“Would you like a coffee? I think we have a machine somewhere.”
“No, I’m all right thank you, Andrew. You said that this is you’re first posting?”
“No, not quite, I’ve worked my way up, but I just finished three years in China, and I was waiting for my first posting as Ambassador of my own mission… and this is it… ten box rooms and a coffee machine.”
“I see, so none of you have had any experience of Thailand.”
“No, not one. We can get interpreters though, that is not a problem, in fact I think we are starting the interviews tomorrow. How about you?”
“No, pretty much the same, I’m afraid. I learned more this morning from two daily papers and a map than I ever knew about Thailand.”
They looked at each other and laughed.
“It’s going to be a steep learning curve for all of us then.”
A
