Bow lane dental group

Visited with James Goolnik today. Champion brander.

 

Well the day started badly as you know – cancelled flight and all.

 

I could have called my client in London to say “game over” – perhaps rearranged for a future date.

 

But when I called his City practice at 7.30am with my “bad news”, the phone was answered by his nurse as he was in the middle of treatment – 7.30am!

 

That’s the City for you.

 

Embarrassed to complain about Cornish fog, I jumped into my car and began Plan B:

 

1. drive to Tiverton Parkway – 90 miles;

2. Catch 9.03am to Paddington, arriving 11.23am;

3. Arrive for my meeting only an hour later than planned.

 

The challenge – to cover the 90 miles to the station through fog and rain – and arrive in 90 minutes with time enough to park and collect tickets.

 

This is where owning the new M3 comes in handy.

 

Yes – that metallic black with fox-red leather blur dashing across Bodmin and the outskirts of Dartmoor this morning wasn’t a piece of American space hardware – it was me, gripping the steering wheel and gritting my teeth.

 

I arrive at the station car park with less then 5 minutes to spare and a 200-yard sprint to the ticket office.

 

As I walk onto the station breathless, the Great Western arrives and I stagger on board.

 

Train pulls away and I heave a deep sigh of relief, remove jacket, set up laptop, Filofax and iphone, wobble down to buffet car for coffee.

 

“Sorry sir, we have no hot water due to the reservoir flooding in the coffee machine – I can offer you cold drinks only.”

 

Of course – this is 21^st Century Britain. The planes don’t fly when it’s foggy and the trains run dry as well.

 

Settle back for 2 hours of emails, tomato juice and apple – and the delightful company of Emma and Lorraine – a pair of teachers from Taunton who are on a ladies away-day and conduct a hilarious conversation right next to me that would have graced the script of SITC.

 

Arrive at my meeting as planned – and end up having one the most interesting and exciting professional days for months.

 

Can’t tell you why – I’d have to kill you.

 

Suffice to say it has been well worth the effort.

 

I’m now on the 17.03pm back to Devon and will enjoy a much more sedate drive back down the A30 – on cruise rather than Saturn 5 setting.

 

Morals of the story:

 

1. When you travel have a Plan B;

2. Don’t expect hot water;

3. Never give up;

4. Expose yourself to the risk of doing business.

 

Have a great weekend.