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.