What Might Have Been: The Vagaries of Fate and Foreign Postings

To give a few examples:

When I went to work in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the alternative would have been Cordoba, Argentina

When I was about to start work in Edinburgh, Scotland, I was whisked away to Thessaloniki, Greece

When I went to work in Prague, Czechoslovakia, the alternative was to have been Florence, Italy (on secondment); or possibly Baghdad, Iraq; or Damascus, Syria

When I was about to start work in London as Director, Literature Department, the Berlin Wall fell and the need proved greater and more immediate to help manage our work with the countries of Central and Eastern Europe

When I went to work in Stockholm, Sweden, the alternative could have been Yangon, Myanmar (Rangoon, Burma).

Such is life. I sometimes wonder what differences alternative postings would have made to me, my family, and to other "globally transferable human resources". I have never complained about my lot.
I was very fortunate. Some regrets...some  jobs I would have enjoyed: