Chris Barrow’s Blog

After my usual 5.00am start in the West End yesterday, I was feeling very pleased with myself as I checked out of my hotel at 7.45am with emails all answered and ready for a busy day of meetings.

The main body of the day was invested in a team meeting that genuinely moved a business forward and, again, I emerged feeling extremely pleased with myself at 5.00pm – and on to an early dinner at Cafe Caldesi  with my good friend Dr. James Goolnik, just to catch up on what we have both been doing in the last month.

My plan was to leave the West End at 7-ish and drive over to Ealing – there to pick up my friend Michel Neray who is in the the UK for the annual conference of The Professional Speakers Association – he’s a speaker in Birmingham.

I haven’t seen Michel since I last visited Toronto over a year ago – so this would be a chance to catch up in my car as I transported him to The Forest Of Arden Hotel, on my way to Manchester.

It took me an hour to drive the 10 miles from Goodge Street to Ealing – ridiculous traffic and a constant repetition of my mantra – “this is why I live in Cornwall” – but the prospect of a good conversation with Mr. Essential Message was motivation enough.

So imagine my confusion (and their’s) when I knocked on the door of a private residence and asked for Michel – to be greeted by looks of confusion and incredulity – and no Michel in sight.

Why?

Delayed flight? Accident? Incorrect address?

A phone call to Annie reveals the simple explanation…..

I hadn’t read the instructions.

He arrives in a week from now.

Michel is sitting in his office in Toronto as I’m banging on a stranger’s door in west London.

Duh.

Oh well – a few embarrasing conversations later I found myself back on the road, facing a solitary drive back to my apartment – oh – and at 11.15pm last night I was stationary on the M6 in Cheshire with three lanes of traffic, waiting to be channelled down to one lane and accommodate overnight roadworks.

I tell you – when you’ve been up since 5, pulled that double shift, made quite a fool of yourself and find a traffic jam after 11.00pm at night – that’s when you question your professional lifestyle.

Anyways – another 5 o’clock start this morning and a busy day of meetings at IDH ahead – I’m looking forward to it – but not as much as I’m looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow morning.

How daft am I?

Sorry Michel – you’ll be on the train next week.