Monday 31st October, 2011

Last day of half term. V little to report. Quiet one really. I did the school run to Rugby in the evening which involved a lot of singing - to Beyonce mainly - on the way and listening to Radio 4 on the way back.
Mum arrived from Scotland by train with lots of jars of marmalade.....which look quite runny tbh.
PS Hen has moved her blog site to : hensandisonphotography.tumblr.com

Sunday 30th October, 2011

Clocks back. Extra hour in bed but who needs that these days? I was up and about as per, and busy making two tomato and cheese tarts by 8am. They turned out to be pretty disastrous, but my bread, which I also rustled up this morning and we had for lunch, was a triumph.
Quiet old day really. Will, Bob and I dismantled a large and unsightly "jump" we had previously erected in one of the fields with yours truly contributing the brains and the other two the brawn. Otherwise we all pootled about digging out pumpkins, trying to pretend Sophie's pumpkin soup was delicious and planning what I should do in the next three months. Will thinks either climb Mt Kilimanjaro or go on a polo course to Argentina, but that kite surfing is a non starter. Prob right.
Bob and I went for a run in the afternoon and, oh joy, were spotted by Mark Johnston as we thundered up his hill. Pose value.
Darkness at 5.00pm. Bunkering down with a fire, a bottle of Jurancon Sec and for the first time ever I am looking forward to Downton Abbey at 9.00pm without the stress of needing to be in bed by 10.

Saturday 29th October, 2011

It's late. But I set out to do this daily so a quick one to record the day. Went cub-hunting this morning. Borrowed Murphy from Sarah Burton and actually hoping I might see a bit more of him over the next few months. OK, so I needed a lead from Bob over a hedge but lovely horse and was good to be out even though cub-hunting is a dull old game really. Not worth getting up at 6.00am and running around frantically get ready for if truth be told, other than the fact that, if I hadn't told you already, I don't have an early start on Monday!
So got back from that and then went into Newmarket to pick Jimmy up from the station and give Archie a lift home.
Will, Debbie, Ella and Martha arrived and had a lovely afternoon with them and dinner of lasagne. Gorged myself with Celebrations and planned jollies including polo lessons in Argentina. Worth thinking about that.
Night night!

Friday 28th October, 2011

Phew. TGIF. Oh so droll.
Bob and I had hatched a plan to go for a run at 7.00am this morning so impressed was I by my performance yesterday, but it was not to be. Actually didn't manage a run at any point of the day. However, the big big news is that I can shoot - clays, at least. We went up to Lakenheath and if I tell you that Bob conceded I was pretty good, praise from a 14 year old trying to outdo me every step of the way.....well....you must know I was hot. Yeee haaa.
Apart from that, the sheep escaped from their field this morning which got me thinking it must be about time for them to go chop chop.
Our shower room and bath rooms have been finished and I am considerably lighter in the wallet. And, at long last, I have managed to secure some passport photos of Bob. Fittingly we managed to find a photo booth in Newmarket's grim shopping arcade where Bob's "bad boy cut" in his eyelid didn't cause anyone to take a second look. Personally I don't think people with such ridiculous eyebrows should be allowed a passport and I told Bob as much.
Handed over £5,000 in a brown envelope to our builder in Waitrose car park. That did get a second look.
A busy old day obviously. Cub hunting tomorrow so early night.

Thursday 27th October, 2011

Up at 7.00am. Felt quite chuffed about that for most of the day. If I'd wanted to I could have dialled in for the morning meeting. Sophie was heading off to London to meet up with Jimmy and a major shopping expedition. My tasks for the day were:

1) book two delivery slots with Ocado over Christmas. That took an inordinate amount of time. It's not easy this housework stuff.
2) Keep plumbers supplied with tea
3) organise lunch for Bob and his friend Will. Delicious sausage rolls and baked beans.
4) Avoid getting trapped for an hour listening to Jude the builder.
5) Shift a mammoth load of soil from the greenhouse. WHO has nicked my cool gloves? Couldn't find them and now I have blisters. Pants.
6) Take chain saw in for a service. The receptionist starts laughing at me. " Sorry mate. Don't see many 911's here ". Woteva.

Took Lottie and Bob for a John Adams lesson. Havn't felt so happy for a long time. Was just bliss sitting there watching Bob bantering with John and flying over some great jumps. And then Lottie cruising round on Gully. Videoed her actually. That might find its way onto Youtube aswell.

Best news is that Nic didn't have a heart attack. His heart is strong strong apparently, but he had suffered a torn aorta. Major operation last night and I gather he is stable and doing well.

So now I'd better get on. Supper to make before Soph and Jim get back and reveal the full of horror of their shopping spree.

Wednesday 26th October, 2011

Up at 7.45am. Sprinkled a bit of chicken food just far enough down the strip not to be in trouble from Soph. Made coffee. Had a couple of bits of toast with treacle marmalade. Sorted out my desk which was a mess. Chucked a lot of business cards away which was cleansing. Spent at least an hour and a half trying to organise a refund for my season ticket. An insurmountable problem at this stage. Put me in a bad mood for most of the day. Took our family Christmas photograph which meant that Jimmy missed her train from Newmarket and I therefore drove her down to Cambridge to catch the 12.15pm. Hen went off to Leeds in Beccky's cool red VW Beetle. Bob and Lottie disappeared for three and half hours on a trip and came back smelling of burnt wood and looking slightly guilty. Went for a minimal run with Twiggie. "Made" supper of baked potatoes and cold roast beef. Had a bottle of champagne and opened a Ch. Reynon 2005. Think we are going to watch Nixon and Frost tonight. Look. It hasn't been a jam packed day to be sure, but I've had lots of thoughts, a bit of stressy angst about train tickets, photos and missed trains, but also May Kwong rang me in the afternoon to tell me Nicolas Leouzon was in intensive care having suffered a suspected heart attack last night. Poor Nic and his wife and young son. Nic is a most lovely guy. One of the good ones. Thinking of him.

Tuesday 25th October, 2011

Gardening leave - today I walked into Nomura at 7am and was out at 10am having resigned. The start of three months being paid to stay at home. I couldn't stop myself...the first person I told of this joyous development, besides my family, was the plumber who was toiling away on our shower room when I got home. He looked at me with appropriate bemusement. It is a crazy thing, but I'll deny it if you try to quote me.

The sun was out. It was the most beautiful day. I drove back from Whittlesford station with the roof down. Three months. Actually a bit more. Start day at the new job is 6th February. How blinking lucky am I. I am going to make the most of this and partially to provide a bit of discipline, I have decided to keep a diary during my time off. So here we go. (Starting a sentence with So, you can get away with but can you start a sentence with the word Because??? Need to think about that.)

Well, if there wasn't enough excitement today it was Bob's birthday and we had bought tickets to go and see Noah and the Whale at the Corn Exchange in Cambridge preceded by dinner at Wagamama where I witnessed one of the most revolting things ever. Hen was sitting across the table from me when she suddenly paused in the frantic job of shovelling gyoza dumplings down her to exclaim that she had swallowed her tongue stud. A flash of inspiration crossed her face. I can recognise that when I see it....its normally dangerous. Immediately she started fiddling around with her tummy button piercing, unscrewed the stud there and screwed it onto the bolt through her tongue. Barely thirty seconds had elapsed and she was back, tackling a bit of teriyaki chicken. Gross. Totally gross.

I can't pretend that the Corn Exchange is the coolest venue ever, but I have had a thing for Noah and the Whale ever since I hatched a plan to get the whole family lined up on the deck of the yacht we had chartered in the BVI singing Five Years Time whilst I played the recorder. It was just a plan, a good one in my mind, but the crew mutineed. Never happened. Anyway, they're pretty cool. I sneaked a brief video which you can find on Youtube - Bob's birthday party. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncCzqexm12A

Quite a day then, Tuesday 25th October and not even day one of gardening leave.

Friday 7th October, 2011

Back from a few days trudging around the hills east of Inverness. Very much a case of the stags getting their own back. 40 mph winds and driving rain chilled to the bone. I have a bruised and cut nose after underestimating the recoil of a .270 rifle and the length of its telescopic sight. And on the first day the nearest we came to shooting a stag was in self defence as it moved in on us with some intent. No. Safe to say the highlight of my trip north was finding myself at dinner on the first evening sitting across the table from none other than young Miss N*pple Lashes. You may remember me telling you about her the other day in the context of a 21st Tarts & Vicars Birthday Party that Hen was commissioned to take photographs of. It so happens that Hen has just been asked for permission to use her photos of that event which will feature in a forthcoming edition of Tatler. Remarkably I managed to keep a straight face whilst revealing this bit of news to Miss NL and pretending ( to preserve her modesty you understand ) that I had not actually seen any of the photos! Oh well enough of that, but whilst still on the subject of country sports we had Bob back on his first leave-out last weekend. Needless to say we grilled him intently about how it was all going at school; was he finding the work difficult, being organised, making friends etc etc. All seemed to be fine, but then some way through dinner he told us that he has been christened “Pigeon Boy” by everyone in his House. I am not a pessimist. I think of myself as a realist, and here it was, my worst fears were being realised. My little darling heart was being bullied. Tentatively I probed for some more detail. The story is this.

On his way back to Sheriff House for lunch a couple of weeks ago Bob spotted a pigeon sitting on the bonnet of a car. Handing his books to a fellow pupil he sneaked round the back of the vehicle, crawled along the side and leapt up managing to grab the startled pigeon by its tail feathers. He then tucked it underneath his jacket – for which he subsequently received reprimand and a lecture on hygiene from Matron - and wandered on to his House where he found a bunch of his housemates kicking a football about in the garden. Surreptitiously he took the pigeon in both hands, called to one of the boys “Hey, Duncan.....catch” and, at this point it would help if you could picture a two-handed spin pass from a diving scrum half, lobbed the poor pigeon at the unsuspecting boy. Bob, rising to his story and by now evidently not the miserable little victimised boy I had imagined, described how the bird flew straight on past the aghast Duncan and into the safety of a nearby tree happily none the worse for its adventure. The boys who witnessed this event, betraying their solidly Anglican education, and before deciding on the more mundane “Pigeon Boy” as Bob’s new name, apparently described the incident as almost biblical. Hmmmm. Perhaps.....





P.S. It appears Pigeon Boy is taking his title to heart. Sophie received a text message from him this week asking her to send up his flat cap!

Friday 30th September, 2011

Had an interesting week one way or another. You see, I met two people hard at work in the real world each of whom gave me cause for a bit of personal reflection.

The first was especially revealing. To be fair to myself, it is quite easy to be immediately dismissive when a small Thai property REIT is put across your bows. You barely give it even a cursory glance. £300m issue. Forget it. Pants. But put under enough pressure by the investment bankers even the most idle of equity salesmen can be forced into action, by which I mean simply made to think about it. Well I suppose to my credit I did so. I even got to the point under my own steam where I had decided that if this thing was to get away then maybe it would have to be priced attractively and that even though it’s small it could make a difference to someone. So I found myself two seasoned, hardy and opportunistic investors and trawled around the West End yesterday morning with the company in tow. Now, I don’t think I can put into print much more detail than I have done already about the specifics of this business because there is an added technical complication that in theory could mean one was made party to MNPI affecting a large listed UK company if one met management, but my point is this. He wasn’t even really talking to me, and I didn’t raise it with him so I may be putting words into his mouth, but I overheard one of the management team I was with yesterday saying that the thing he has never been able to understand when dealing with investors is “your” apparent inability to accept that sometimes company’s just want to get things done. The impetus and considerations for a specific proposal can come from multiple sources and mean that in the end price can really be a surprisingly minor consideration. There you have it really. This guy struck me as super bright and impressive. He has an eye for detail and a grasp of numbers. He spends one week in two travelling mainly in Asia. He works his backside off and has a proper job. Furthermore the property portfolio in Thailand I am talking about can most probably not be bettered, in its particular sector of the economy, for location or covenant quality. If you met them you will want some of the action. But are you able to??

My reflections on the second person are more complicated I suppose. Wednesday night was the occasion for an annual dinner with a group of reprobates. The venue was Brinkley’s on Holywood Road. It turns out this is a rather smarter restaurant since I was last there which was for my stag night in 1988. Oh ok....have the photograph and a bit of a laugh.

There are others but not for publication. Somehow I can’t imagine what went on there that evening being repeated under current ownership. Anyway I have been in quite nostalgic mood for the last few weeks and sad though you may think this is, I send myself to sleep each evening reading through the diaries I kept from the age of 17and reminiscing about life at Glenalmond. Where was I? Oh, well in we walk to the restaurant and there was this guy who had been at school with me, four years older and head of house. Turns out he is now super wealthy having, over the last twenty years, built an incredible commodities trading and hedge fund business. And a nice bloke also. Jealousy is such a terrible thing. Made even worse when I asked my brother if he remembered him.......this was his reply:

Absolutely...good skier, pole vaulter...and nice cowboy boots. Quite a dude.

I can’t help wondering how people remember me from school? Tell you what, if my diary is anything to go by, its more a question of if rather than how. Though I did once trade in the oboe my parents had bought me for a much cheaper clarinet; pocketed the £60 difference and bought a fine pair of cowboy boots with the money. Oh yes. Go me. That was a cool moment.

Friday 16th September, 2011

Apologies for the radio silence. There follows even more than usual other people’s summaries of work that has caught my eye this week at Nomura. Really the main purpose of this email was to let you know I made it out east without succumbing to DVT which, being the hypochondriac that I am, I had reckoned there was a decent chance I would suffer following my marathon in Switzerland last weekend.

Oh that! Well, since you ask, it went ok. I didn’t manage to beat the 5 hour target I had set myself. To be honest, although I refer to choking in a little video clip I posted to Youtube ( search for David’s Jungfrau Marathon if you have nothing better to do this afternoon ), 5.00 hours wasn’t on the cards and I was just pleased to finish the damn thing at all. I nailed the first 15 miles in two hours, but I had underestimated quite how steep the hill was and it was hot hot hot. The next 11.2 miles took 3 hours 24 mins! Cramp set in almost as soon as I hit the hill up to Wengen and the nasty 5 hour marker man trotted past me shortly before I got into the village. Tempted as I was to trip the little so and so up I just had to let him go, put my head down and slog on for the next two and a half hours. Painful and seemingly interminable. There was absolutely nothing beautiful or exhilarating about it other than when, bizarrely, a lone bagpiper struck up the tune Flower of Scotland just as I crested the top of the hill shortly before the finish line at which point I don’t mind telling you I had to pinch my arm to stop myself from bursting into tears! I did finish with a flourish. You might even be able to pick me out as I whizz past the finishing line. http://www.migros-finisherclip.ch/en/previews/index/1006/4664/DSL/links
It’s funny how quickly you forget all the horrors though. I told my wife and daughter who were waiting for me that I would never, ever, do it again, but I find myself already planning another attempt to crack The Big 5-0 in a couple of years time, appropriately enough, sad though it is to confess, to coincide with a similarly coined anniversary in my life. Fear not....I can promise you faithfully I will not be banging on about this one! I will say this though. In a brief call home I mentioned my intentions to Sophie. One might describe the reception I got as slightly frosty.

Re-reading the above I fear my drivel is missing its normal level of zip and zest for life. I can’t quite put my finger on why that should be. Anyway, I have been in Singapore this week and visited a decent proportion of those companies with Singapore in their name.....Telecom/Exchange/Post/Genting. Riveting stuff I tell you. Remind me to tell you the one about the Russian IR lady and the iPhone. More to follow in due course.

Thursday 8th September, 2011

Was going to duck around the Bodhi Tree this week, but feeling quite inspired ahead of the Jungfrau Marathon on Saturday actually so a couple of things by way of a goodbye and thank you for all the amazingly generous support I have received. P.S. I am out of the office next week in Singapore on a “Business trip”.

Fact is it is probably a good thing I am not going to be around for the next week or so. I have to admit that the spectres of Tom Brown’s Schooldays and Flashman hang over me quite heavily when I think of my little precious darling heart starting his first days at big boy’s school. His phone, as a matter of routine for the new boys, has been taken from him by his housemaster, for the first couple of weeks, but at least I have his elder sister Jemima to look after him and with whom I had the following exchange on Blackberry messenger yesterday.

ME: Meant to say if you see Bob and not too embarrassing pls will you take a photo of him in his uniform and bbm it to me??! Give him a big kiss from me too!!! Xxx

JIMMY: NO

ME: Why does that not surprise me! Oh come on....only if the opportunity arises! Did he look happy?

JIMMY: Yeh, little scared. But happy.

ME: All v daunting for him not knowing what embarrassing things his big sister is going to do...like take a photo of him

JIMMY: Daddy I am not going to u freak.

Oh well, you can but try. Anyway, he is now armed with a brand new Dell laptop bought at sickening expense on the school computer scam ( I mean scheme ) and this email has just arrived.....

From: Bob Sandison < >
Date: Thu, 8 Sep 2011 13:13:56 +0000
To: david@b>
Subject: ello

Hey man got computer, it is sick, thanx.
Email me if u can be asked

??! Nah. Sorry Bob. Can’t be asked.

Friday 2nd September 2011

We are in the final few days before Bob starts at Rugby School in our attempt to civilise him. He is making the most of them. This is not a story that Sheikh Mohammed, the new owner of the neighbouring estate to ours, would be pleased to hear. I don’t have an estate by the way. By “ours” I mean “the gaff wot we live in” ...I’m learning all sorts of new phrases these days. Sophie was in over-drive taxi-mode yesterday. Critical to her schedule was that Bob, left on his own in the morning, – will we never learn? - should take all the dogs for a walk, have a shower, pack his cricket kit and be ready to leave the house immediately after lunch. She returned late morning to find him looking rather pleased with himself, despite being patently unwashed and having discovered that he had left all his cricket stuff at his old school. But lunch was already on the go. Exactly a month before the start of the shooting season he was preparing the fresh breasts of a brace of cock pheasants, despatched by Twiggie the lurcher, dipping them in a mixture of egg, flour, salt, pepper and deliberating as to whether he should add some garlic before or after placing them into a frying pan sizzling on the Aga. I find the sage words of Dr Thomas Arnold particularly poignant at this time:
“A new boy is always important. He may be an influence for good or for evil”
Good luck Rugby. We’ll see.......but I’m not overly hopeful. To be fair to Bob his sisters have blazed an interesting trail.

I too am in my final few days before heading off to Switzerland, on a mission which I am beginning to worry is akin to visiting one of their notorious clinics. As you know I have been angling for sponsorship for weeks and landed a big long one yesterday morning which was fantastically generous and means that I am now within spitting distance of the £10,000 target I set myself which to be absolutely honest I never really thought was realistic. Thanks v v much to all who have supported me. The Rainbow Trust is indeed a great cause. Actually, come to think about it, because a couple of particular malicious souls delighted in setting performance kickers, if I was prepared to run the Jungfrau Marathon naked and in under 5 hours I am near as dammit there already. But I’m not though so please, and this is the last time I am going to mention this I promise you, visit my site at www.justgiving.com/david-sandison

Right, off to yet another 50th.....this is becoming a worrying trend. Black Tie with a touch of Bling. I know just the person to ask.....

P.S. At risk of seeming sexist I saw something I have never seen before this morning.....a dustbin-woman. Strange sight it was.