Letter to a Friend
My dear Friend from South Africa, I lost the North! I recently attended the retirement party of a good friend of mine. The participants, all members of the submarine cable in various roles and positions, were mostly French, but also British and Italian. Talking to someone, a glass in my hand, I could hear a group of engineers a few meters from me chatting about Africa and mentioning “France-South Africa.” This sounded natural to me since ACE’s C&MA and supply contract had just been executed a few days before at the Eiffel Tower: a 17000 Km project which will connect 23 countries, some for the very first time (namely Mauritania, Gambia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Sao Tomé and Principe, Equatorial Guinea), it was very logical for such an event to be the subject of exciting conversation within our community. South Africa has also been at the heart of our activity with projects such as WASC, Main One, EASSy, and Seacom. Walking around here and there, shaking the hands of the many people I knew, enjoying the friendly atmosphere, I passed by a group of Marine people based in the UK who were clearly speaking of “USA-England“ and also “Germany-England.“ They were guessing, I supposed, about the possible dates for these very high capacity projects. I accepted a few more glasses of champagne and ate some more cheese toasts, happy to see and hear all of these people so dedicated to and enthusiastic about our business.
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by Jean Devos
I ended up saying hello to two of my former Italian colleagues, interrupting their chat in their mother language. I had recognized “Italy-Mexico” and also “Argentina-Spain.”
They laughed loudly when I commented, “Eh, gentlemen are you dreaming of a possible Columbus 4?” I heard in the noise of the crowd “Japan-Netherlands” and “South KoreaGermany,” obviously referring to the rebirth of an Asia-Europe cable concept. This recently announced project would take the shorter northern route, the polar route, now open thanks to climate change. Still a long way to go, I commented to myself. Someone came up to me, “Hi Jean, I suppose you’re not too happy with the French Team.” Suddenly I realized that they were all chatting about the world cup running in South Africa! Stupid old man that I was, I was hearing only what I wanted to hear. As I sat at home that evening, slightly crestfallen, my mobile phone rang. “Hi Bernard.” Bernard is one of my best clients, regularly seeking my advice. “Jean, “Greece-Libya,“ does that ring a bell to you?” “Oh no Bernard, I have lost interest in this World Cup!” “What has happened to you Jean? I am speaking of a real cable project.” “Sorry Bernard, I will investigate.” I decided that it was time to sleep at the end of day not to remember. My dear friend from down under, I have lost the North.