London life

At St Helen during Open House Weekend
Originally uploaded by Gypsy Saskia

Well, was I too busy working to have a life at first, the last two weeks I was too busy having a life to blog.

Kaat visited me for a weekend, and we did loads of relaxed walking around East London and Angel. The church on the photo is the largest surviving church in the City. Great Fire and Blitz haven't brought this baby down, though the IRA managed to do almost just that in the early nineties. This is next to one of my clients and one of my fav places in the city. Old churches and the modern Gherkin (in background) and glass office buildings are an inspiring combination.

Last weekend Zoe and I visited a Comedy Club on Leicester Square. Great way to spend a Fri nite after a busy work week. In a few hours I will be off to the Dam again for a fun filled weekend of friends and relo's. If only I could bring the gorgeous London sun!

Just another weekend

Sleeping in till 8.30, 9 o'clock. Grocery shopping. A run on Saturday, aerobics class on Sunday. I may meet a friend for lunch or dinner, and spend time on the couch with a good book and the weekend newspapers (I heart Sunday Times especially). How different is Amelie's life. Since July we've said hi and bye at our Sunday aerobics class. This week, I got chatting to her. She works for a big Japanese (once American) investment bank. Not very newsworthy in itself. However, she does so all day and night Monday to Friday and a few hours Saturday and Sunday. Basically, all she does outside work is spending a few hours in the gym Saturday and Sunday before heading to the office. She asked me, knowing what I do for a living, if I had any time to see London or a museum or anything. Hell yeah. I didn't move here to work all the time. Surely, work can be a pain and some projects require round the clock attention. But mostly it's 40-50 hour work weeks. And nights off to go to the gym or meet friends. And the amount of work I've had to finish in the weekend has been very limited. Amelie is young, she only graduated a year ago. Will she learn what life is about when she gets older? Or is that me being judgemental and is she truly happy and fulfilled with her life as it is? The look on her face when I told her my working hours, suggests differently....

Wth??

I have not had a stranger Monday morning. Ever. To come into work and find Lehman Brothers has gone bust, and Merrill has been bought by BoA is Big News. There was the weirdest buzz in the office. The secondee from New York seemed pretty shocked, most of us were mainly curious.

Few hours into the day we heard we are the administrator for LB's European business. Anyone who can spell FS (for Financial Services) is apparently lined up for the project team. Which means someone out there has very little confidence in my spelling abilities as I haven't had a call. So maybe we are actually trying to send a team with investment banking and capital markets experience. Of which I have none. I think I actually doubled my knowledge today just by reading the papers. But it is weird being here in this period. Even partners compare it to 1929 and we are all a bit afraid of what's to come.

I actually pass the Merrill and Lehman offices every day. I bet half of the guys I always see drinking at the pubs on my way to the gym won't be there tomorrow. How weird must it be coming into work on Monday morning, knowing things aren't great but assuming they're okish, and getting knifed like this? The paper mentioned a poor Frenchy who was a few days late for his first day of work (thanks to Eurostar), and ended up being fired on his first actual morning. Odd and exciting times.