On day 9, we said goodbye to our lovely Log cabin. It hadn't been like travelling at all, but rather a holiday as preparation for the real thing. We absolutely loved it,
Then we set off for Sturbridge, Massachusetts to follow up on a contact I had made via Facebook – a school friend I had not met for 23 years called Nicholas White. Nick and I had been at school together from 11-18 years old, and especially had studied Latin and Greek together in a small little group of 4 kids. I wrote a piece on that experience before (click here to read it.)
Nick left England in 1989, thinking that his trip to America would be an apprenticeship lasting around a year. He ended up staying for these last 20 years and has lived in New York, Miami, Texas and New England.
I have lost contact with almost all of my old school friends, so meeting Nick was a unique chance to re-connect with a past I barely give a thought to these days. It is a bizarre feeling to meet someone 23 years older than the last time we met, and yet to have shared memories which came instantly about friends, teachers and parents. We shared stories about our eccentric Classics master, Mr Watson-Wemyss, our classmates like fellow Latin and Greek scholar Neil MacDonald (now a Grand Master at Chess), and caught up on what had happened over the years. As we talked, we realised how unusual and inspiring the pupils, parents and teachers we came across were in that formative period, and what an influence on our lives they had been.
Then we set off for Sturbridge, Massachusetts to follow up on a contact I had made via Facebook – a school friend I had not met for 23 years called Nicholas White. Nick and I had been at school together from 11-18 years old, and especially had studied Latin and Greek together in a small little group of 4 kids. I wrote a piece on that experience before (click here to read it.)
Nick left England in 1989, thinking that his trip to America would be an apprenticeship lasting around a year. He ended up staying for these last 20 years and has lived in New York, Miami, Texas and New England.
I have lost contact with almost all of my old school friends, so meeting Nick was a unique chance to re-connect with a past I barely give a thought to these days. It is a bizarre feeling to meet someone 23 years older than the last time we met, and yet to have shared memories which came instantly about friends, teachers and parents. We shared stories about our eccentric Classics master, Mr Watson-Wemyss, our classmates like fellow Latin and Greek scholar Neil MacDonald (now a Grand Master at Chess), and caught up on what had happened over the years. As we talked, we realised how unusual and inspiring the pupils, parents and teachers we came across were in that formative period, and what an influence on our lives they had been.
Nick even miraculously remembered the school song, a terrible piece of dirge which was concluded with The School Shout, repeated by all 500 boys (“School. Cela. C'est a dire. Ooh, ah, ooh ah ah, zen zen zen, GRAVESEND”. What on earth was that all about?!?).
It was obvious even in those days that Nick is a very talented performer and musician, and he said that he knew he would be a musician, so the pains of going through learning Classics was definitely for the experience and not for the qualification or learning (“I think I did Latin and Greek to be around the Cool Geeks”...). I remember vividly that he was awarded the premier Organ Scholarship in the country at Clare College, Cambridge, and since then, his life has been a combination of playing, teaching and composing. It was fascinating to hear how his life in music has been up to now.
As I write this, I sit in their lovely home overlooking a lake and valley the morning after an incredibly hospitable evening, trying (unsuccessfully) to capture the joy of this meet up. It's one of the meanings of this trip, to do things we would not normally do on a standard holiday. And a moment or two ago, I saw a small plaque on the wall, and I love this sentiment. It's another reminder that we are doing the right thing by going for this trip.
“20 years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbour, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” (unknown).
