May we be Spared: Four talks in eight days.

The last week of October was, for me, a mad week of travelling, book launching, talking, and meeting old and new friends.

It started with an early morning flight to Ireland West Airport Knock and a drive to Rosses Point County Sligo for the Maritime Heritage Weekend organised by the wonderful Medbh Gillard.

I had been humming and hawing about attending this year but it was always my answer when asked, during the pandemic, where did I want to go when travel restrictions were lifted.

It was a good thing that I did decide to go in the end as, a few days prior to setting off, Medbd messaged to say that one of the scheduled speakers had tested positive for Covid, and would I be able, at short notice, to fill the gap in the programme. I was delighted to step in, and in return I was officially declared a saint. I made it a fairly introductory explanation of the Franklin expedition, and what it meant to me, finishing up with a plug for the book with a couple of example paragraphs. 

Back home Monday morning, with a few days to spare before Thursday's for a trip up to Greenwich by car and train for a get together at the Trafalgar Tavern and the evening's lecture at the National Maritime Museum. The talk went extremely well with an excellent introduction by Jeremy Michell with Russell, Mary, and myself onstage taking it in turns.

Gina joined us for book signing, meaning that the lucky recipients of these books will have, so far, the only copies signed by all four editors.

Friday morning dawned, meaning another early morning run to the airport, this time for a flight to Dublin, then on to Athy, home of the Shackleton Museum. Our book was launched in Ireland at 9 pm in O'Brien's Pub, or, more precisely, in the covered yard attached. This was particular fun due to the informal setting and the absence of any visual technology meant it was just a question of stand up and wobble on about the subject. This all went very well due to the receptive audience, the subject being close to the speakers' hearts, and plenty of drink.

Saturday after lunch was the more formal version, with Russell's excellent PowerPoint slides and the three of us taking it in turns to read excerpts from the book and explain several aspects of the story of how it came into being. This again went down very well, with many compliments received afterwards.

Sunday afternoon was a shared taxi back to Dublin and an evening flight resulting in arrival back home a little before midnight.

All in all, a most memorable and enjoyable week of madness. I am very keenly looking forward to going back next year!