I had arranged to meet Sami and Lisa in the Hope Café on Wednesday afternoon but got there early enough to catch up with Mo, who was chatting on her phone. I raised my hand indicating I’d pick up a coffee and come over. Behind the counter was Kate, whom Duncan has recruited to replace Josh, while the latter is away in Israel. Kate is all smiles and obviously enjoying her new role: “It’s great Richard, something I have never done before, but such a change from driving a bus and I really enjoy the little chit-chat with our customers.”
“That’s wonderful, I thought you’d be a shoe-in and as the café is becoming more and more popular maybe it’ll be a more permanent option?”
“Mmmm! Good in the winter months but showing my bus passengers the wonderful scenery around The Seven Sisters and the Belle Tout lighthouse on the road to Eastbourne is also very rewarding. And we expect Susie back before January; what’s she like?”
“Like any late 20s young woman whose horizons had been limited by circumstance. The Kiwis have an expression for what’s needed, Overseas Experience, abbreviated to OE, and they see it as an essential part of learning about oneself and the world (See PC 155 OE June 2019). I really hope that Susie’s OE, travelling in the Antipodes, has opened her eyes to what opportunities are out there, out there and back here; so we will see who returns!! Incidentally did I see that the National Trust building at Birling Gap has had to demolish the long sea side of its building at Birling Gap, where its café was, as coastal erosion had put it in jeopardy?”
Kate smiles: “Yes that’s right. The café will now be on the other side of the building for the time being …. but your use of the word jeopardy makes my smile.”
“Why’s that?”
“You’re old enough to remember the radio hit The Goon Show, with Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe (Note 1), Peter Sellers and Michael Bentine and ….”
“Yes! Tales of Old Dartmoor for instance?”
“Absolutely! You remember when the character in charge of Her Majesty’s Prison Dartmoor, ‘Seagoon’ narrated by Harry Secombe, is asked by the Superintendent how many convicts he had and he did a quick headcount and he came up with none?”
“And the Superintendent says something like you can’t walk around with an empty prison; your job will be in jeopardy …….”
“and Seagoon replies: ‘In Jeopardy? I don’t want to go abroad!”
Kate and I had a good laugh at our own personal memories of that wonderful radio series. I pick up my coffee and walk across to Mo, who’s finishing her conversation.
“Hi! Richard. How are you? That was my mother, had some problem with the heating in her apartment. Might have to get in touch with Henri.”
“Henri’s so good! Have recommended him to a number of people and he never fails to garner wonderful comments. Gather Josh is now on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, facing Hezbollah. Hope he’s going to be OK now that the temporary ceasefire is over. Think the candle on the counter over there is a nice touch.”
“Yes isn’t it. Do you know what? I am so surprised by the polarisation of the public’s views here about the situation in Gaza and Israel. Most seem to side with The Palestinians in Gaza, forgetting that The Gaza Strip is completely under the control of Hamas, who are committed to the complete annihilation of Israel. I wonder how they would have reacted if some terrorism group had machine-gunned 1200 people at Glastonbury early in the year, And some of the accounts of the actions by Hamas on 7th October are inhuman, with gang rape of teenagers and then their murder commonplace. Janice Turner, writing in The Times, reflects that “the ♯MeToo crowd has been silent on Hamas rapes” and notes that some have questioned the veracity of the claims. She summed up her article: “In the absence of justice, all we can do is believe the Jewish women. Or if misogynists and antisemites struggle with that, they could at least believe Hamas rapists who are so proud of their crimes.”
“It’s such a complex situation but it seems there’s a growing acceptance even by the extremists that Israel will exist and it’ll have to come to some rapprochement with its neighbours. What’s that expression: ‘Real politik’?
The swing doors open and Sami and Lisa come in, see us and walk to a nearby table, dump their coats and come over. Hugs all round! Haven’t seen them since their Maldives trip. I had remembered a little gift of some olive oil from Portugal and they were suitably touched.
“Mo, catch up next week? Take care.” And I join Lisa and Sami.
“Look” says Lisa, “while Sami shows you some photos from our time in the Maldives, I’m going to say hello to Robert over there. I think you mentioned to him I am a fellow journalist and writer so maybe I can give him some pointers from my own journey.”
“OK! Talk later, Lisa. One thing you won’t know, Sami, about the Maldives is that the guy who ran the country between 2008 and 2012, Mohamed Nasheed, went to the same school in Wiltshire as I did, Dauntsey’s, on the edge of Salisbury Plain. He was there many years after me! Sadly his departure from politics was mired in claim and counter-claim; he was defeated in the last Presidential election. How was your trip?”
“You can see from this map that the country is a series of 20 atolls with 1190 islands lying southwest of India.
It’s described as ‘land scarce and low lying’; with future sea levels projected to rise somewhere between 10 and 100 cms by 2100, the entire country could be submerged! We decided to ……”
“I’m sorry but I just need to pop to the loo. Don’t go away!”
To be continued …..
Richard 8th December 2023
Hove
Note 1 The late Harry Secombe was a great supporter of our Armed Forces, performing in charity concerts for free for instance. I was lucky enough to meet him when he came to visit 39 Medium Regiment RA when we were ‘keeping the peace’ in Londonderry over Christmas in 1973. Such a genuine lovely man.
postcards 