A pox on the internet

Turned on the laptop at 6.30am this morning – no internet signal. Some checks indicate that the problem is not with the laptop, or the wireless router – its the phone company.Maybe somebody has put a virtual spade through a virtual pipe somewhere – I cannot see any white vans around so the source of the problem remains a mystery. As a result, I checked my first batch of emails in MacDonald’s at lunchtime, surrounded by dozens of college students and I’m now sat in the dreaded Pizza Hut, where I have succumbed to a deep-pan pepperoni so that I can log on and do some catch up before my battery runs out. This time my co-eaters are an assortment of more college students and random young families – all of us taking advantage of the 3.99 lunchtime buffet. It’s so exciting and exotic to be a 21st Century coach – living the high life in amazing places. Hmmm. I have just had a great meeting with an accountant I met at one of my own workshops last week. Normally I get very suspicious and protective when a dentist brings an accountant to my “gig” – assuming that he will either steal my stuff or rubbish my ideas (how’s that for a negative mindset?) but I chatted with this guy over lunch last week and immediately connected with him – probably because we chatted about kite-surfing and not double-entry book-keeping. Impressed enough to visit his offices today and, after an hour’s conversation, to agree to meet with him for a full day in 2 weeks time, to indulge in a day of him coaching me on my business plans. He sits in a palatial modern office, clean lines, light oak furniture, people moving around doing things at a measured pace – the place looks so professional. I am sat in Pizza Hut with human flotsam and jetsam – and it’s doing my brains in at the moment.