Uncharacteristically, it being a Friday, I write this having made do with nothing more elaborate than a mug of soup for lunch from the canteen upstairs. Truth is I have used up all my lunch budget this week ( see attached evidence ). It was a very fine affair as you might imagine and with a Scottish client, in London for the day, who I hadn’t seen for probably ten years which is dilatory even given my broking style. Fair to say though you have never seen anyone skedaddle out the restaurant and head away back up North as fast as he did when the bill arrived. Talking of Scotland; loved the opening ceremony.
And talking of food, as I was slurping back my Moroccan chickpea soup and looking at the computer for some inspiration, I noted on the same internal website that proclaimed that Nomura has just been voted the Healthiest Employees in the UK – even if that is not an accolade that will necessarily sit comfortably with the powers that be here – another news item. This was about one of my no doubt fit as a fiddle colleagues who has made it through to the final six of a Walkers crisps “Flavours” competition and stands to gain £1m. I have a funny feeling he’s just going to go and win the damn thing with his Pulled Pork and a Sticky BBQ Sauce flavour….see the link below….and I wouldn’t mind betting you’ll vote for it even if you probably agree with me that it’s a lot easier when you lean over the counter of your local pub to ask for a packet of that old favourite, Smokey Bacon.
https://www.walkers.co.uk/pork
Fit as a fiddle. I was wondering why the phrase had come into my head and then I realised that was the other thing I was up to at lunch today. I had to make the sorry trek to the Vodafone shop. Hate that place. At least this time it wasn’t to replace yet another phone lost by Bob, but nevertheless it was as painful an experience as ever. Many years ago, when Hen took up the clarinet I said that if she passed her Grade 5 I would give her £100. She was actually pretty good at it which is not a surprise really. I probably havn’t told you but I am extremely musical. I passed Grade 5 in the oboe and not that long ago, albeit briefly, was First Oboeist in the King John Orchestra for parents of my childrens school. It was run by the wife of a friend of mine and lets say, when I accepted her invitation to join this select group, neither of us realised quite how rusty my fingering had got. But it was also quickly evident that my ability to read music had been impaired by the passage of time. When I let rip a commendable attempt at a B flat in the middle of a dramatic section of Finlandia by Sibelius, whilst the rest of the orchestra remained silent, her patience with me snapped. “GP stands for Grand Pause, you Great Pillock”. Anyway I digress. I can still play God Save the Queen through my nostril on a descant recorder by the way. Oh yes….so Hen never collected the award on offer. Jimmy played something….struggling to remember what…the flute. Sorry Jimmy. And Bob was ok on the drums. However, all got to Grade 4 and no further. And then Lottie came along. If I called the visit to Vodafone painful it was nothing when compared to the excruciating hours and hours we have had to listen to Lottie scratching away on her cello of an evening. And yet isn’t this just the lesson. Perseverance and application pay off and last week we heard she had passed Grade 5. So in lieu of £100 which was going to replace her iPod which she had dropped and broken the other day she is getting a smart phone. How long that will last remains to be seen, but the good news is the cello will be heard no more in our house. She has given it up.
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