A world without Cheese.

So just back from dinner with B and B at the Odeon. Apart from Ben’s 30 minute rendition (play by play) of the roller-derby, the meal was spanking good. In fact, the tuna was cooked to perfection – just as I had requested – and I had requested ‘however you think it should be done’ as I’m not used to asking how my fish should be cooked. Ask me if my goose is cooked and I’ll tell you, but fish? That’s just not cricket.

 

So, we eat, we chat we ‘do’ grappa and then we dessert. Well at least B and B do. Upon asking for a cheese plate by a waiter we presume was called Todd (no reason, he just looked like a Todd) we were told ‘we don’t do cheese plates, it’s just not on the menu’.

 

Holy moly. So they can offer 3 types of cheese on a cheeseburger but not 3, or even British Airways style, 2 types of cheese and a bloody water biscuit? 

 

It’s not like I’m asking for unicorn tears; I’m asking for what is proper and normal. And yet the Odeon can’t bring me this passed your eyes delight. So passed my eyes it’s clearly in the next sodding restaurant.

 

Shame on you Odeon, with you lovely meal and your fabulous grappa  - is a little cheese too much to ask?

Huzzah! A night on the ’tiles’!

Tonight the city beckons with her dainty hand, which belies a wicked wicked core.

We’re off to Country, on Madison for dinner with Over Qualified Many Secret Skills Friend in the city who’s just returned from Long Island. We are VERY excited.

Today Ben has remodelled the entire flat.

Well, we’ve moved the bed, but above our bed, lies a super chic hospital bed curtain (but in aluminium and lined fabric) and to move it was an act that involved a mop,  4 seperate trips to the ‘hardware store’ and plenty of ‘arrghhhs’ and flat batteries on a drill.

Why does a rechargable drill never really recharge?

Ben can be so manly at times it hurts.

Another year… another oyster.

So, cast your mind back to May 8th. That’s the night before the ‘Epic Trip’ began. But I’m not sure we’ve talked much about it. It was the beard’s birthday and for his birthday I had booked an epicurean feast for those who are passionate about LSOS (Little Shells Of Snot) – or Oysters as they are more commonly known.

Batia joined us for a SUMPTUOUS dinner at the Grand Central Oyster Bar, deep in the bowels of the station and a New York Classic. Ben’s face lit up as we approached (not just because of the self-tanning) and he looked as excited to be there as I did to be there with him.

Shortly after Batia arrived, looking PRECISELY like your best dream of Chanel – in delicate layers, precise quilting and hair as sleek as it was raven. Stunning frankly.

Nearly as stunning as the nigh on 30 oysters that Ben pretty much consumed on his own with a face of such abject delight that I could cast aside any thoughts for his poor insides.

An experience is often worth more than a gift, and this experience with some very special people was both a wonderful birthday present for him – and a great parting memory before my big old tour.

Sublime.

More from Shanghai.

More from Shanghai., originally uploaded by English Man in New York City.

It’s clear that I had no concept of the scale of the earthquake until a day later; as was the case with many involved here in the recovery and aid to those affected in Chengdu. There’s no doubt it’s a terrible terrible disaster and I’m proud that my client made a substantial donation to relief efforts promptly and with good grace just the very next morning. We shared that news with all their APAC employees and mentioned it to some of the press we were meeting. As always in China the news was met with polite respect.

It’s simply dominating the press and papers over here. China Daily has a wrap-around front cover showing a sea of orange suited rescue workers trying their best to save lives. And it is the conversation. What impressed me was the speed of mobilisation of both rescue workers and the travel to the affected area by China’s premier almost immediately after the disaster – that’s the sort of response we can’t imagine in our country at times. China’s leader, Wen Jaibao got on the ground and lead operations – I’m sure his history as a geologist gave him some special insight. My point is, he didn’t just fly over the area in Air Force One – remember Katrina?

In other news, we did do our press meetings yesterday and they did go well. It always impresses me how interpreters manage to digest and translate long passages of comment seemingly flawlessly, although Judy did restrain my praise by deftly telling me that I couldn’t really commend her on her work as I obviously didn’t have a clue what was being said. Fair point.

Translated interviews may seem tiring and hard work, but in fact to a PR they can be highly effective – why? Well because during translation out from the response to a question the subject can be given relevant pointers and facts to support a point. You effectively have a lag that enables you to assist your talent in making sure they make the best point. And that was yesterday, I had a brilliant array of tabbed facts and statements at hand; including the interesting fact that less than 2% of China’s investment in the Olympics is actually building stadiums and venues – the rest is infrastructure and real estate.

There was a speech to write and we worked on that ‘West-Wing’ style in the clients suite over intravenous coffee and after a predictably pointless interview by phone with a journalist who had an axe to grind. I stepped in a number of times to keep our messaging ‘on-track’. We piled into a Buick (referred to as a Brick by bad itinerary translations) and trekked to The Door – a stunning period Chinese building that I can only imagine was a communal apartment block from the 1900’s. A massive stone central staircase roped around and atrium and the building was dominated by incredible Chinese art. The room in which we ate (well I didn’t ) was topped with a dark-wood vaulted ceiling and precisely the right blend of old and new ie. not some Pottery Barn/West Elm imitation claptrap type roomset.

I was blown away by my clients’ ability to memorize the entire speech without once referring to the prompt cards; something you see rarely in a work dominated by tele-prompting or script reading. The speech got a great response and I retired to my room to sleep for 90 minutes before beginning working on other clients at Midnight local time (morning Mountain time in the USA).

Off to sleep at about 2am having persuaded the client to finally put me in the same hotel as our CEO (which met with no actual resistance – you see it’s not WHAT you ask it’s HOW you ask) and it makes sense considering I have to manage his CNBC live interview in Japan on Friday morning.

Today, first time to have free time, a leisurely breakfast and online check-in to my ANA flight to Tokyo. I was impressed that instead of a boarding pass they send you a link to a 2D code which you can show on your phone and have read at a counter in the airport. I’m scared of Japan.

Finally, today’s picture, which was taken in a shaky taxi yesterday and clearly illegible (is that tortology?)… demonstrates that although I think Shanghai is one of my top three cities on earth (the other two being London and New York) there’s still a little way to go with tact.

Yes, it’s instructions to tell you that ‘pycho’s and drunkards’ may not ride in the taxi alone. I’m more former right now than latter.