17th September, 2004

You may be wondering how lunch with the prospective father in law went last Sunday. Well I'm pleased to say that he and I got on like a house on fire. My talk of gateway products, SME competiton and comments on Abbey's management seemed very well received, indeed I would go so far as to say I impressed him with my knowledge of the CC's likely stance on a bid approach from HBOS. Obviously Evangelos' name was never mentioned. Nevertheless this was all to no avail. In an ironic twist to this tale, by the end of lunch Henrietta had tired of the son's fawning attentions and he found himself "chucked" when he went into school on Monday. What a waste. Particularly as we were so right together.