Sometimes I get invited to lecture abroad and as long as I’m not away from my family too long, off I go. Last year I was scheduled to spend a week giving talks in Gibraltar. I’d been before and I know both the Jewish and non-Jewish community very well. I had a day in hand to relax and visit friends before work began. A really nice feeling was stealing over me. I was feeling…. rather pleased with myself.

One of my chums knew that I am fond of fishing, so he had his son take me down to cast a line or two. The young man escorted me to a part of the harbour, which has recently been reclaimed. We walked past twenty or so sunbathers lying on some grass. It was a very hot day and quite a few swim-suited people looked at me strangely. I was fully dressed in navy blue slacks, white shirt and tie. We clambered down over large boulders to the waters edge. My companion had never fished before and I showed him how to cast his line and how to pull it in. We fished there for some time when the boy caught his hook on some rocks. I looked over and gave him a fatherly smile. "It’s ok" I assured him "you can sometimes free it if you pull from a different angle." I carefully negotiated the boulders to where he stood and took his rod from him. Then I picked my way across to another boulder. As soon as I put my foot down, it moved and I found myself wearing navy blue slacks, white shirt and tie and floating in Gibraltar Harbour. I scrambled ashore. The sunbathers had heard the splash and had started to appear to see what was going on. I stood there feeling very wet and idiotic with the nice feeling, which had stolen over me, stealing off elsewhere. My young friend said "Rabbi don’t you want to get your skullcap?" and I turned round to see that my water logged skullcap which had trapped a pocket of air beneath it, was now sailing out towards Morocco. By now I had a full audience of puzzled on lookers who were wondering why the Rabbi was looking quite so moist. With all dignity thrown to the wind I turned round and dived back into the harbour in pursuit of my escaping head cover. My fans were greatly entertained as off we squelched to my hotel. And if I was getting a little too big headed about my "international" status then, just as usual I’m quickly reminded that pride comes before a fall, or sometimes a falling in.