Back to Bondi

It’s Sunday 23^rd January 2011 and I’ve just finished walking one end of the main shopping area of Singapore to the other (Orchard Rd), capped off with a visit to the Marina Bay Sands Skywalk which made the day bearable. The view from this astounding building is breathtaking. The heat here is overwhelming and makes you feel like drinking or swimming or anything but pressing on to the next shop. Still we managed to enjoy ourselves and have a laugh along the way. Gene took a dive into the pavement early on when she tried to give way to a kid walking past and tripped, falling heavily on her left shoulder.  She didn’t miss a beat and bounced back with some bruises and a cut knee. All part of the deal.

The last week in London was spent working with Lucian Hudson, whom we’ve taken on to help us in our work in the UK. Lucian is worth a mention. He’s the quintessential English gentleman. He turned up each day in his long brown coat with matching hat, making him look like a refined version of Indiana Jones. He seems to know half of London and all of Whitehall.  He appears in Who’s Who in 2011 and has for some years now. He’s great company, has an infectious laugh, eats lunch at Prét a Manger with a preference for fruit salad, yogurt and fresh mint tea, has recently taken up boxing, and is a member of Royal Automobile Club on Pall Mall, though he seems to have not the slightest interest in cars. He's marries to Margaret who escapes this blog, as I've not yet had the pleasure of meeting her.

In addition to working with us, Lucian’s has done many things. These include holding senior positions in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Ministry of Justice and the Department of the Environment; working in the BBC as Head of Programming for International Channels, Chief Editorial Adviser at BBC Worldwide, and Editor of BBC World’s Newsdesk and Newshour Programmes (spelt as only the English do). He was also the first head of e-Communication for the Government.  He was educated in Paris, London and Oxford, which seems like a lot of education for one bloke. Or maybe he's just a slow learner. He's Chairman of the Collaborative Strategies Network; Chairman of Liberal Judaism; Governor of the Leo Baeck College; and Strategic Advisor to the Oxford Literary Festival. He’s also a former Chairman of both the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations and the Rory Peck Trust. I mentioned in my previous blog that I met my great mate Robert (from AFP in Paris) via Paul Fregosi close to 20 years ago.  And it was through Robert that I met Lucian, as a result of a conversation they had when both presenting papers at a conference on Complexity, being held at Cambridge. Over lunch they got together and started chatting about life and the universe, the way people do at events such as this, and my name was mentioned in dispatches. Robert suggested to Lucian that he’d find our work interesting. He then sent us both an email and here we are. Now Lucian can add - Hangs out with Johnny Mac - in the 2012 version of Who’s Who.  He has that English reserve that’s so foreign to the likes of the Moores and McDonalds and reminds me of what Lewis Carol said of brave men: that they have their gentleness on the outside and their toughness within.

Bumping into interesting and generous people is I think one of the great ongoing joys of life. So here’s to Lucian Hudson, an interesting gentleman, a world class scholar and a mate.

And finally in this blog, for the last six weeks of my seven week jaunt, Gene has been traveling with me through Ireland, London, Paris and Singapore.  As the newlyweds can testify, having traveled together more than Gene and I ever have, being on the road together is a great chance to experience the new and unknown together. And we've been doing that in abundance. She’s been brilliant the whole time and it’s made the time away from home so much easier than it typically is when I travel. Here’s to you my Sweetheart.  It’s a treat to be in love with you and we should do this more often.  How about July?