Friday 26th July, 2012

As you know, I am quite fixated about tallying the number of countries I have been to. I think I have told you before that if you see me scribbling away furiously during a particularly boring analyst meeting I am most likely writing out a list of countries I have visited. Actually these days I might be jotting down something else. After a bit of practice I can now recall and write out the names of all 50 states in the USA in 2mins 10 seconds flat. Test me sometime. Nationalism is a bit of a bug bear of mine actually. Hate it. Really brings the worst out in people. Nevertheless on the eve of the Olympics it is hard to avoid the subject of countries and sport. I suppose I started on the theme yesterday. Now, of course, I happen to be Scottish, but speaking as a Brit I must say we didn't give Scotland much to do in the Olympics. Women's soccer I think was about it. And they only go and mess it up. I helpfully sent my Scottish clients sent a picture of the correct North Korean flag which prompted this response from a friend in Edinburgh. This is the flag they almost put up Anyway, to put the hapless Hampden officials into perspective, it wasn't as crass an error as the one made during the medal ceremony at a Kuwaiti shooting event earlier this year won by a Kazakh, Maria Dmitrienko. Click on the following link. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17494812 I have mentioned before how many people you spot wandering around London in whites and carrying tennis racquets when Wimbledon is on. On Monday and Tuesday this week the thing I noted was the number of cyclists - I even seen one on a Boris bike - wearing yellow jerseys. Bradley Wiggins is a legend, don't get me wrong. First words on winning the Tour de France and facing the crowds with microphone in hand? "We're gonna draw the raffle tickets now!". So English. Anyway, as you know I am reasonably sporty myself and have a fairly diligent regime involving running round Hyde Park at lunch time. I was out there again yesterday. Surprise surprise, blinking thousands of would be Olympians had suddenly appeared. Perhaps I am being unduly cynical. There was a great atmosphere and they all seemed to be having a lovely time. I say I go running. It's a bit more than that of course. I mix it up with stragically chosen moments of sprinting, star jumps and squats, depending on who's watching. I digress. I was meant to be writing about my bug-bear.... nationalism. London is a multi-cultural place, but the Olympics have brought it to a different level. The city is heaving with different nationalities wandering around the West End, trying to put off the moment they have to head over to Hackney. Getting to the point, I was wearing my acrylic purple T shirt proclaiming that I had completed the 2011 Jungfrau Marathon, but almost everyone else seemed to be running around hair or eyebrows paints funny colours, carrying flags or with the names of their countries emblazoned across their chests. I don't know. Just seems strange to me. The only interesting thing was the number of runners I spotted from countries begining with C. China, Cameroon, Chile. I even passed someone claiming to come from a place called CANADA, wherever that is. I paid my second ever visit to Germany this week which was very exciting. My British Airways flights was inevitably delayed - well over an hour. Would never have happened if I'd flown Lufthansa. So I had to cancel my client dinner, and landed in Frankfurt at 9.00pm suspecting it was too late even for an impromptu rendevous with a good German friend of mine and to grab a bite to eat. Oh ye of little faith. Never underestimate German efficiency. Whisked in seconds through passport control putting Heathrow to shame, moments later I was in a taxi doing 110 mph down the road into town. The last time I'd been driven that fast by a taxi-driver I was on the way from Macau to Chungshan Hot Springs Golf Course and we nearly died. Within about half an hour of landing in Germany I was sitting in the garden of a charming restaurant eating the most enormous Wienerschnitzel and drinking a large glass of ice cold apple wine. So you see, stock broking has its moments.