Robert Peston scoops the n'ewes

At Aber Graduation.  Sweet little lambs that they are, all fresh-faced and dumplings ready for the big bad world with a degree of confidence.  My old mucker Robert Peston is here to receive a Fellowship.  The official photographer, however, was clear as to who is the real VIP which is why the photo below has me in full glory but only half of Bobby's face! 

It's hot in Aber this week (when is it not, I hear you ask?), so hot that the magnificent Aber Arts Centre, where we hold these august proceedings even though it's still July, is wilting the willing alumni staff who are manning the stand dispersing goody bags full of freebies to the graduands.  Louise, the Alumni Manager, is trying to convince anyone and everyone to fan her with copies of Prom.  Try it with a woolly coat, I tell her, even one that is barely recovering from the depredations of the phantom sheep shearer.

I did manage to bump into some Japanese distant cousins (okay, so they are bears and I'm a baa but it's close enough) who agreed to pose with me.  Their kimonos were a delight.

Over two thousand new alumni are joining the fold this week, and I am presiding over eight degree ceremonies to get them all scrolled and gowned.  There's more mortar boards here than at the Olympics building site.

I'm off to Argentina soon, attending a prestigious conference where I shall attempt to wean the Argies off leathery beef and onto mouth-watering, succulent, tender and sweet lambikins.  Got to do my bit for the Welsh Lamb Marketing Board after all.

Lamb Vindaloo

It's hot, folks.  Summer has arrived in Aberystwyth, gateway to the West.  The sky is that particular blue one only gets in Cardigan Bay, the sea is glinting with its reflected glory and the beer-glasses on the Pier shine with a scintillating azure hue as a result.

You would think life was serene, then, wouldn't you?  Well, it would have been, but then some myopic muck-spreader who should have gone to Specsavers grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and I was unceremoniously shorn.  This, despite the fact that I shall be travelling to the southern hemisphere straight after Graduation where it is WINTER!!!  Then there is the question of modesty - its little short of embarrasing to have all one's clothes cut off in front of all of the these sunbathers in skimpy doodads.

The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall are visiting west Wales this week - imagine my embarrassment if they turn up in my field with me looking like this?  And it's the Vice Chancellor's final graduation before he retires in July.  What is he going to make of my bald bonce?  The sooner I am in South America where a thong is regarded as being almost over-dressed the better!

Brass monkeys and couch potatoes

Ye Gods, but it's nippy round here.  I have ditched Julian (for which relief much thanks) and have now tied up with a much more compassionate partner in Dr Bethan Williams.  This has distinct advantages:  first of all, she's a Doctor (i.e. she has brains) and secondly she is a she which allows me more sympathetic treatment.

We are now down in the South Atlantic which, although it's what they laughingly refer to as "Summer", is still perishing.  It's a good thing, after all, that I didn't get a woolcut when I was in Australia.  My coat is definitely essential here.

We headed off to Signy Island in the South Orkneys (like the North Orkneys but without Peter Maxwell Davies and fewer Ceilidhs) to drop off some Italian scientists and where we bumped into a family of elephant seals.  These reminded me mostly of Julian in front of the tele.  Huge lumps of blubber doing absolutely nothing for large parts of the day.

I'm the small white object on the grating which gives you some idea just how big these less than attractive monsters are.  Even less appealing are the fur seals which are rather like dogs insofar as they bark at you and are very agile and strong.  Readers will appreciate that dogs that can slap are less than my favourite lifeforms.

More conducive to my wellbeing were the penguins - different types were on view including colonies of adele and chinstrap varieties as well as some visiting gentoo- and lots of other avian cousins ... skuas, terns, and giant petrels amongst others.  Having enjoyed the opportunity to stretch my legs (they are small so they need all the stretching they can get) we have now re-embarked and are on our way to James Ross Island which I presume is where they manufacture frozen fish fingers.

More soon .....

Dubai Dubai Do

I began this blog with a photo of myself framed against the Boston skyline.  It seems only right, therefore, to end it with another cityscape, this time the futuristic skyline of Dubai. 

I've been slightly nervous here, because Gulf citizens have been known to like a piece of slowly-cooked mutton and there have been a few glances at me wherein the smiles have more of a gastronomic rather than garrulous feel about them.   I've tried to hint that there is more than a touch of scabies in my family in the hope that this will make me a little less attractive to any Emirate epicureans.

This is again a city state of extraordinary variety wherein the nations of the world mix and deal with equanimity.  If there remains an old Dubai, I haven't seen it.  Mile upon mile of state of the art infrastructure supporting architecture which is frankly mind-boggling.  Julian was here over a decade ago and yet he recognised but one building, the iconic Sail which still dominates one part of the skyline.  Today, however, one cannot but be drawn again and again to the huge stalactite which stands like an alien cathedral soaring to the heavens in the centre of the city and which quite cowed this sheep.

We adjourned to the roof terrace of the grand ("grand"?  I'm not sure Dubai has anything but "grand") Royal Mirage hotel for the last reception of the tour.  George Stodhard, whose original idea this venue was, sat shivering in temperatures of about 20C and received scant sympathy.  Abbas Yousafzai was our host and, although working all the way down the coast at Abu Dhabi, graced the event with his charming wife.  Peter Hill, HM of the prestigious Dubai College, and Andrew Bone, who runs Hill and Knowlton throughout the region, also attended and made many pertinent and perspicacious comments and suggestions.  The extremely beautiful Wedad bin Braik was joined by her husband, as was Karen Craig who, as a Kiwi, seemed to have got almost as much pleasure out of the Poms stuffing the Aussies as Julian had.  Finally, Graeme Mullin (our man at the FO) and Alun Epps (working for Middlesex University but we'll forgive him) made up the extremely enjoyable party.

So, how to sum up this trip?  Well, human-sheep relations have been put under strain at various times, certainly between me and Julian, and I would urge everyone to lobby heavily for an improvement in the conditions under which ovine transport is regulated.  I've travelled in a briefcase, a carrier bag, with dirty washing, even in the hold of an aircraft on occasion, with no hint of an apology from the fat controller (sorry, Development Director).

On the other hand, alumni relations for Aber has been the big winner.  We've made so many friends, rekindled so many memories, encouraged so much support and created the skeleton of a truly mutually beneficial alumni network worldwide that there is no doubt of the success of the whole enterprise.  Now, Julian has a shed-load of work to do to ensure that the University lives up to its promises and continues to support this network, especially for the younger graduates who will need our help so much in the current economic climate.

Now it's off to the airport, another insufferable flight for me and Julian wondering if there's a movie on the plane he hasn't already seen during the fifteen flights we have taken since November 26th.  Thanks for reading my musings.  I'm off to Antarctica soon so look for me in the frozen food counter as well hopefully a new blog.

Hong Kong Fluey

Now, I know that I might have ruffled a few feathers when I said that Singapore was the most cosmopolitan place on Earth, especially amongst the Hong Kong fraternity.  Now that I'm here in HK, I had better smooth said feathers a bit.

Hong Kong is amazing.  It's still as vibrant, as exciting, as twenty-four hour and as organised an apparent chaos as one is ever going to find.  We are, unfortunately, back in the land of concrete-footwear as far as cab drivers are concerned, allied to an almost suicidal tendency towards lane-changing manoeuvres and automatic transmissions that are well past their use-by date, but that is all a part of the magic of this little island of capitalism.  It is, however, when all is said and done also unmistakeably Chinese, despite the best efforts of 150 years of British rule which ended, let us not forget, only 13 years ago.  Many different nationalities make their home here, do business here, and stamp their imprint on the place, but it is still a part of China.

Talking of different nationalities, I would mention in passing that throughout my long and varied travels, there has been one language which has slightly disturbed me in the regularity with which I have heard it ... French!  There is definitely a gentle move by the French to take over the world.  They are everywhere, trying to establish a hegemony of claret and grenouilles.  I think the media should investigate this new phenomenon before we are all lambs dressed as mouton!

But back to Hong Kong.  I persuaded Julian to take a photo which, I feel, sums up this business-led society.

What's so special about this, you may ask?  Well, where else in the world can one imagine a Rolls Royce dealership nextdoor to a Burger King?

In any event, it's off to the restrained opulence of the famed Hong Kong Club for the alumni reception.  Here the youthful Giles Surman (his phrase) and his delightful alumna wife Julia (Julian's phrase) host a wonderful event.  Edith Lam brings gifts and a sparky enthusiasm from the iCable corporate library where she runs the show (quite literally). 

Talk was rife about the good old days at Aber and the select audience were suitably appreciative of a well-travelled ewe.  Offers of future help were forthcoming and I can assure any Aber grad landing on these shores of a warm and supportive welcome.

Now it's another cosmopolitan centre, this time a newer one in the Gulf.  Dubai, here we come on the last leg of our round the world in 40 days.

Cuddly Kuala

Readers of this erudite exposition of travel and sheepiness will be aware that there have been many surprises, delights and reasons to be proud of our Aber alumni on our long Odyssey.  Nothing, however, (and I mean "Nothing!") had prepared us for the sheer enthusiasm, passion and love for the College by the Sea of our Malaysian alumni.  Nor had we really appreciated just how welcoming a whole country can be until we arrived in the bustling, humid and fascinating city of Kuala Lumpur.

Julian had an inkling of this when he first met Jamal Hassim, actually a Singapore resident but on business in KL at the right moment, who was full of support, enthusiasm and good ideas.  But when he was honoured by a visit to his hotel by Tan Sri Arshad Ayub, the full extent became clear.  Tan Sri Ayub is a difficult man to describe: this is because he has excelled in so many and various aspects of Malaysian life.  At 82, he is as spry as a man half his age, has a keen intelligence and dynamic quality which makes you feel that here is someone who gets things done.  He is regarded as the father of the Malaysian technological university (now known as UiTM) where he was the director for ten years, the lead inspiration in the development of the ACCA accounting qualification in Malaysia, was a deputy Finance Minister, deputy Governor of a national bank, Chairs the Board of the University of Malaysia, sits in unnumerable boards of private and public companies, and is generally, and rightly, revered throughout the country.  Oh yes, and he thought highly enough of Aber to come across town to spend two hours with Julian and blew his socks off!


This was but a hint of what was to come, however.  The current president of the Alumni Club in Malaysia, Nasharuddin Hussin, was on hand at the meeting with Tan Sri Ayub, and could not do enough for us (even to the extent of giving us a lift to the airport the morning after the alumni dinner which is no mean feat when the airport is over an hour's drive away).  He and his energetic committee had organised a dinner at a lakeside restaurant in KL and Julian's office had suggested that up to 78 alumni might attend.  Julian suitably wrote his speech (or the closest he ever comes to writing a speech) to announce that this was the largest, by a factor of four, of any of the events held on this trip. 

As it turned out, over 100 guests turned up through the notorious KL traffic jams to welcome us and to enjoy a sumptuous feast of delicious seafood (sheep are not averse to the odd squid, I can tell you).  Julian had the numeracy to work out this was therefore in fact a five-fold increase in any other event on this trip.  Even Tri San Ayub made a welcome late appearance having left a wedding reception on the other side of the city.  Other distinguished attendees included past Presidents of the club and senior figures in commerce and industry, but equally a welcome and large contingent of young recent Aber graduates including a particularly loud and enthusiastic group of 2008 graduates and Jasmine Ong from the 2009/10 Aber Annual Fund telephone calling team.  Her calling was much better than her car maintenance as her flat battery after the dinner showed!

Speeches flowed, as did the sweat on Julian who was, as usual, dreadfully overdressed, and even Nasharuddin managed to keep his comments to under an hour (apparently a record).  Gifts were exchanged and I, who, as usual, was more popular than Julian, was handled by great personages and attractive young ladies with due respect and dignity throughout.

Tan Sri Arshad Ayub  and I flanked by past Presidents Fariz Abu Bakar and Datuk Zawiyah Baba
(former DG of the Malaysian National Library) [apologies to current President Nasharuddin Hussin who's face Julian managed to cut in two when taking this photo hence the cropping]

Singapore slings like a pendulum do

Julian is definitely starting to feel the pressure of six weeks on the road.  This blog is woefully late in appearing simply because he won't get the laptop out and I can't reach the plug to do it myself.  If he thinks this is tough, just try growing a woolly coat every year.

Anyway, Singapore is a fascinating city/state.  Its legendary neatness, good order and low crime rate notwithstanding, it is the truly cosmopolitan nature of the place which always stands out.  I know I'm going to get it in the withers for saying this is probably the most cosmopolitan place in the world (especially from the Hong Kongers where we travel later in the week), but it is certainly up there in the internationalist stakes and will take some beating.

It has also grown tremendously since Julian was last here.  Where ten years ago barges were dumping landfill into the sea, now there looms the most expensive hotel/casino in the world (to build, that is - there are probably one hundred cramped hotels in Manhattan who charge more to stay!) which is probably familiar to anyone who has watched the Singapore Grand Prix on TV.  It looks remarkably like the W.A.S.P. headquarters from Stingray!

The best asset Singapore has, however, is undoubtedly Duncan Edwards, our host, organiser and adviser who set up a highly enjoyable evening at a cool bar in the imposing One Raffles Quay complex - similarly a new addition to the Singapore skyline.  As we've come to expect, the event was marked by purposeful and pertinent questioning from the attendees who ranged from a Singapore Airlines captain to a super-spook from Control Risks.

(As a byline, what is it about Aber that creates these world experts in security and risk management?  I've met them in three continents now.  At Aber, the biggest security risk is that one leaves one's wallet in the back of a cab or that one falls into the sea after having one over the eight!)

Duncan had festooned the walls of the private room with A3 photos of Aber, both now and way back when he was a student (I won't embarrass him by saying when - I'll just say that the Austin A40 vans looked very quaint).  Seeing the Arts Centre just after it was built was certainly an eye-opener.  As usual, the event over-ran and it was only with difficulty that we extracted ourselves for long enough to grab a few hours of sleep before the early departure for Kuala Lumpur.