August 31, 1999: INLOGOV and Banoffee Pie

I am loaded down with my computer, briefcase, raincoat, umbrella, shoes, and packages to mail. I feel like it is the first day of school. The only thing missing is lunch in a shiny new lunchbox. Weighed down like this, the walk seems longer than 10 minutes. I stop at Mailboxes, Etc. to mail my packages, letters, and postcards. On to the School of Public Policy, but now I am hopelessly turned around and can’t find it. I approach a couple of workmen and one of them asks, “Are you lost, love?” They don’t know it either and are funny trying to read the map.

I finally locate the building and tramp up two flights of stairs with all my stuff. Saroj Purbick is wonderfully helpful. She shows me my office that I will share with the mysterious, Simon. He isn’t there and it doesn’t look like he has been there in a long time. Most of the faculty and staff are away. With yesterday’s bank holiday, the last one until Christmas, many people take this week off. My mentor, Dr. Watt, is in Hong Kong for two weeks so I won’t see him until then. Dean, the other American Fellow at Birmingham University, won’t be in until next week either. Saroj shows me around and introduces me to the few people that are there.

The School of Public Policy consists of four parts: the Center for Urban and Regional Studies, International Development Department, Health Service Management Center, and my division, the Institute of Local Government Studies (INLOGOV). Their website says INLOGOV is

…the leading UK centre for the study of public service management, policy and governance. With over 30 years of experience working within local government and the public sector, the Institute of Local Government Studies creates the latest thinking for public servants.

At 11:00 AM, it is time for tea. I have coffee and Saroj offers me a homemade Scottish shortbread from a little tin that she has on her desk. Her family is from Scotland and she brought some back from her last visit. I notice they are almost gone, so she is being very generous.

I settle into my office and wait for Saroj to type my letter of introduction that I need to collect my ID badge. But first she takes me to the stockroom to load up on supplies: paper, notepads, stationery, pens, and post-it notes (which in England they call “Note Jotter”). She also introduces me to the Head of School, Ken Spencer. He is tall, gray, and very inquisitive (What am I studying? Who is my mentor? Where am I from? Did they show me where to get coffee? Can they get a name plate for the door of my office? This last question to Saroj). But he is genuinely interested in my project and shortly brings me a magazine with articles related to performance measurement.

I take my letter over to get a picture ID card and then an account at the library. I’m not sure whether I am considered part of the faculty or a student. The ID card is for faculty, which I need to access the Staff House, but it is also for students to use the library.

I stop to say hi to Chris at the Student Guild, who is busy, so I grab a sandwich and walk back to my office. My name is now typed neatly and tacked up on the door. Finally Nasir Yasmin, the IT guy, sets up my email account and a university email address. I can also access my AOL account via the Internet.

Before I realize it, it is nearly 6:00 PM so I pack up and stop at Tesco’s on the way home to pick up supper. I get a salad and breadstick and a small Banoffee Pie—a delicious toffee “pudding” (dessert). “Banoffee” is a made-up word combining banana and toffee. I write down the ingredients; it seems quite simple to make. Later, back in the U.S., try as I might, I can never find toffee sauce like they have in the UK. Not really a sauce at all, it is thick and dense; darker than butterscotch and richer than caramel. Even following directions for making it, mine is never as thick as I remember it being. It is one of those UK things that I cannot figure out how to replicate.

• Banoffee Pie: Shortbread cookie crust. Top with thick toffee sauce. Layer in fresh banana slices. Top with thick whipped cream or Devon cream. Decorate with chocolate curls

When I get home, Tony asks me to call him sometime and say, “Hello, this is Jody.” I have no idea what he is talking about. He says it’s a very famous song. Caroline tells him, “No, the song is ‘Hello, this is Joanie.’” I still don’t know it.

I do some laundry, which Caroline says she will put in the dryer for me. I watch a history program about Lady Georgiana Spencer, coincidentally of the Spencer family from Althrop and about whom I just purchased a biography at Dillon’s bookstore yesterday. Is there such a thing as a big coincidence? In a Seinfeld episode Elaine goes on a tirade that there is no such thing as big coincidences or small coincidences. There are no degrees of coincidences. It’s either a coincidence or it’s not. In any event, I think my meeting the Lady Georgiana three times in three consecutive days in a big coincidence.

Tomorrow I have an early start. I am off to London.