Last week was a week of reunions for me. Old faces to see again as L.E.K. Alumni met at the Dali exhibition at County Hall in London for a knees-up. Surprisingly (or maybe not), I did know and remember the majority of people there, some of whom, I have managed to keep in touch with.
And you realise time flies by quickly. Speaking with a partner, Maria, I asked how her baby is doing. "She’s not much of a baby now, she’s three," came the response. My goodness, so it has, and the little kid will be running around and will be able to build a typical L.E.K. valuation model in no time I bet!
But even this is only a short time. On Saturday, I returned for my second reunion of the week, the 20th anniversary celebrations of the St Paul’s School Aikido Club, which was founded in 1986 by science teacher, Nick Folkard. Supposedly, legend has it that Nick told the headmaster of the prep school that he’d be surprised if the club lasted more than four years. Well, it’s 20 years old now, and all from the hard work of the coaches and pupils as the club receives minimal funding from the School itself. And I hadn’t been back for 10 years alone!
It was a fun reunion – my age showed, as I was the oldest ex-student there – but with Nick and current coach, Rob Lawrance, who took over the club more than 10 years ago himself, plus a younger group of ex- and current aikidokas, it was all very enjoyable, not least because we could remark all the things that seemed to have changed in all that time.
A big question came up though. Rob intends to take an Old Pauline team to Japan in 2009 for the World Championships, and I’ve been invited to join. It’s a real privilege, and part of me really wants to do it. But, ten years out of the fold, and as a two minute bout at the end of the mat session on Saturday showed, there’ll need to be a lot of work done for me to get fit and ready in time. But maybe I should have a go…. We shall see.