Buffett, Twain & Wilde

Those of you who know me well can expect a few Jimmy Buffet song lyrics, Mark Twain-ish observations and maybe even an Oscar Wilde quote or two. It’s been a few days since I’ve had a chance to post something and maybe Twain knew a thing or two about blogging:

“If you wish to inflict a heartless and malignant punishment upon a young man, pledge him to keep a journal…” – The Innocents Abroad

For me, I just have to learn to squeeze it into my Safari-packed days!

Over the long weekend I attended two wedding parties in two different countries with both grooms named Tim – one I came to see and one I met along the way. What are the chances?

I escorted Tim (my friend in the UK) to his traditional Zambian ceremony just north of London on Saturday. One of my responsibilities was to show up in a navy-blue suit jacket – check. Well sort of…once I arrived at the ceremony I realized I left my jacket hanging on the back of a door where I was staying in Twickenham. The trip back to retrieve it was over an hour away so I had to come up with a suitable replacement quickly. I found a local TK Maxx (no misprint) found a jacket near my size and just out of my budget and the wedding was on! First stop was the men’s reception prior to the ceremony which consisted of fine drink and catering provided by Papa John’s (no misprint!)

I was deeply honored to escort him to the nuptials and there was a grand reception afterward in the traditional Zambian style.

My plan for Sunday was to go flying with my friend Wing Commander Wilkinson in his private plane (the cool part is it has a whole plane parachute if there’s a big “Houston we have a problem” problem – and it’s a single use deal at that). However, London weather was not in a cooperative mood and no parachutes were tested. Fortunately, Simon is an expert on cyber in the UK and we got time for an excellent chat with him and Tim about our shared interests with some great insights and I promise to take those notes and appropriately distill them in an upcoming post dedicated to cyber.

To round out the weekend I got to spend time with my good mate Michael in Twickenham on Sunday where he, I and his friend Martin (proud owner of a new navy blue suit jacket) shared pints, laughed and proceeded to solve the worlds problems into the wee hours of the morning.

With my weekend in Amsterdam and London concluded, rather than flying I opted for a more civilized mode of travel via the Eurostar train, under the English Channel and onto the City of Lights – Paris.

Next up – He went to Paris!

If you’re joining in progress and curious about my trip, start here.