Tuesday, September 3, 2013

1982 - Home Leave to England - London Winding Down



Wednesday August 25, 1982 – London

It was a lovely day today – probably the best since we arrived in England and therefore obviously the most suitable for me to spend a day in the office. I started with a most pleasant meeting with Dugdale (he was the MD of the entire global operation) and then saw various people ending up with a drink with Ken Saunders and Don Robson at the Jamaica Inn. Matt and Rab reportedly had a very good day shopping in the West End, their highlight being seeing Larry Hagman – J.R.Ewing himself – in the flesh and then eating a half pound hamburger.

Derek and Sheila Bryant together with son Michael arrived at the flat at about 19.00 and we had a drink before going to the theatre with them. Matt towered over Michael who is turning fifteen next month.

We saw an Agatha Christie play starring Gordon Jackson which was a bit disappointing because the murderer was the obvious suspect. Still, it was a nice evening although darned expensive - £45.00 for the six seats.

Thursday August 26, 1982 – London

It was another lovely day this morning as I set off for the office via Boots to pick up the last of our batch of photos. Matt and Rab were going to have a last minute bit of shopping and then go on  a tour of London on an open bus.

I had a most interesting day at the office with various people landing up with Gerry Lloyd just before lunch. It was a good lunch at the Managers’ Mess at King William Street with Ken Saunders as President. There were a number of good people whom I had met and a good time was had by all. If I had not had a date with Peter Greenfield (one of the two General Managers who had Africa in his portfolio) I would certainly not have packed it in as early as 15.00. After that meeting there was a party for one of the managers who was retiring and all insisted that I should go along there. If it was not for the fact that Rab and Matt were at home waiting I would not have got away as early as 18.00. (This was a fairly typical day in the life of our Head Office – long lunches with plenty to drink followed by early evening drinks and, for the visitor, a dinner)

It is very difficult to get hold of a cab at the Royal Exchange but I finally managed it and got home about 18.30. We had a pleasant snack of bratwurst and bockwurst with latkas (courtesy of Harrods) for old times sake and then after finishing the packing watched a hilarious Des O’Connor show with Terry Wogan as the main guest. Thjis was followed by a good programme on the Battle of Jutland which I watched so I got to bed quite late.

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