And he covered a lot of business - the kind of housekeeping work you'd have to put in put in if you left your home for a month.
His most emphatic statements were on the possibility of postponing the ICJ referendum - and legalizing marijuana - both subjects which the leader of the opposition brought to the fore last week.
Here's why the PM said he won't even consider postponing the April 2019, referendum.
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"The ICJ Referendum date is April 10, 2019 and we have no intention of changing that date. Apart from his public statements, the Leader of the Opposition had raised privately with me the possibility of a postponement when we met a little over a week ago. But I did not find the reasons offered for the suggestion at all convincing. Especially since the postponement the PUP Leader wanted was until after the November, 2020 general elections."
"Then it was most recently said by the Leader of the Opposition that the fact that our ICJ legal brief is not yet fully formalized is another reason for postponement."
"But, again that makes no sense. Why would we completely finalize our ICJ preparations before we even know if we are going to the ICJ? And especially when our case, as Assad Shoman's summary in his most recent book makes crystal clear, is already so factually obvious and legally compelling, that applying finishing touches would not require very much time. But that there is more than sufficient time is also borne out by the ICJ procedure. As I have been advised, if Belize votes yes on April 10 the ICJ submission process starts to run one month thereafter. So, Guatemala would have one year from 10th May, 2019 to submit its arguments to the Court and copied to us. We would then have one year after that to respond. Then they would have another 6 months to reply to our response; and we would have 6 months more thereafter for our rejoinder to their reply."
"So, there is no good reason to postpone. And if we did, we run the risk of alarming all our international friends whose support for us has been key and whom we need to keep onside."
"Finally, we are in talks with Assad Shoman to delineate the role that he could play in all this. With his outstanding academic and practical expertise, and his historical centrality to the long and tortuous evolution of this issue, Assad could be an invaluable resource. We hope soon, then, to conclude an agreement with him."
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