Travelled on Wednesday afternoon to the London Chamber Head Office for a rooftop party. Gorgeous day and a vivid 360 degree view of London city landmarks including St Pauls, the Shard, the Walkie Talkie and the Cheese Grater. Unfortunately, my favourite, The Gherkin, was obscured by other high towers. These exciting shapes restore my faith in modern architecture, aided no doubt by the more fexible planning authorities in the City.
Most of these people work in the Head Office so I only see them two or three times a year, and on the odd occasions, it's normally a very stilted meeting. However, yesterday, stoked by a decent pizza and prosecco, the conversation flowed as wantonly as the alcohol, as I could chat and flirt with all these young people. Tatoos and travel were on the menu, and then male-female interaction. The majority present were ambitious young women of foreign origin, so the conversation turned into a souffle of anti-male put downs. I notice that when European women complain about their husbands they talk of possibly leaving them; Latin American women talk about killing them. They don't believe in divorce.
However, they were all fascinated by the fact that I had managed to celebrate a 50th anniversary. How did I manage it? How did my wife manage it, would have been a more pertinent question. Did I know her long before we got married? Yes, for three years, the bulk of which time we had no communication, as she was in Poland and I was pursuing my career and love life in England. In 1969 we had an intense relationship lasting one month, then nothing. In 1972 we had an intense relationship lasting one month, then marriage, and then again nothing. Only in January next year did I finally ask her to return to London, as I decided I couldn't live without her. I explained how I "only" got married to avoid UK immigration interrogation, but that "only", unromantic as it sounded, still lasted, despite arguments and sulking silence, for 50 years. So how did we celebrate 50 years? they asked. Very quietly. But of course the round the world cruise is our real celebration and culmination of our joint life together.
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