five minutes into tony blair's description of his new life in his first year since leaving downing street, a hovering aide in the windsor suite at heathrow's terminal 5 whispers: "prime minister olmert on the line."
at that moment blair had been expounding on his work in sierra leone. now, as middle east special envoy for the quartet powers, he must change gears and focus on some arcane detail of the peace process with israel's embattled prime minister.
during our interview, conducted on planes and trains between london, sunderland - near his old sedgefield base in county durham - and back again, blair juggles issues as much as he did in no 10, often to the exasperation of his staff.
he frets about sewage in north gaza, but is also worried that europe and the us have still not grasped the enormity of the shift of power to asia. why? because it has been preoccupied since 9/11 with global security and terrorism, one of the decade's biggest changes.
"the other change i have got to know better since leaving no 10 is that the whole centre of gravity in the world is shifting east, that for countries like us, and europe and america, this is a change so profound that i don't think we yet quite understand its consequences or its implications for us.
"when you think the industrialisation of china and india is going to be four times that of the usa, happening at five times the pace too, you can understand the magnitude of what we are talking about. we are about to enter into a new epoch in terms of power relations."
he rattles off a list of institutions that will have to change - the un security council, the g8, the imf and world bank. but he is almost as wary of prescribing detailed reforms as he is of discussing gordon brown and british domestic politics.
aides stress this interview is to explain what he has been up to since last june 27, not gordon. it is timed not to clash with brown's own anniversary. when asked if his remarks about voters taking a "profound" view of current economic woes can be reasonably interpreted as advice to his successor, he says: "not reasonably".
blair does not miss "that ghastly moment at three minutes to 12 when they come and get you for prime minister's questions". it always scared him. but he also admits he has yet to establish the better work-life balance he was always urging on voters.
"i faced a choice when i stopped. 'do i take a break, surge into a different gear?' as it turns out, i have got more offers than i can handle."
this is clearly a conciliatory gesture towards his wife, cherie, who has not seen as much of him as she might have hoped - and he admits it. though he has read her new autobiography, he has not read john prescott's or lord levy's. typically, he admits most of what he now reads is "technical or about religious faith".
he believes conflict over faith threatens to push the world's peoples apart. hence the blair faith foundation. what about the authoritarian model of capitalism which china appears to sponsor? china's leaders know political liberalisation must follow, he says.
when he returns to his coffee from talking to olmert, he explains that people were wrong to assume that "if you construct a [political] deal the facts on the ground will change. my view is that you also have to change the reality on the ground to create the space for the political deal to work.
"people say to me, 'well, we have had all these agreements in the past.' but i never have. oslo [the accords] was not an agreement, it was agreement to have an agreement," he says.
"some of the economic work we are doing with the palestinians requires permissions from the israeli government so it is about getting those permissions. the palestinians want to build a facility or bring one in, so you are trying to cut through bureaucracy. sometimes it is about getting lorries up roads or across checkpoints, getting cement and equipment in. i know more about the north gaza sewage treatment works than you can possibly imagine."
ever the optimist, even more the diplomat, blair believes progress can be made before george bush leaves office.
"in the last year there has been intensification of this administration's focus. condi rice has made many many visits, president bush himself has been twice. there is no doubt at all that there is a big engagement by the americans on this. i still think progress is going to happen even under the remaining part of this presidency.
"what is really important for the next president is that this does not go to the bottom of the in-tray ... it's fundamental to what is going on in the whole middle east. this is a region in transition, there is massive potential there for it to go right and for it to go badly wrong."
that is almost as close as he will get to discussing the mccain-obama contest, other than to suggest that many in europe are "naive" if they imagine either candidate will be other than "really tough" on iran - "because iran having nuclear capability is not a good idea for the world".
his wary optimism extends to iraq and afghanistan, where he sees the same forces of modernisation that are bringing the gulf arab states into the 21st century world being resisted by those who want to use the economic power that comes with oil to sustain what he calls "semi-feudal" regimes.
sierra leone, where british military forces stopped a bloody civil war in 2000, gets less of the world's attention, but was one of the quieter successes for blairite liberal intervention. his africa project is one of six major initiatives - plus his money-making ventures, consultancies, speeches and memoir-writing - that blair has launched since handing over to gordon brown.
as well as becoming the quartet's envoy, there is his climate change project, his sports and faith foundations and an initiative launched this week called beyond sport which will identify "heroes" who have used sport to do work such as promoting peace.
what he does in west africa and in rwanda, he explains, is help with basic questions of government. "how they build the capacity necessary so the decisions they take get implemented. and i am working with them to attract private sector investment."
does that mean getting on the phone to jp morgan, the us investment bank for whom he now consults for a fee said to be somewhere between £500,000 and £2m a year. not exactly. but, he says, he knows who to put in touch with whom.
fellow-passengers on the flight to newcastle barely seem to register the vip in seat 1a. his hair distinctly greyer now, his spectacles on, he is buried behind a newspaper. he says the pressure is now much less than during his 10 years as prime minister.
"the big difference is that you choose what you want to concentrate on. when you are prime minister your agenda is partly chosen by you and partly by events. so although i am extremely busy and am working very hard, the pressures are not the same. the prime minister's job is a very tough job with stress and constant pressure on you 24 hours a day, seven days a week."
but if this is a typical friday it is a frantic one. he struggles to remember where exactly he has been this week. today: a dash to newcastle airport, with two staff plus security in tow, a drive down the a1 to the puma indoor sports centre at sunderland where 1,000 primary school kids have been competing for the tony blair tennis cup, sponsored by his sports foundation.
as chairman, blair is there to present the cup and tell competitors how "utterly amazed" he is at their progress since his last visit. "when does wimbledon start? perhaps it's a bit early this year, but in years to come, who knows?"
local heavyweights listen attentively. with his four-car cavalcade, staff and security detail, blair's star aura has not dimmed.
asked about the huge sums of money he is supposed to be making from speeches and business consultancies he says "some are exaggerated, some are true, i won't say now which are which".
unexpectedly, he presents himself in a new role, as the man who pays the bills. "i also have a whole operation now, offices in central london, 25 or 30 people working for me. i run a small business now, i love it." this is true: friends estimate he needs to make £3m a year to keep it all going.
he is dressed as usual for all eventualities: dark grey suit, white shirt, red tie. he hopes he will be allowed to stay on as quartet envoy and does not rule out the eventual eu presidency - stalled again by yesterday's irish referendum.
what about that book he promised to write? he laughs. he is definitely putting aside time to write it. he has help, but will write it himself, in longhand.
"it's in my head. there are people [hired], but i'll write it myself. my computer skills are there, they're limited, but i now do emails, i use my computer and my blackberry," he says - a shade defensive since cherie once said tony and technology were like oil and water.
is email his most liberating new skill since leaving office? yes. "i can type a one or two line message in less than half an hour."
在托尼•布莱尔描述自从他离开唐宁街的第一年新生活的五分钟时间里，在希思罗机场5号航站楼的温莎套房里一位犹犹豫豫的助手凑过来低声耳语道：“奥尔默特总理的电话。”
那时布莱尔正在阐述他在塞拉利昂的工作。作为四方中东问题特使，他必须改变方法并与以色列身处困境的总理重点关注和平进程的一些秘密细节。
我们的采访是在往返于伦敦和桑德兰的路上进行的，桑德兰离他在德勒姆郡(county durham)的塞奇菲尔德（sedgefield）选区不远。在采访期间布莱尔像在唐宁街10号一样同时处理多个问题，这让他的工作人员有些抓狂。
他不仅担心加沙北部的污水，而且也担心欧洲和美国仍旧没能理解权利转向亚洲所带来的巨大影响。这是为什么？因为自从911以来我们一直关注全球安全和恐怖主义—十年来最大的变化之一。
“自从离开唐宁街10号，我能更好的理解的其他变化是整个世界的重心正在转向东方。对于像我们这样的国家和欧洲与美国而言这场变化意义如此深远，我认为我们还没有十分明白其结果或其对我们的影响。”
“当你想象一下中国和印度的工业化规模将是美国的4倍并以美国5倍的速度发生，你就会明白我们正在谈论的问题的重要性。就权利关系而言我们将要进入一个新的时代。”
他毫不费力地说出将要发生改变的机构—联合国安理会，g8集团，imf和世界银行。但是当谈及具体改变的方法时，就像谈论戈登•布朗和英国国内的政治一样，他变得小心翼翼。
布莱尔的助手强调说，这次访谈是解释从去年6月27日起布莱尔一直忙于什么，而不是评论戈登政府。而且为了不与布朗执政一周年相冲突，这次访谈也调整了时间。当被问及他的评论—选民应该对目前的经济困境采取“深刻”的看法—能否合理地解释为对他继任者的忠告时，他说：“这样解释不合理。”
布莱尔不怀念“那可怕的时刻：差3分钟12点他们找到你要求得到首相的问题。”这总是使他害怕。但是他也承认他还未建立更好的工作—生活平衡，这正是他一直呼吁选民建立的。
“当停下来的时我面临一个选择，‘是休息，然后上紧不同的发条？’事实证明，我得到了许多邀请以至于都不能应付了。”
很明显这是对他妻子切丽的抚慰的姿态，因为一直以来切丽不能像她希望的那样常常见到他—布莱尔承认这一点。尽管他已经读了她的新自传，但是他还没有读约翰• 普雷斯科特（john prescott）或利维勋爵(lord levy)的自传。通常情况下他承认他现在所读的绝大多数书籍是“专业的或关于宗教信仰的。”
他认为信仰的冲突会带来威胁把世界各民族分开，因此成立了布莱尔信仰基金会。那么看起来好像中国支持的专制资本主义模式怎么样呢？他表示，中国的领导人知道必须遵循政治自由化。
当他结束与奥尔默特的谈话返回时，他解释说人们想当然的认为“如果你们达成了一项政治协议，当地的实际情况就会改变。这种想法是错误的。我的观点是你也必须改变当地的实际情况来创造空间使政治协议能够发挥作用。
“人们对我说，‘好吧，我们已经有了所有这些过去的协议。’但是对我来说这没有用。奥斯陆协议不是一个真正的协议，它是要达成一项协议的协议。”布莱尔说。
“我们和巴勒斯坦人正做的一些经济工作需要以色列政府的许可，所以现在首要的任务是得到那些许可。巴勒斯坦人想建造或运进一项设施，所以要努力做的就是克服官僚主义。有的时候就是使货车上路或者穿过检查站，运进水泥及设备。对于加沙北部的污水处理工厂，我所知道的比你可能想到的还要多。”
作为乐观主义者，即使更多的是在外交层面，布莱尔相信在乔治•布什离任之前，应该能取得进展。
“在去年该届政府对此的关注一直在加强。康迪•赖斯来访过很多很多次，布什总统本人也亲自来访过两次。毫无疑问美国人对此进行过大范围的接触。我仍旧认为在这届总统剩余的任期内将会取得进展。”
“对于下一届总统真正重要的是这件事不能束之高阁。。。。。。因为它对于在整个中东将要发生什么至关重要。这是一个转型的地区，不论它前进的方向是正确还是严重的错误，它都有巨大的潜能。”
这几乎好像他将去讨论麦凯恩与奥巴马的竞赛，而不是显示许多欧洲人“幼稚”，如果他们想象任何一个候选人只能对伊朗采取严厉的措施—“因为伊朗有核能力对世界而言这不是一个好主意”。
他谨慎的乐观延伸到了伊拉克和阿富汗，在这里他看到了把海湾阿拉伯国家带入到21世纪的相同的现代化力量被一些人拒绝，这些人想使用来自石油的经济力量维持他称之为“半殖民地半封建”的制度。
在塞拉利昂英国的武装力量2000年阻止了一场血腥的国内战争，这个国家很少受到世界的关注，但是这是布莱尔自由干预主义更安静的成功之一。他的非洲计划是6个主要倡议之一，加上他赚钱的企业，做顾问，演讲和撰写回忆录，这是移交给戈登•布朗之后布莱尔一直从事的事情。
除了是四方特使，布莱尔还有气候改变计划，体育和信仰基金和本周刚刚执行的超越体育计划，该计划确定那些用体育做类似促进和平的工作的“英雄”。
他解释道在西非和卢旺达他所作的工作是协助解决政府的基本问题。“怎样建立必须的能力以便于他们做出的决定能够被执行。并且我和他们一起工作来吸引私营部门的投资。”
那就意味着拿起电话接通jp摩根吗？其是一家美国投资银行，布莱尔为其作顾问，每年的顾问费在50万英镑到200万英镑之间。不尽然。但是他表示他知道应当把谁与谁联系起来。
在飞往纽卡斯尔的航班上旅伴们似乎很少登记为座位为1a的vip。他的头发现在明显地变得更灰白了，他戴上眼镜，埋身于报纸后面。他表示现在的压力比他作为首相的十年间的压力要小的多。
“很大的不同在于你可以选择你想专注于什么。作为首相的时，你的日程部分是由你选择，部分是由事件决定。所以尽管现在我非常忙碌工作也十分努力，但是压力不可同日而语。首相的工作是非常艰苦而且压力很大的工作，压力是每周七天，每天二十四小时都存在的。”
但是如果这是一个典型的周五的话，那么这一天将是十分忙碌的。他努力回忆这一周他都去了什么地方。今天：带着两名工作人员冲向纽卡斯尔机场，身后紧跟着安全人员；开车前往桑德兰的彪马室内运动中心的a1区，在这里1000名小学生正在参加他的体育基金会赞助的托尼•布莱尔网球杯。
作为主席，他来这里出席比赛并告诉选手们对于他们的进步他感到十分惊讶。“温布尔登什么时间开始？可能是今年早些时候，或者今后几年，谁知道呢！”
当地重量级的人物专注地倾听。四车车队，工作人员和安全细节，这一切表明布莱尔仍然具有明星光环。
当被问及他从演讲和商业咨询中理应获得的巨额资金时，他说：“一些是夸大的，一些是真实的，我现在不能告诉你具体的情况。”
出乎意料的是，他现在扮演了一个新角色，那就是发薪水的人。“我现在也有整个运行团队，办公室位于伦敦市中心，25或者30个人为我工作。现在我做些小生意，我喜欢这样子。”这确实是真实的：朋友们估计为使其运行他每年需要300万英镑。
他穿着平常适合各种场合：深灰色西装，白衬衫，红领带。他希望能允许他留任四方特使也不排除最终担任欧盟主席—再一次因为爱尔兰的全民公决陷入僵局。
他答应写的书怎么样了呢？他大笑。毫无疑问他将找时间来写这本书。他有帮手，但是他将亲自手写出来。
“它就在我的脑子里。我有雇用的人，但我将亲自写。我的计算机技能在那里呢，尽管有限，但是现在我能发电子邮件了，我能使用计算机和黑莓手机，”他表示，这是对切丽的回应，因为她曾经说过托尼与技术就像是水与火一样不相容。
电子邮件是他离任后最具解放性的技能吗？是的。“我能在不到半小时内打出一到两行消息。”