I’ll start by sharing my favorite line from this week’s new James Bond movie, Casino Royale.
Waiter: “How would you like that martini, sir? Shaken or stirred?”
007 James Bond: “Do I look like I give a damn?”
Well, after this week in the office, I probably could not give a damn how my martini is served. Though the *roughing up* that I endured was more mental than the physical sort that Daniel Craig faced! Between the exhausting job and a couple of work-related soirees, I’m too exhausted this Saturday evening to do anything but download and watch the latest episode of Prison Break and watch the “exciting, live results show” for Strictly Come Dancing.
In case I have not mentioned it to you all a thousand times already, I somehow lucked into the hottest ticket in London for 2006 – an invite to the Royal premiere of the new Bond movie in London’s famous Leicester Square.
I’ll stop well short of writing a movie review, as you can get that at http://www.nytimes.com/, but I did enjoy the flick, all 2hrs 10mins. But I will confess to being highly uncomfortable sitting in a movie theater for over 2.5 hours wearing full black tie garb and 3” heels. It didn’t stop me from grabbing a whole bunch of candy (white mice and cola bottles) and popcorn, but swilling it down with champagne seemed rather out of place!
Going back to the pre-movie paraphernalia (let’s face it, the premiere has nothing to do with the movie itself!), here’s my tidbit… The plebes (myself among them) were supposed to take the *pink carpet* to the theater and leave the *red carpet* to the Royal party, movie stars and other A-listers… but a quasi-menacing security guard has never stopped me. I snatched the arm of my young analyst from BGI, Spencer, and dragged the startled slip of a boy on a lap of the red carpet, to the confusion of the paparazzi, who clearly could not place us but flashed their light-bulbs anyway!
That’s pretty much my story for the week… Sunday beckons and I need some sleep before my morning swim and run, an afternoon of laundry and reading the paper followed by dinner with a college friend.
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Monday, November 06, 2006
London redux
Okay… it is undoubtedly time that I give London its dues and come up with a list of things… redeeming qualities… stuff that I missed while in the US but did not realize… the list also acknowledges that I’m not moping around while I’m back home, rather that I’m having a jolly ole time!
10. BBC News. I enjoy listening to the news again… it helps that I went to university with one of the top newscasters
9. European accents. I can’t go anywhere without hearing French, Italian, Spanish… Russian, Polish, Russian, Polish… London is so Eastern European!
8. The landscape and architecture. What other city could I go for a 6mi lunch run along the river and see every possible tourist sight in the city?
7. Strictly Come Dancing – my favorite British TV show
6. Eye candy… there are a lot of jaw-droppingly handsome men walking the streets and working with me in London!
5. British sports - I have been so psyched to watch the smorgasbord of sports on telly - rugby, football, snooker (yeah, I know), Formula 1, cricket
4. Branston Pickle and Picallili – curiously British pickles that I can buy for a $1 (instead of $6/jar in the US)
3. Guy Fawkes’ Night bonfire and fireworks (11/5) – a British reminiscence of a failed terrorist act to blow up parliament
2. Being the foreigner… no one believes I’m British… it gives me an edge!
1. The rest of Europe… actually, I have not ventured outside England yet but I am soooo looking forward to a Thanksgiving trip to Rome!
10. BBC News. I enjoy listening to the news again… it helps that I went to university with one of the top newscasters
9. European accents. I can’t go anywhere without hearing French, Italian, Spanish… Russian, Polish, Russian, Polish… London is so Eastern European!
8. The landscape and architecture. What other city could I go for a 6mi lunch run along the river and see every possible tourist sight in the city?
7. Strictly Come Dancing – my favorite British TV show
6. Eye candy… there are a lot of jaw-droppingly handsome men walking the streets and working with me in London!
5. British sports - I have been so psyched to watch the smorgasbord of sports on telly - rugby, football, snooker (yeah, I know), Formula 1, cricket
4. Branston Pickle and Picallili – curiously British pickles that I can buy for a $1 (instead of $6/jar in the US)
3. Guy Fawkes’ Night bonfire and fireworks (11/5) – a British reminiscence of a failed terrorist act to blow up parliament
2. Being the foreigner… no one believes I’m British… it gives me an edge!
1. The rest of Europe… actually, I have not ventured outside England yet but I am soooo looking forward to a Thanksgiving trip to Rome!
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Sick as a dawg
Okay, this is a cheating entry... I'm copying and pasting from an email that I wrote to friends.
Apart from being *sick as a dog*, there’s not much to report about my last week or so in London. I just bailed on my plans for the evening (with my old boss from JPM New York, John, who has been living in London for several years). I’m not sure that I will even go to the office tomorrow. Two different people commented how bad/tired I looked as I left the office this evening. :-( I have so much to do… and I don’t get paid if I don’t go in…
Last weekend, I went home to my parents’ house for the weekend since they were taking care of my niece, Alexia, for a few days. I hung out with Alexia all weekend. She loved me for 24 hours and then *cooled* towards me for the second 24 hours… she was basically playing me off against my father for attention. Apparently, she cried after I left and told my parents how much she loved me and was missing me already! Hilarious and intriguing to see her emotions play out. The downside of the weekend was that my parents managed to give me their colds!
I’ve not done much socializing in the past week or so since I was at home in Derbyshire and then sick all week. I did grab a drink with a Stanford alum on Tuesday evening. He works for McKinsey here in London.
Apologies if the next *blow by blow* of an athletic episode is too girly… By way of background, Paul (let's call him PB for anonynimity's sake?) is the guy that I developed a crush for… but discovered last Friday evening that he has a (cute) girlfriend. I am seeking a new crush… but I was psyched that he asked me to run with him!
There are two equity traders in the office that provide me daily eye candy in my work environment. Well, actually, there are three cute guys on the entire trading floor but the third guy is an obnoxious, fixed income Portfolio Manager for who I have developed a strong dislike. Anyway, back to my equity boys. TL (married Aussie) and PB (Brit w/ gf) run *together* every Thursday. This week they invited me to run with them. It's a 6.2mi loop from Tower Hill westwards to Westminster, across the Thames and back along the south bank to Tower Bridge and the office. However, upon induction into the routine, I discovered that the guys don't actually run together... PB sets off about 8-10mins before TL and the latter usually catches PB during the last couple of miles or so. I set off with PB and it was a reasonably comfortable pace (but not a stroll in the park). There's foot traffic and stairs but we were basically on a 7:30min/mi pace. I was chatting w/ him and his breathing didn’t appear labored or anything. Anyway, we ran the loop and TL caught us at the last traffic light from the office - 100yards from the finish. I stopped my watch and told PB that it was 48 minutes. He looked shocked and then a huge smile broke across his face as he told me that I had dragged him to a PB by a couple of minutes! As I left the building this evening, TL was walking back to the tube station with another colleague, Simon, who he introduced as the Head of equity trading (his and Paul's boss). As TL introduced me, Simon commented: "So you're the girl that crushed PB on the run today. He claims that you were running easy and could have run quite a bit faster!" I guess it's hard to replicate the scene but it was funny for me to hear that our lunch run became a *topic of conversation* on the trading desk in the afternoon, enough at least for his boss to hear about it. I've also been *welcomed into the fold* for subsequent runs/swims! London gets more fun by the day!
It seems like I may not make it to the office tomorrow (but I’d like to go but…) so I’m not sure what the weekend will bring. A Canadian friend has invited me out tomorrow night to some swanky, new private club… and then on Saturday, I’ve been invited to a Fireworks’-watching cocktail party hosted by my landlady’s daughter. I just hope that I feel well enough to make the most of the invitations!
Apart from being *sick as a dog*, there’s not much to report about my last week or so in London. I just bailed on my plans for the evening (with my old boss from JPM New York, John, who has been living in London for several years). I’m not sure that I will even go to the office tomorrow. Two different people commented how bad/tired I looked as I left the office this evening. :-( I have so much to do… and I don’t get paid if I don’t go in…
Last weekend, I went home to my parents’ house for the weekend since they were taking care of my niece, Alexia, for a few days. I hung out with Alexia all weekend. She loved me for 24 hours and then *cooled* towards me for the second 24 hours… she was basically playing me off against my father for attention. Apparently, she cried after I left and told my parents how much she loved me and was missing me already! Hilarious and intriguing to see her emotions play out. The downside of the weekend was that my parents managed to give me their colds!
I’ve not done much socializing in the past week or so since I was at home in Derbyshire and then sick all week. I did grab a drink with a Stanford alum on Tuesday evening. He works for McKinsey here in London.
Apologies if the next *blow by blow* of an athletic episode is too girly… By way of background, Paul (let's call him PB for anonynimity's sake?) is the guy that I developed a crush for… but discovered last Friday evening that he has a (cute) girlfriend. I am seeking a new crush… but I was psyched that he asked me to run with him!
There are two equity traders in the office that provide me daily eye candy in my work environment. Well, actually, there are three cute guys on the entire trading floor but the third guy is an obnoxious, fixed income Portfolio Manager for who I have developed a strong dislike. Anyway, back to my equity boys. TL (married Aussie) and PB (Brit w/ gf) run *together* every Thursday. This week they invited me to run with them. It's a 6.2mi loop from Tower Hill westwards to Westminster, across the Thames and back along the south bank to Tower Bridge and the office. However, upon induction into the routine, I discovered that the guys don't actually run together... PB sets off about 8-10mins before TL and the latter usually catches PB during the last couple of miles or so. I set off with PB and it was a reasonably comfortable pace (but not a stroll in the park). There's foot traffic and stairs but we were basically on a 7:30min/mi pace. I was chatting w/ him and his breathing didn’t appear labored or anything. Anyway, we ran the loop and TL caught us at the last traffic light from the office - 100yards from the finish. I stopped my watch and told PB that it was 48 minutes. He looked shocked and then a huge smile broke across his face as he told me that I had dragged him to a PB by a couple of minutes! As I left the building this evening, TL was walking back to the tube station with another colleague, Simon, who he introduced as the Head of equity trading (his and Paul's boss). As TL introduced me, Simon commented: "So you're the girl that crushed PB on the run today. He claims that you were running easy and could have run quite a bit faster!" I guess it's hard to replicate the scene but it was funny for me to hear that our lunch run became a *topic of conversation* on the trading desk in the afternoon, enough at least for his boss to hear about it. I've also been *welcomed into the fold* for subsequent runs/swims! London gets more fun by the day!
It seems like I may not make it to the office tomorrow (but I’d like to go but…) so I’m not sure what the weekend will bring. A Canadian friend has invited me out tomorrow night to some swanky, new private club… and then on Saturday, I’ve been invited to a Fireworks’-watching cocktail party hosted by my landlady’s daughter. I just hope that I feel well enough to make the most of the invitations!
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