Despite the fact that we ended on a high note with the Barclays placing ( see below ) this week was a bit of an anti-climax on a personal level as I had been looking forward very much to visiting Frankfurt, which I had been due to do on Tuesday. The excitement was partially because my wife, Sophie nee Englehardt, tells me Germany is the new cool and happening place, but principally because it would have been my first ever visit and therefore brought the total number of countries I have been to to 58. Come on, don’t tell me you don’t know how many you’ve visited.....I have to admit if you see me scribbling furiously when I’m sitting in an analyst meeting with you, especially late in the afternoon, there’s a fair chance I am scribbling down names of countries and totting them up just on the off chance I’ve missed one out. If you think that’s awful, when I was at ING Barings I took to teaching myself Italian during client meetings whilst marketing our global strategy product – excellent and riveting though the research itself was I should add. Anyway, planning my trip, I decided against flying Ryanair which, although it takes you to a “Frankfurt” airport which is nearer France than the city itself, would have been a lot more convenient for me, opting instead for the reliability of Lufthansa. I’ve always had a soft spot for Lufthansa since playing golf with a German friend of mine on a course next to Bangkok International Airport. Fair to say there had been a certain amount of competitive and nationalistic banter throughout the round, but my friend had the last word when, as he stood over a crucial putt on the 18th green, the peace was disturbed by the roar of 747 thundering overhead. He briefly looked up and then at his watch. “Lufthansa”, he said, “Right on time” and stroked the ball into the middle of the hole. Well that was then. As far as I’m concerned now Lufthansa sucks. My plane eventually left three hours late by which time I had given up and gone home in a huff.
Probably will not be in on Monday as I have bought 6 tickets in the Euro-millions lottery and am very confident of winning the Euro112 million jack-pot.
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