey, on the journey. He was buried there in an unknown grave. This meant his sarcophagus was ‘vacant’ for centuries. The inscription on it reads:

‘This sarcophagus was originally intended for Cardinal Wolsey, but presented by his present Majesty George 3rd to entomb the body of Horatio Viscount Nelson, situated in the vault under the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral, London’

Nelson was the final beneficiary of this macabre game of ‘musical coffins’, but as he was dead, he never knew!

Nelson’s Tomb at St. Paul’s Cathedral

St Pancras © User:Colin / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

From St Pauls we ambled up Holborn Viaduct to Gray’s Inn Road, and, ducking down various side streets, made our way to St Pancras station because Simon is a fan of the architecture. It is indeed impressive. The station is the terminus for Eurostar services to and from Belgium, France and the Netherlands as well as many local services. It was built by the Midland Railway with wrought iron pillars supporting a single-span roof and ornate Gothic red-brick. It opened in 1868 and is a Grade I listed building. I have gone by it many times and even travelled from it, but until then never really looked at it, what a pity, it is amazing. We stopped there for a cup of tea and then a glass of wine in a comfortable, but expensive, bar overlooking the concourse. Simon headed for the hotel, and I caught the tube to Liverpool Street to catch a train that was crowded as far as Ipswich and then nearly empty to Norwich.

It was great to see Simon again, he and his wife were two of the people who made Waterloo fun. There was obviously a lot of catching up on people we both knew but we covered many other topics, including the politics of North America: Canada – encouraging; the USA – extremely concerning for the world and Canadians specifically. Our conversation was wide ranging and informative. I think we agreed that the BSIA was an unusual experience and one which could have been so much better. The constraints and rules of Canadian, and especially Ontario, further education is something I will write about further and elsewhere in due course!

My word we walked a huge distance though. According to my Fitbit I covered nearly 14 kilometres by the time I got home. I thought I would be stiff and sore, but, in fact, I was just tired. It was a great day, and we agreed, despite the problems with the BSIA and Canadian academia, Waterloo had been an overall good experience. Simon has one ongoing legacy there, a recalcitrant student who has yet to submit their PhD or even send in a decent draft. Once he gets free of that he too will have ended formal links, apart from the Emeritus status that is. I do hope I will see him again sometime and somewhere but suspect it is sadly unlikely.

The Norwich-London journey time is under two hours, and it gives me a chance to read and reflect. I worked my way through some of my outstanding newspapers. The Saturday Guardian and Sunday Observer are quite enough and I had plenty to read. I am considering getting The New Yorker which I bought in Waterloo. It was a real pleasure to get such excellent journalism. I enjoyed the articles and reviews, but the cartoons in particular were sublime.

One of the articles mentioned the play Rhinocéros by Eugène Ionesco (1909-1994) a Romanian-French playwright, one of the foremost figures of French avant-garde theatre in the 20th century. I saw this play as a schoolboy at Waterford, and it made a huge impression on me although I had no idea what it was about. It was far too sophisticated for us, and I have no idea who thought it was a good idea to put it on. Ionesco wrote it in 1959, so I must have seen it in about 1970. It is part of ‘The Theatre of the Absurd’. I went to Wikipedia and have to be honest and say I am none the wiser after trying to read the entry.

In brief, over the course of three acts, all but one of the inhabitants of a small, provincial French town turn into rhinoceroses. The only person who does not is the central character, Bérenger, a lazy, drunk, chaotic individual. He becomes, not unexpectedly, paranoid and obsessed with rhinoceroses. Wikipedia says:

“The play is often read as a response and criticism to the sudden upsurge of Fascism and Nazism during the events preceding World War II, and explores the themes of conformity, culture, fascism, responsibility, logic, mass movements, mob mentality, philosophy and morality.”

As a teenager I was intrigued although it was completely unlike anything I had seen before, and it went right over my head. Perhaps being innocent and naïve meant it was easier to engage with the absurdity of the concept.

I have been engaged in local activities. I am a member of the board of the Norwich Credit Union (NCU) and on 29th March we held our Annual General Meeting. The NCU lent £879,151 in 2024, and members withdrew £1,675,100 from their savings accounts so turnover is significant. It is a hugely important resource for the local community, providing accessible savings and credit facilities. For those who know Southern Africa it is similar to a stokvel but of course is highly regulated. The meeting, which was held in the Norwich Quaker Assembly Hall, went well and we look forward to another successful year. A big development is the Union has employed staff, previously it was entirely run by volunteers.

In the afternoon I went to A People’s Assembly in a local church hall. The purpose of this was to talk about the future of the His Majesty’s Stationary Office (HMSO) building complex in Anglia Square in Norwich. This was built in the brutalist style in the 1960s when HMSO moved out of London, but much of it has been standing derelict for years. The meeting involved residents, business owners and concerned citizens and was organised by Assemble. There had been a proposal from a developer, but they withdrew, and it is critical something happens. It could be a great opportunity for some exciting development.

The discussion was wide ranging. What I heard was the need for social housing and a sensitive development that will plan for climate change. There were at least 70 people present from all walks of life. We were mostly middle class, and I am not sure what one can do about that. I worked in the warehouse in HMSO for a spell after university, so I feel I ‘have a dog in this fight’. I am not sure I will live to see the redevelopment; the existing building needs to be demolished and that alone will take at least two years. Still, it is good to be a part of the deliberations.