During the war I was a classical scholar, culminating in my winning a scholarship at age 16 for composing Latin and Greek verse (without a dictionary!) - all forgotten now. But our teachers showed us slide shows of Athens and Rome and the hilltop villages, and spoke with such longing and enthusiasm for these completely (at the time) unattainable places that the desire to be there is with me still.
Well, I got there in the Navy. On our first training cruise I particularly remember being anchored at the foot of Sorrento and going to Capri and the Blue Grotto, and in Villefranche bay, surprised that the mountains were so close to the shore. Later I went all over the place:
- Gibraltar, including for a 4 weeks refit, where I remember walking in the cork forests behind Algeciras. Later Anita visited me there and we went to Ronda for a weekend;
- Marseille;
- Toulon;
- Cannes, where HMS Battleaxe was the last destroyer to go stern-to in the Vieux Port (I was acting as interpreter for the French pilot - a barefoot fisherman - as we were turning inside the harbour with sailors at bow and stern fending off the expensive yachts with boathooks "How long is this ship?" ; "120 metres"; "Oh, they told me 100 metres. Still your captain is doing very well", as he retreated to the back of the bridge. (When we left there was the additional problem of a foul anchor as we kept bringing up the yachts' anchors). We were alongside a converted frigate "Moineau" belonging to a Dominican tin millionaire married to the Môme Moineau, a Paris street singer who entertained the crowds on the jetty from the stern. We were invited to their party, where she was dressed as a matador and took a fancy to our very tall midshipman. As she danced with him her hat sawed into his adam's apple and he was too embarassed to complain. (Later, he was to distinguish himself in the Falklands war);
- Civita Vecchia (several times), where we took the train to Rome,
- Naples (many times);
- Malta (lots, including living for six months with Anita and the two eldest children in a grotty flat on Sliema creeks (out of bounds to Wrens). I chose the flat for its fantastic view of Valetta across the water, going rose pink in the sunset, but failed to notice that the mattresses were stuffed with straw and the arm chairs with newspaper. Still, we survived although I should have done better for Anita;
- Piraeus, for Athens;
- Istanbul;
- Beirut (before the wars destroyed it).
I became hooked on "The Alexandria quartet" by Lawrence Durrell, which I think reflects the combination of overlapping civilisations, mystery and decadence which makes the area so fascinating. And it is all linked since the days of the Phoenician traders. Our maltese "messman" who did the shopping for the officers' wardroom could go into the market in any of these places and chat with the stallholders.
So I am pleased to be here, and not just for the beach and the skiing.
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