As I pack my bags once again to move to another far off place I’ve been thinking of how my life has panned out.
When I, tearfully, left Edge Grove a few years ago (OK a few decades ago) there were only a handful of us with parents that lived abroad. A holiday to somewhere like Bali seemed unattainable. Australia held the mystique of the unknown where they actually knew how to win cricket matches. Yet, in less time than a ‘Buster’ Flindall detention, many of my friends from Edge Grove are living on foreign shores stretching from Canada to the Bahamas, the Middle East to Singapore. There’s even one in that mystical garden we call Newcastle. How could I ever have imagined at that time I’d hop on a plane in Jakarta and spend my weekend in Bali.
One of the official Wonders Of The World - The Temple at Borobudur
As for myself I’m now about to reach double figures for countries I’ve lived in and I still don’t feel I’ve scratched the surface. What have I learned as an expat? To always be open to exploring. I watched the camel auctions in Riyadh and climbed to the top of the Temple of Borobudur in Indonesia. I’ve had the car break down in the middle of the desert and run a boat aground next to a nudist beach in the South Of France. The best part has always been the people I’ve met along the way. I’ve made so many friends around the world that I could never have dreamed of bumping into if I’d stayed in my comfort zone of South Hertfordshire. I’ve sat drinking coffee in a tent on the outskirts of Riyadh chatting to friends I’d never have otherwise made. I’ve watched Lewis Hamilton speed round the track in Bahrain. I’d still challenge him to a drive through central Jakarta during rush hour though. That could be entertaining!
This Hertfordshire boy was a bit quick around the track in Bahrain
The pandemic caused problems for us all in so many ways not least because we couldn’t travel anymore. We’ve missed seeing family and friends and have a lot of catching up to do. As borders re-open it’s going to be a fun time catching up with as many people as possible without have to see their faces through a computer screen. I wonder how many of us will start moving around the world again to start a new chapter of our lives. I’m sure we’ll still feel the sting of excess baggage charges, working out how to buy a mobile phone and finding a place to watch the rugby in our new home wherever it might be. It will be worth it as the people we meet and sights we see become stories we can dine out on for years.
It feels a long time ago I left the nurturing halls of Edge Grove and tasted Sally Waterfield’s chocolate biscuit cake or had Fernando smuggling biscuits to us or found myself bound to Phil Smith as my loosehead prop on the rugby training pitch when he’d just arrived at the school. So many of us have travelled to the far corners of the planet now but still feel the pull of the school that moulded us. For those of a certain age you can probably still smell Jimmy Pratt’s pipe as you read these words.
Catching crabs in Qatar
I’ll leave you with one story that sums up, for me, what being an expat does to people. Many moons ago I was asked to stop singing in chapel as I really was that bad! In the course of my travels I’ve now been a DJ in 7 different countries. Opportunities arose and the expat explorer in me was never going to turn them down. It just goes to show we can all achieve anything we want even if we have little or no talent.
* Chris was at Edge Grove between 1980 and 1985. He has worked in PR around the World and is also an author. You can follow his exploits and see his books at www.maximiliansam.com
It's amazing who you meet on your travels. The late, great Jonah Lomu