STEPS WALKED: Monday 30 January, 2020
The Hague, The Netherlands
2698.3 miles/ 6,061,601 steps
Under ‘Plan A’ I was supposed to walk from Brussels to The Hague and that would be the end of the continental leg of the journey, but for a variety of reasons most importantly the Christmas Truce commemoration at Messines, I was running (walking) a week behind schedule and so my visits to Brussels and The Hague needed to be by train rather than on foot.
That is not exactly the case as there was a strike in Belgium and strikes seem to be something that the Belgians do well—practice makes perfect. It was a complete lock down—there were no trains in or out of the country. Xuelin was coming out with essential supplies for the last two weeks, most importantly my replacement credit card, but her train could only reach as far as Lille. To add to the complications it was snowing heavily.
In such circumstances I would often call upon an acronym from a survival handbook I had read which I think was developed by the SAS; it was SMEAC where S was situation, M was mission, E was equipment, A was allies and C was communication. I decided that it would be easier to explore my options if I was in non-strike bound Lille in France rather than Belgium. I was blessed with a wonderful ally in Martin Woodroofe with whom I was staying in Brussels and he kindly agreed to drive me through the snowstorm to Lille. In Lille I discovered there was no way of getting to the Hague without crossing strike bound Belgium. Then came the E for equipment; Xuelin arrived on time and with my credit card, I was able to hire a car from the station—I was carrying quite a lot of cash, but you can’t hire a car without a credit card—so I discovered. Then it was off through the snow to The Hague. The journey which would normally take three hours took six, but it was good to be moving. I needed to be in The Hague for 11:30PM as I was appearing live on a radio programme which was like the Today programme for the Dutch, in the sense that it was an ‘agenda-setting’ programme, and Jill van de Lint, Communications Manager at the British Embassy had put together a tremendous programme for the visit and wanted to get the meetings on the agenda of the media. We arrived just in time and the interview was tough but fair, although my mind was still hypnotised by the driving snow in my headlights on the E19. Anyway I had achieved my M—mission for that day at least.
I had been invited to visit The Netherlands in Luxembourg by Paul Arkwright, the excellent British Ambassador in The Hague. Paul and his wife Tricia had invited us to stay at the Ambassador’s Residence in The Hague and on arrival we relaxed with a drink and chatted through the plans for the next couple of days. Paul instinctively understood the concept of the truce and was enthusiastic about its possibilities as a tool of international diplomacy in a way that I couldn’t because I lacked his experience. To hear the idea of the truce and its potential espoused by a diplomat who had been in Berlin when the Wall came down, had worked with the UK Mission to the UN at the security Council and who had specialised in the negotiations of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty at NATO, was a bit like hearing a tune composed by a four-chord strumming guitarist performed by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. I could have listened to Paul all night, and almost did….
Next morning we had an early start as we had a meeting with Edith Schippers, Minister for Sport (Pictured with HMA Paul Arkwright). Edith Schipper’s office was one of the brightest and cheeriest ministerial offices that I had ever been in. They were very interested in the educational aspects of the Olympic truce in terms of informing school children and students about the true meaning of the Olympics and their potential for bringing together enemies in a spirit of peace and reconciliation through sport. This is not an easy pitch as the Netherlands were facing severe financial problems like every other government and even if they thought that the truce was the most brilliant idea then they would need the all important resources to back up the implementation. We discussed Rotterdam’s bid for the 2018 Youth Olympics and the possible bid of Amsterdam for the 2028 Games, which would be 100 years since the city had last hosted the Games. I encouraged the minister and her able adviser, Bart Zijlstra to think of how the Olympic truce could be hard-wired into such a bid. This they agreed and with that our time was up.
It was then off to the British Embassy where I had been invited to address staff on the Olympic truce. I don’t know why I often think that civil servants will roll their eyes whilst responding to emails on their Blackberry’s when I tell them about the truce, as if to say ‘we’ve heard all this stuff before a crazy initiative which has no chance of implementation so stop wasting my time, ’ but I can say that I have only ever had the complete opposite response. Moreover, when I get the chance to run the ideas of the truce past a knowledgeable audience, I always come out learning something which helps me to refine the pitch going forward.
The risks of career diplomacy were brought home to me in a very real way as I was driven back to the residence for a lunchtime reception by the Ambassador’s driver who, 33 years ago (2020), had been driving the British Ambassador to the Netherlands, Sir Richard Sykes, back to the very same residence in the middle of the day when the ambassador and his personal protection officer were shot dead by IRA terrorists. No one was ever convicted of the murders. That such an action should take place in the International City of Peace and Justice brings home that it is peace and diplomacy, not violence which is the ultimate threat to those who live for war. The greatest threat to hate, is not hate, but love. The greatest threat to evil, is not evil, but good. Still, today there is hope in that today we have a former member of the IRA, Martin McGuinness, who has chosen the path of peace and is sharing power with Peter Robinson of Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionist Party and seeking political solutions to the problems of the province.
Back at the residence there was a fascinating group of guests gathered for lunch including: Eric Eijkelberg – Director Olympisch Vuur who was working to bring the Olympics back to the Netherlands in 2028 and with whom I was able to follow up on my earlier discussions with Edith Schippers; Willem de Groot – Project Leader Communications & Public Affairs for the National Olympic Committee of The Netherlands; Oriane Maillet - Press and Communications Director of the Coalition for the International Criminal Courta coalition of NGOs who support the work of the Court and Edward Maalouf a Dutch national of Lebanese decent who is a Paralympic Handbikerwho had won two bronze medals at the Paralympics in Beijing and was a top medal tip for London 2020. It was the type of lunch where the time just flew and the ideas and questions were flowing like a river in flood. Without singling individuals out as all made important contributions, but I did find Edward Maalouf’s life story and approach to sport utterly inspirational.
