Weekend in London

So I spent the past long weekend (Thursday February 15 - Monday February 20) in London, and had a fantastic time. The main purpose was for an MBA Rugby Tournament hosted by the London Business School. They have a fantastic campus setting, right in Regent Park (and right by 221 b Baker Street, which gave me a nice moment of sightseeing en route to the pitch). LBS did a great job hosting the event too, by making sure it wasn't TOO full of rugby, and there were a good number of social events in the afternoons and evenings.

I also managed to fit in an interview (and subsequent job offer) with the nice folks in the London office of Bain & Company, though some further thinking needs to be done before I decide how I'll spend my precious intra-MBA summer.

As for the tournament, HBS fielded two teams, and "A-Side" and a "B-Side". The A-Side won the tournament, not only going undefeated, but shutting out each team they faced, which is to say that nobody scored a point on them the entire weekend. (I say "them" because, as you've probably already guessed, I play on the B-Side. We fared less well than the A-Team, though all games were close).

I stayed with some friends of team mates, mainly in Berkley Square (Bruton Place) though also one night in Sheppard's Market. Both very posh neighbourhoods that I enjoyed immensly. The area plays host to the offices of many of the larger Private Equity firms and Hedge Funds, and so one can find a Bently, a yaht, or a 3 million pound 2 bedroom apartment close at hand.

I was also pleased to discover that London has one or two pubs handy, which I did my best to explore when I had the chance.

Here are some photos from the weekend:

You knew I'd have a picture of this, didn't you?

One of my favourite intersections, from "Yes, Prime Minister" fame.

(http://www.yes-minister.com/)

A nice diagonal street cutting the corner of Oxford & Regent Streets.

My Irish host John Doran (left) and home town favourite, Chris Webster.

My host enjoys a massage to the solarplexes as I await the overdue pass.

The B-Side. (Note the player on the right in the front row, known only as "Slim." He's a graduate of the class of 1981, and plays for us whenever we're within a few hours flight of London. He's 55, and still one of our best forwards.)

A sampling of our cosmopolitan squad: South Africa, Ireland, America, England.

Tom Connelly (Montana) and Dave Winslow (Burlington, Ontario)

The full HBS contingent at the victory party. Time for another beer.

Arrival and Departure - First half of February

After a week of recruiting (hence, no classes) here in Boston, I enjoyed an extra-long weekend in Toronto: Thrusday night till Monday night. I was supposed to arrive Sunday afternoon, but a fortuitous snow storm hit New England and closed down Logan airport, allowing me to enjoy a longer than average (with more mimosas than average) brunch with friends, before a quiet night in with Jen. All in all a welcome weather phenomenon.

Now, after just 2 days of class in the past two weeks, I'm off to the airport (in 13 minutes) to catch a flight to London, for the London Business School Rugby tournament this weekend. Arriving two days early in order to do some sight-seeing, and conduct an interview.

Just checked in on-line for the flight, which not many people do on American Airlines apparently, since there was an emergency exit seat still available (something that would rarely happen on an Air Canada flight with all those early adopters up north. I think beyond this blog I'm going to keep this little secret to myself, or at least until I've checked in for the return trip).

Looking forward to some good athletics, a few laughs and a little sightseeing. This is what the MBA is really all about.