Allen & Overy

Hello darkness, my old friend

11 June, 2008

"You're late with your blog entry!".  I am deafened by the silence of the complaints from my non-existent regular readers.  Fear not mythical minions, for my blog has returned, in my usual perfunctory style.

What glory has returned to the skies above old London, as the sun has perforated the greyness that cast a perennial gloom over the city.  Weekends are far more enjoyable once the sun is shining and it seems that the city comes to life.  It also seems that as London grows and green space stays static (or shrinks), that one day there will be a scuffle over the last remaining space on the grass where one can sunbake.  I think I might go into business selling portable grass mats about the size of a beach towel, so those that cannot find a space to lay down can bring their own grass with them, thus condemning all of London to a sunbaker's haven on weekends.  Of course, with the usual warnings and disclaimers concerning skin cancer.

In other news, another holiday has come and gone.  Sigh.  The joys of eating street food in Singapore and Thailand (with only one stomach incident to speak of).  Even better, time spent laying on a beach in Thailand and taking a boat out to the islands.  Perhaps this is the reason for enjoying the sunshine in London so much.  After an illusory glimpse of summer a month and a half ago, we were plunged back into darkness.  Then, my own personal illusions as I escaped to the sunshine of the tropics, before being plunged back into darkness (I thought of coming up with another phrasing here, but as it is Monday morning, I wasn't too fussed about the repetition in juxtaposed sentences which leads a reader to think that the writer is useless).  Now that the sun has reared its head again, let there be light for as long as is possible.

Back to this holiday I alluded to before my segue into self-delusion regarding the sun.  I managed to meet up with a fellow blogger in Bangkok, Tara.  Before you go thinking this blogging racket is some kind of clique, I can assure you it's not.  Anyway, James Bond Martinis on a rooftop bar with a live jazz band is nothing to complain about and it was good to catch up with a friend who has fled London on secondment.  She seems to be spending more time everywhere but Bangkok travelling, but perhaps I should not steal the thunder of her blog.  I guess that says something about my interesting life if I have to vicariously blog through her life, but again, I am wandering hopelessly off track.

My time in litigation has come to an end, culminating in a frantic filing on my last day in the department.  On the plus side, I did manage to acquire a quite lovely corner office for myself that was vacant whilst the partner was on leave.  The fact that it was filled with assorted paper, folders, indexes, numbers and generally looked like a paper bomb had gone off is quite beyond the point.  Let it be known that I had my own corner office (for three days).

Now I am into securitisation, and back at Canary Wharf.  Once again, I have a lovely corner office (although, this time shared, just to ensure that my delusory self-importance isn't sustained).  I'm writing this on my first day in the department, so it's not as if I can comment on the work yet, although we have a dinner at a nice gastropub tonight where I'll get to know everyone.  Or, more likely, I'll get introduced to a lot of people, have a few drinks, and promptly forget everyone's name by the next day.  It's always like that when introduced to large groups of people.  I have to learn to mindmap people's names, but, well, I get taken away in conversation.

The time has come, once again, to wrap up another exciting episode of "Blethering: The Scott Lovell Story".  I shall be going for lunch now, you'll all be pleased to hear.  I think something healthy is calling, after a weekend that did nought for my body.  Cheers.