A part of this job is that we meet a lot of interesting and sometimes, fairly influential people. And with that comes a lot of varied chat.
I had a guy a couple of weeks back who was actually in negotiations with Donald Trump, with his construction business. He quoted a £2m contract to the Mr T and Mr T phoned personally and said he wanted it for £1.4m and that was all he was willing to pay. Let’s say the contract didn’t go ahead. What an unfortunate way to be? How hard and mercenary. Yuk.
I then caddied for a genial Frenchman Bernard Bourgeois. What a great name for a start. He lived in Paris but said he had a little bit of land in Bordeaux on which it turns out he made wine. And I must try Chateau Brillette one day. Just a shame his tip wasn’t brillette too. But he was a very nice chap.
He told me a story about his club in Paris, Saint Cloud. On the ninth hole you can see the Eiffel Tower and it is seemingly the ideal line for your drive. There is a local legend that the committee members of Saint Cloud used their muscle to persuade the architect’s of the Tour Eiffel to adjust their plans, so that it would indeed give that perfect line. Anyway some visiting Americans were once told of this and by all accounts this made news in the local press back in the States.
I am not meaning to get at the US here but I did once here, on Princess Street in Edinburgh, an American chap somehow exclaim ‘what time does the one o’clock gun go off?’ So I suppose all things are possible. I mean Donald Trump might one day even stand for Presidency.
Oh sorry! Forgot he had.