Some interesting chats

Yesterday  I met up with an old pal for a catch-up over a coffee at the Westbury Hotel. He is one of those people that is well informed on almost every area but always manages to shed new light on a topic in a thought provoking way.

Thus, when we discussed modern footballers, he made the point that you can see they have too much time on their hands by their hair-dos.

At first I did not understand the logic of the comment but he elaborated that come the afternoon, when most footballers do not train, free time could be taken up in a lengthy session of colouring and styling in a salon which most of us would not justify in terms of time let alone expense.

Then my friend said they can attend a tattooist. After an hour and a good chat my friend had to depart for a luncheon engagement and mine – with two brothers learned in the law –  was around the corner so I had time to kill.

I was going to catch up on emails and news on my iPad but I was drawn into – though not contributing – to a meeting on a nearby table. I have noticed that the lounges of West End hotels are often used for such meetings – they have space, cachet and comfort – if not discretion in this case.

A South African was making a sales presentation to two potential investors from Dubai on a club he was launching based on the social mores of the time, e.g. he said empowering women. My initial reaction was that I would join a club dedicated not to having such values.

But he maintained that there was considerable enthusiasm from banks and liberal rich worthies. It came to the point that the investors wanted a quick look at their office, only to be informed they could not access it by the main entrance but via a pub. This and the old trick of ‘we only need another £1m ‘ might have put them off but, of course, you cannot be sure. If I was an investor I would not just want to know who the other investors are but see a business plan dealing with costs, key personnel, marketing etc. – perhaps they had already seen one but the pitch seemed to be made on the basis of’ what a great idea it was.