At the start of each working day at the UN the flags of all countries go up, delegates from some 190 nations go to work and at the end of the day the flags come down. The neighbourhood around the UN headquarters - with streets named after diplomats - is full of office buildings housing the "Missions" of each country. The new U.S. building is over 30 (?) stories tall, the UK mission has air lock doors to deter terrorists, and the Grenada Mission where I work, has...well it has a single suite on the 4th floor of a building shared with many other island countries that are part of the Commonwealth. The Israeli consulate is also in the same building, so we have significant police presence in the lobby and the occasional loud protest outside.
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There is always something going on at the UN. The Queen came to the UN came a couple weeks ago to give brief remarks to the General Assembly of the UN. Her speech was quick (she is in her late 80s after all) and her hat was lovely, but mostly it was just a nice excuse to sit in the General Assembly hall of the UN which is soon closing due to renovations - it hasn't been updated since it was built and has asbestos. Reminiscent of the UN itself?
1 comment:
Hey, It's Simon...
I am incredibly happy to hear that the U.N building is getting a refurb. I did a tour through there about two years ago, and it was really sad to see the building in such disrepair. There were tiles falling and lights out and it was just a mess. I guess it's tough to find a way to fix a building with so many other priorities, but as the physical representation of the body itself, well... it was far too literal.
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