No. 85: I am now a Turkish Dancer

I have spent the last 2 days at the WEX (Water and Energy Exchange) event in Istanbul. WEX is always a great event. For me it stands out as one of the best conferences on the water circuit. It was the first to adopt the 121 meeting format and it always has a good vibe. It’s annual Gala Dinner is always a highlight, and last night was no exception.

Fully embracing the local Turkish culture, the event kicked off with a troupe of local dancers. In full Turkish dress they took to the stage and enthralled the audience. Turkish dancing is my sort of dancing: the blokes spend most of their time strutting and stamping their feet, while the women look graceful and demure and ‘float’ around them. The dances got progressively more enthusiastic and vibrant (ever more stamping and strutting) and reached a climax when the lead male dancer came on stage with a small wooden board and a set of 6 knives, each of which had a sharp point at one end and a flame at the other. He then proceeded to balance the knives in his mouth and flick them majestically at the wooden board, each one landing perfectly. The crowd clapped and cheered enthusiastically.

It was at this point that the dancers decided that it was time to get some audience participation. I was one of half a dozen hapless victims encouraged onto the stage (to be fair, I clearly love this sort of thing so to call myself a ‘victim’ is a tiny bit disingenuous). Anyway, we then had 5 minutes of strutting and stamping while the women floated around us. Thus far I was having fun.

Then it got a bit weird.

The lead dancer took the three blokes who had ‘volunteered’ and got us to lie on the floor. They brought out the wooden board that had been used earlier for the knife throwing and placed it over the top of my groin. Panic set in immediately. They then asked the other two blokes to get up, leaving me prostrate and alone on the floor with a wooden board over my tackle while the lead dancer circled me with his knives. I was horribly uncomfortable.

A few seconds later a knife went up to his mouth and with a quick flick it hit my wooden board with a sickening thud. I confess that that was the point when I abandoned my New Years’ resolution not to swear. He still had 5 knives to go.

4 knives later I was still thankfully unscathed. There was one knife left. This was when the lead dancer decided it was time to let one of the women volunteers ‘have a go’ at the knife throwing. Of all the people to choose he selected Fiona Griffith, a senior director in Isle and someone with whom I have worked for many years. This was the moment when I would find out if she respected me or bore a grudge. Rather worryingly she looked like she had never been happier. She also didn’t look like she was concentrating too much on aim. Call be a doubter but the tears of laughter streaming down her face as the crowd cheered and clapped didn’t inspire confidence.

Within seconds it was all over. I was alive and fully in-tact. Apparently the whole thing has been captured on mobile phones. I am not sure I am ready to relive it yet.

No. 84: The Blank Sheet of Paper: A curse or an opportunity?

In June the Public Utilities Board (PUB) of Singapore is holding an invite-only Technology and Innovation Summit for the global water industry. It is going to be a terrific 2 day event, involving 200 senior ‘water’ executives from around the world. If it goes well (and PUB events usually do) then it has the potential to make real change.

I have been given the astonishing honour of chairing one of the first sessions. As anyone who knows me can attest, I have an enormous ego. I can’t help but tell myself that Chairing the first session is a position of considerable power: I set the tone for the rest of the event (deep down I grudgingly accept that the CEO of PUB, who will give the key note opening speech, is arguably more important….but I supress this thought).   

Earlier this week I spoke with PUB about how they wanted the event to run. They have given me a blank sheet of paper. I have a 2 hour session to engage with the audience and get them thinking about what drives successful innovation. The goal of my session is not to identify the solutions, or even the areas of focus, but to identify the behaviours, values and experiences that create a culture for successful innovation.

I can’t tell you how excited I am about this event. It is going to be awesome.

With a blank sheet of paper my mind is racing with ideas. We could obviously do the traditional ‘Speakers+Q&A’…but for 2 hours? Seriously? I could make it a bit more exciting by bringing in speakers from other industries to mix things up (Google? IBM? Glaxo?). Or we could have a panel discussion, with quick fire questions to keep it lively.

These are all ideas that have been used before. They work well. They are tried and tested. But I want something different. I want the audience walking away thinking ‘Wow, that definitely wasn’t what I expected!’

I am toying with some other ideas: give the audience a case study to work through in small groups to tease out key innovation principles? Or run a session specifically around values and behaviours using a professional clinical psychologist? Or do the whole thing through interpretive dance (I look particularly good in tights)? Or mime (I can do a man in a shrinking box)?

At the end of this week I need to submit my ideas to PUB. I know that many of the people who get these Notes are far more skilled and informed about what drives good innovation than I am. Despite my ego, I would honestly welcome your suggestions. I have a blank sheet of paper that needs filling….

No. 83: Someone, somewhere, is working through my task list

Every day I write by hand (because it feels more real that way) a long list of all the things I need to do. I have done this every day since I was at university. Typically there will be around 50 things on each days’ list (of which I typically only ever manage to do about 20). Usually on a Friday (ie today) I gather up the 5 lists from the week and consolidate them into a whole new daunting/exciting list for the following week.

I know from experience that if I don’t write things down then stuff doesn’t happen. I live by my lists. If it is on a list then it will, eventually, get done.

I take an almost perverse pleasure in writing things down just so I can cross them off again. My wife has been known to tell people that I write ‘Write list’ on my list, just so I can cross it off. That would, of course, be totally ridiculous. Writing ‘Consolidate weeks lists’ however would be perfectly reasonable. My list obsession is one of the (many, many, wonderful) quirky things about me that she loves.

Today I was up at the crack of dawn (445am) to catch a flight to Sweden. One of my tasks for the flight was to consolidate my weeks lists. As the plane took off I started on the task. However just as we levelled out the steward came to me and told me that a lady a few seats behind me wanted me to go and join her.

This sort of thing doesn’t happen to me very often (ever actually) and before you get any wild ideas about my jet-set lifestyle enabling me to meet strange and beautiful women all around the world, I should probably clarify that it was my GWDP/Blackstone boss who was summoning me as she was also on the flight. I dutifully put my papers in the back of my seat and went to join her. We talked for the full flight and when we got off I completely forgot to recover my papers.

It was only when I arrived at my meeting in Stockholm that I realised my mistake. Fortunately all I left was my lists and the notes I made from last nights’ Isle Board Call (so much for writing up those minutes….). My immediate reaction was to break into a cold sweat of panic. How was I ever going to recall all the things I needed to do?

Then I realised this is Sweden. People are lovely here. I am certain someone will have picked up my list and be diligently, methodically working their way through it. I don’t need to worry. I can relax, safe in the knowledge that someone, somewhere, has it all in hand…. 

No. 82: LinkedIn wants to congratulate me…

Apparently 5 years ago today I started work at Thames Water. LinkedIn, without any prompting from me, is telling the world and I have received dozens of email congratulations from kind-hearted contacts.

The minor flaw is that I left Thames Water over 4 months ago.

As it happens I didn’t actually officially start work at Thames 5 years ago as I spent my first 14 months as just an interim employee, covering the Asset Management Director position. And then in April 2011 I formerly left Thames (for a full 2 weeks) before returning, like a new born baby to his mothers’ breast, to take on the Commercial Director role. (Think that’s a bad analogy? The alternative was ‘like a crack addict returning to his abusive dealer’. Take your pick). LinkedIn isn’t aware of these minor details mainly because I overlooked sharing this level of detail in my profile. It is only as clever as the information I provided.

That said, my LinkedIn profile has been updated so I don’t understand the current confusion. Something must have gone wrong with the software. It hasn’t recognised I have moved on. I look forward to Feb 18^th 2035 when I will get my 25 years anniversary announcement. I will be 65 and, probably, recently retired. Or dead.

I miss my Thames Water role. It was exciting, frustrating, rewarding, challenging. I worked with professional, capable people who were passionate about what they did. I like idea that every year LinkedIn will remind me of this past.

No. 81: Tony Blair beats Myleene Klass!

Now that's an attention-grabbing headline: Former British PM attacks celebrity beauty/former pop-star. It is one of two incredible stories I want to share. They both relate to the Middle East. 

Three weeks ago I was in Abu Dhabi for the International Water Summit (IWS). A few people from Isle also attended. Nada Abubakr, from Isle Australia, will lead Isle's new Middle East business. She is from Abu Dhabi and speaks Arabic which, quite apart from her many other skills, gives her an important advantage. 

Three years ago one of the first people I spoke to in the Middle East about Isle was a terrific bloke from Sharjah called Dr AlaEldin Idris. We shared common interests and had an equally warped view of the world. He was keen to work with Isle, but Sharjah Energy and Water Authority (his employers) were too small to be our 'anchor' client. Over the years we kept in contact via email and meet up when our paths cross at conferences. I knew he was going to be at IWS and we had agreed to catch up. I was looking forward to it. 

Imagine my frustration when I visited the Isle stand to find that I had just missed him. I immediately scanned the exhibitors hall, jogging down the nearby corridors to try and find him.  Eventually I returned to the Isle stand and Nada, who had a local phone that worked (mine didn't) suggested she rang him. I gave her his card and she laughed, commenting that her cousins husband was also called AlaEldin Idris. Funny how coincidences happen. 

She rang the number and spoke with AlaEldin and a few minutes later he returned to the stand. That was the moment when we realised that he didn't just share the same name as her cousins husband.....he actually was her cousins husband! Sometimes the world is a very small place. 

That is story No 1. Story No 2 relates to the former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair. Contrary to what you might have thought from the title, it does not involve him attacking the lovely Myleene Klass. That was just a ruse to get you to read this far (sorry). 

Nada bumped into Tony when she recently attended a meeting at the Abu Dhabi Environment Agency. He was walking out of their offices as she was walking in. Apparently they exchanged words (I like to think that they discussed fiscal policy and the challenges of international peace keeping). This fact alone means that Nada's exchange with Tony trumps my earlier exchange with Myleene (see earlier Note, copied below). In the world of celebrity Top Trumps, Tony beats Myleene. 

I need a new celebrity scalp.

No. 80: Next time I go to Haiti, come with me….

If you read my last Note you will know that I have spent this weekend in Haiti. The highlight was a 6.5km open water sea-swim. We all survived. No shark attacks, but there were a few jellyfish.

Last year (the first year they held the event) there were just 4 swimmers. This year there were 11 of us. It took three hours and when I left the water, exhilarated but completely knackered, I looked like an angry red panda, such was the sunburn pattern caused by my swim-cap and goggles. Fortunately 24 hours later the previously unburnt bits of my face had caught up with the burnt bits. I now look like a ripe plum with eyes. It’s a particularly attractive look. Mrs Clark is a lucky woman.

There are many reasons why you should come to Haiti too:

• The Sea Swim: Do the 6km swim on the Saturday morning, or do the 1km swim on the Sunday morning (suitable for children). Or do both (we did). You will have a local fisherman who canoes next to you. My Creole (a sort of lazy French) has improved dramatically over the weekend. 3 hours in the ocean with just you and your fisherman does that. Alternatively just be part of the support crowd and enjoy the sun, the sea, the pre event party, the mid-event party, or the post-event party. I suspect there is probably a party celebrating the fact that some of us have left.  Haitians are like that.

• D’Lo Haiti: If you are from the water sector (and most people who get these Notes are) then you can’t visit Haiti without visiting the inspiring D’Lo Water Kiosk business. They get clean cheap water to some of the poorest slums and rural villages, using a model that attacks the usual problems right at their heart. D’Lo is entrepreneurship at its rawest. Changing the world for the better while doing something spectacularly brave and radical. If D’Lo can prove the water kiosk model in Haiti then others will copy. The impact around the world from this brave little business will be phenomenal.

• Art and culture: Haiti is full of surprises. Yesterday afternoon some of us made our way into the hills to visit a community 10 miles from the main road. Centuries ago this village was populated by Polish soldiers, following some local battle. Generations on the Polish link has all but died out. Yet 5 professional opera singers from the Polish national theatre were visiting. They performed a 90 minute opera, in Polish, in full operatic dress, right in the middle of the main village street, in front of 150 captivated locals (plus a goat). It was art how art should be. Not for the elite in a posh theatre, but for free performed where people live out their day-to-day lives, even if it meant competing with the stray dogs and odd motorcycle. I felt honoured to be part of the audience. See attached photos. Spot the goat?

Think of Haiti and images of earthquakes, aid relief and abject poverty come to mind. These are all true, yet Haiti also has many wonders: a beautiful Caribbean island with crystal clear waters, perfect for diving. Mountain ranges that just cry out for exploration, on foot or horseback. Creole cooking in any one of the numerous artisan family-run hotels on one of the most beautiful coastlines in the world.

Haiti is undoubtedly a country in recovery. Tourism is an important part of the recovery process. I will be back again. Why don’t you come with me? I will happily help organise a trip.

No. 79: Cold Big Apples and Hungry Haitian Sharks!

I have just arrived in New York. It is bitterly cold. It is not that nice ‘Ooo!-this-is-rather-refreshing’ sort of cold. It’s a bone-freezing cold. Tomorrow I have 5 meetings in 5 different locations around Manhattan. As I trudge from one meeting to the next I will get bluer and colder. Only now do I realise I didn’t pack enough. (indeed, had I brought and worn my whole wardrobe it still wouldn’t be enough!)

Over the weekend it will all change. I will be in Haiti where the temperature is bouncing around 25 degrees C. The sun will be shining. I will have too many clothes. That’s the sort of problem I like. I am going to Haiti to meet with Jim Chu from DLo Haiti (see Note 43, copied below - Isle is now a shareholder in DLo).

However nothing comes without a price. When arranging this trip a few weeks ago Jim mentioned that there was a sponsored sea swim happening at the same time. It sounded fun and I agreed to participate. The event will raise money for a coral reef restoration programme and to support a swimming programme for children in Haiti, both very worthwhile.

Here I am 48 hours before the event wondering what it was that made me agree to a 6.4km open-water swim in the shark-infested waters around Haiti. My youngest son (aged 13) is joining me for the swim, along with ( I hope) a lot of other people. I was briefly tempted to refer to my fellow swimmers as ‘Chums’, but since a Chum in English is used to describe both a friend and the raw meat and blood that one might throw into the sea to attract big fish to your fishing boat the reference feels a bit too near the knuckle.

Think of us on Saturday morning. The swim starts at 630am local time (do sharks have a breakfast time?). If this is my last Note then you will know why….

Should you want to know more, or feel compelled to make a contribution, you can donate and designate me or Torin (my son) as the swimmer you are supporting by going to www.swimforhaiti.org/donate.html 

Piers Clark

Chairman, Isle Utilities

Tel +44 7976 344233

Do you want to receive the semi-regular blog ‘Notes from Piers’? If so click here:   http://www.psacet.wix.com/piers

Isle is celebrating our 100^th TAG at the Global Water Summit, Athens 

Global TAG Conference and Awards, 26^th April 2015. 

Please get in touch for information about how to attend.

The best 5 hours of the week….

Today I booked some holiday and visited a small business in Haiti. The business is called DLo Haiti and it distributes water to rural communities. Its CEO, Jim Chu, is a truly inspiring man. You should know about him. Everyone should know about him.

First some facts. Haiti is a beautiful Caribbean island, surrounded by deep blue oceans, with white sandy beaches and lush mountain ranges. However since the 2010 earthquake Haiti is a country in recovery. 3000 people a year die of cholera. In rural areas unemployment is above 80%. People hustle to survive. They squeeze out an existence. Haiti doesn’t have the luxury of a water distribution network. In the big cities good quality water is supplied by tanker to street sellers. Outside the cities its frighteningly sporadic. When you can get it, clean water costs $33/m3. That’s 60 times the cost of US tap water. In Haiti, if you are poor you drink untreated well water, which is sold in the streets in 20 litre drums at a lower price than the clean water. Most of the time there isn’t much of a choice. Its dirty well water, or even dirtier canal water. Or nothing.

Jim’s vision for DLo Haiti is to establish a network of ‘water kiosks’. These are basically shops. Shops that sell clean water that has been produced on-site (using RO technology). He has 5 kiosks established already with another 15 planned for the next 12 months. This is not a charity. It’s a business. The water is priced at the same level as the dirty well water, and (crucially) the profit is shared through the supply chain. For the full story see the attached slides.

Jim is obsessed with building the local communities. It starts as ‘just’ a shop that sells water. But by employing locals money stays local. Suddenly the money isn’t going to the water trucking companies in the city. Next the kiosks sell other liquid products: such as milk – from Haitian cows and pasteurised on local Haitian farms. The water kiosk quickly becomes an integral part of the local community infrastructure. And that’s to say nothing of the healthcare benefits.

This approach is truly ground breaking. It is a fundamental shift in how water can be supplied in developing countries. Jim is proving the model in Haiti, but it could apply in many places around the world. Proving that water supply in developing countries can be economically sustainable is vital. Charity projects are great, but they are not a lasting solution. Often when a water pump breaks down (which they always do) no one local has the skills or capital to repair them. This is why most charity funded water pumps lie idle within a few years of construction. Water businesses need to be economically sustainable. And they need to be so deeply embedded into the local community that the community feels they ‘own’ them.

So successful has Jim’s kiosk model been that the locals apparently offered to ‘encourage’ a hotel to buy Kiosk water by setting tyres alight on the hotel front lawn. He wisely persuaded them against this strategy. In my few hours on the Island I got to visit a water kiosk, two resellers, and a local school. The school was particularly telling. 400 students and teachers sharing just under 150 lts of clean water a day. That’s two cups each if you are lucky. Madness. I sweated more than that whilst standing there (It was hot. I don’t have a health condition)

Isle gives a significant proportion of its profits to entrepreneurial businesses in the water sector in developing countries (through a charity we set up called REEF, the Revolving Economic Empowerment Fund). My goal in meeting Jim was to see if they were suitable for support from REEF. And they so are. Anyone who has followed these Notes this week will know it has been fairly manic. Exciting and fulfilling, but manic.

However the 5 hours I spent getting to know Haiti and DLo Haiti were, without a shadow of doubt, the best.

No. 78: Thank You….from Drinkwell International

On Dec 23^rd I wrote Notes No 66 (copied below). It told the story of Jonathan and Jennifer Hunter, from Drinkwell International, who are doing pioneering work in Malawi and who were facing a particularly challenging set of circumstances. I invited you to send them a message of support, to spread a bit of Christmas cheer. Many of you responded so Jonathan/Jennifer have asked if I could share their reply:

 Jennifer and I were overwhelmed by your messages of goodwill and support over the Christmas period.  I would like to thank you individually, however, due to the rather slow internet connection and the regular power cuts we enjoy here in Mzuzu (north Malawi) that could take some time.  Hence a group message sent through Piers!  So, thank you all, the gesture was most definitely appreciated, and made for a better Christmas. 

 The idea of Drinkwell began back in 2003 when we were doing various charity-funded water and sanitation projects. The intention was always to do more in Malawi, and we even considered establishing a dedicated charity. However, following several years working with different NGOs (in Sudan, Sri Lanka and Rwanda), I moved away from the aid model, and concluded that fostering private sector development was a better way to achieve truly sustainable goals.  A business needs to be financially viable to survive, so what better way than to develop a private business that builds local capacity? Notably, in the water sector follow-up services, (maintenance etc.) are desperately needed but rarely provided. UNICEF state that 40% of Malawi’s boreholes are not functioning!          

 In Malawi the plan therefore was for Drinkwell to be a local business run by locals, providing quality technical services in the water sector.  Our plan was that it would be financially viable within 3 years. We believed we already had a local partner who shared our vision and a functioning drilling rig leased from an American NGO. Sadly the rig turned out to be damaged, and we did not realise the scale of corruption/social crisis within Malawi today – it has worsened considerably since we were here in 03/04. Given the state of the country (failing public institutions, rife corruption, nepotism, and very low capacity in the workforce), it will be a long time before things stabilize such an enterprise.

We still very much believe private enterprise is the way forward in developing countries, and that it can play a very important role towards achieving real development and sustainability. It can help address the gaps that have been tackled (with little success) by countless NGOs, charities and donor-funded projects, or neglected by ever more corrupt and ineffective governments. Through Drinkwell we have learnt valuable lessons that I hope we (and others) can gain from in the future.  Though Malawi is still some-way off being a conducive environment for private sector development, I believe the model can work. I would support anyone who is prepared to try it.  

Despite the set-backs suffered by Drinkwell, the results achieved in the short-time we have been in operation show what is possible; 26 new community boreholes, 5 new water points in schools, hospitals and other institutions, 27 rehabilitated community water points, 7 rehabilitated in schools and other institutions, 7 rehabilitated for private clients reaching 19,000 beneficiaries providing them with much improved access to water.  If Drinkwell does not survive, then this is the memory I will take away from this experience.  The achievements in just under 2 years, with relatively little investment, calls into question the large budgets of the UN and NGOs and the often slow pace at which they work.

My biggest regret is we may never be able to fully re-pay the support and trust put into the enterprise by a few brave individuals at home, who made it all possible. 

Jonathan and Jennifer Hunter, January 2015

                                                      

COPY OF THE ORIGINAL  NOTE NO 66

And you thought your day sucked….

Drinkwell International is a Malawi-based business that drills and maintains boreholes. They provide water to communities in one of the poorest regions of one of the poorest countries in the world. I love this business.

Isle has provided financial support to Drinkwell over the past couple of years. We first learnt about the company through its MD, Jonathan Hunter. Back in the early noughties when he was a fresh graduate (and I still had hair), Jonathan was one of my colleagues at Atkins. Even then his commitment to Malawi was obvious. He would do regular trips.  

He reconnected with me in mid-2012 with a vision for Drinkwell. I thought it was inspired. Brave, risky, daring…but inspired.  I particularly liked the fact that I personally didn’t need to do anything other than provide some start-up capital. I am not a very practical person and my role as an investor rather than a hands-on employee was perfect. I can cause much less mayhem that way.

Over the past couple of years I have watched spellbound as Jonathan, supported by his wife Jennifer, has steadily built the business. Despite all the initial naysayers, they have successfully established themselves in Malawi. They have employed locals, drilled new wells, got paid for their services, built a reputation. The plan was to grow the business to a scale where it could be handed over to local Malawians as a going concern - not dependent upon charity, but a vibrant enterprise!

This summer Jonathan and Jennifer returned home to Scotland. This was partly to see family but mostly (I suspect) to enable Jennifer to have their fourth child (establishing Drinkwell was clearly not keeping them busy enough). Upon returning to Malawi Jonathan has discovered the truly heart-breaking news that his local partner has robbed him. There is clear evidence that he has defrauded the company, taken (and probably given) bribes, used company resources for his own purposes. The more Jonathan digs the more bad news he discovers. This is clearly tragic and grossly unfair.

Do not mistake Jonathan for a soft touch. He is a robust, clear headed, pragmatic man who now has to salvage what he can and rebuild where he can. However the damage caused may be too much. Only time will tell. Jonathan and Jennifer have every right to feel annoyed, angry and abused. They have done what very few people have the guts or the vision to do, and right now it must feel pretty sucky. My heart goes out to them.     

So now I have a tiny favour to ask you: please send Jonathan an email, congratulating him on the fantastic, ground-breaking work he has done and wishing him good luck for the new year (jonathannhunter@gmail.com – yes it does have two ‘n’s in the middle that is not a typo). Imagine how brilliant a Christmas present it would be if he was to open his emails (which he only gets access to once every few weeks) and see well wishes from people he doesn’t even know. He knows about these Notes so you can make reference to them.

There are too few people like Jonathan and Jennifer on this planet and if we can help them feel a little less alone, a little less screwed over, then that, surely, has to be something worthy of the Christmas period.

Best wishes for the holiday season, see you in the New Year. 

No. 77: Paval Policar: The James Bond of the water industry

Ok, so I admit it. I am in awe of Pavel Policar. He is one of those people who just sweeps you off your feet. He has gloriously crisp business brain (perhaps not unexpected for someone who is the Chairman of the Czech Water Association, and the CEO for a local water company, and runs a multinational construction company, and has a successful farm and…. ). He is also fantastically generous, sharing not just his physical resources but, arguably far more valuable, his precious time. I love Pav.

He is also completely and utterly bonkers. He has a thirst for adrenalin would probably get him certified insane in most countries. James Bond has nothing on him. When it comes to doing something wild and exciting he is your man. Competitive downhill stunt skiing, white water rafting, jumping out of aeroplanes (probably without a parachute) - these are all things that Pav would happily do without a moments consideration. I love Pav.

He recently sent me the attached photo. That’s his wife Monica in the car. The caption read ‘Got a text message from Monica. It read Pav, I am in trouble - handing over to the highway police the car and all other documents... Can you come and help’. It made me smile. I bet your local water company CEO doesn’t do this sort of thing. It takes a certain kind of Czech madness. I love Pav.

Last year my family visited Prague and spent a glorious weekend with Pav and his family. We canoed in the wild rivers, we watched lambs birthing on his farm, we raced up and down his field on one of his petrifyingly scary motorbikes (I didn’t drive, I merely clung onto him for dear life, exhilarated yet terrified). I love Pav.


When I got back to England I shared the story, via an early Note, with my Thames Water colleagues. Three women responded asking for his number.  I never told Monica. Some things are best kept to oneself. Only I am allowed to love Pav.