Cake with the All-Party Parliamentary Group and tea at Westminster

*Another startled Greenlandic resident – a tupilak from the Nuuk Art Museum

One meets diverse and unexpected people in Greenland at diverse and unexpected times.

Last summer, a friend invited my husband, son and I over for coffee and cake one Sunday afternoon. She had some foreign visitors, officials of some kind from the UK who were visiting Nuuk. She didn’t know them, but they had been directed to her by someone else, as a local Brit. So, given that my husband and son are also Brits, she asked us to join her. We weren’t that keen. We were planning on trying to get out on the water in our boat instead if the weather was nice, maybe do some fishing. But one thing led to another and we found ourselves at Sunday morning with no plans. So we thought we ought to pop over. We let her know, at the last minute, that we’d be there after all.

So there we were in their living room, my husband and son, our friends, and one or two others they had roped in. My son was eagerly eyeing off the snacks and I was encouraging him to hold back, when the doorbell rang and the British guests arrived. There were an awful lot of them. About a dozen, well-dressed, middle-aged men and one or two women. There weren’t enough chairs. My impression, from our friend’s reaction, was that the volume of guests was unexpected. Everyone shuffled about and found a place to sit or perch. A younger man in a suit stood in the background, by the wall, with his tablet. He seemed to be directing operations in a low key manner. He gave the impression of someone used to herding disparate groups. I assumed that everyone would just settle in to coffee and start chatting. But it felt a little odd, as if they were waiting for something. Then an older gentleman announced that he was “bringing the meeting to order.” I cast a sideways glance at my son, who, at this point, visibly slumped into his chair. It was clear to him that there was no way he was getting out of here any time soon and it wasn’t going to be fun. I surreptitiously passed him my phone so he had something to play with.

The man said, “As you know, we’re here on behalf of the British Parliament,” – I didn’t know that – “as the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Polar Regions.” My husband and I exchanged furtive, startled glances. The continuing introduction outlined the British Government’s interest in fact-finding in relation to recent political events and international relations regarding Greenland, which had seen a marked step up in international attention in recent years, and which was particularly of relevance in light of the UK’s move toward leaving the EU. The locals of us in the room had the sudden sinking realisation that we were supposed to be the expert expat voices on specific issues relating to Britain-Greenland international affairs and key policy areas of interest. We were all beginning to slump into our chairs a little. I could feel the cake on the nearby table almost physically drawing away from me. This was not going to be coffee and cake and a chat.

As he continued, and the issues of specific interest to the cross parliamentary panel were raised, I realised that the main policy area they were interested in – mineral resources – was one in which my husband and I, at least, were in fact local expert voices in. So we stepped up and gave an overview and insights that they were, as it turns out, very pleased with and they eagerly asked questions, gathering their sought-after facts. As the discussion progressed, we more or less did end up having a nice chat over coffee and cake, if in a somewhat more formal structure than we had envisaged at the outset. After a time, the meeting was officially drawn to a close and the satisfied parliamentarians filed out, followed by the grey-suited young man with his tablet, leaving us feeling bewildered by this latest unexpected Greenland experience.

The Chair of the Parliamentary Group later wrote us a very nice letter thanking us for our time and inviting us to tea at Westminster, should we happen to be in town.