Have you ever been wondering what it is like to be a CEO? Our Matt has some stories to tell... read on and see!
I’ve been on my travels again in the quest to keep
all the plates spinning across our middle-eastern, Russian and UK client bases
and at this time of year it often means I have to try and cover hot and cold
climates, plus carry demos and samples and other bits and pieces crammed into
one piece of hand luggage.
My
mission was to get to Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Moscow
and back again in 4 days.
The
UAE leg of my trip saw me take in a last minute film pitch with the municipality of Abu Dhabi, a website for the ministry of
foreign affairs that is looking at non-violent methods to counter violent
extremism and to talk to an extremely well-heeled client about a possible
promotional campaign in the automotive sector…Not
your average Assembly spread of work but increasingly we are working in other
areas other than the real estate industry which is good news for diversity.
After 2 hectic days of meetings and catching up
with our UAE studio and packing the excellent media pack Dina created for Arab
Film Studios (see it here!) into my already over filled luggage, it was
time for the Russian homeward bound leg.
It’s only 4/5 hrs to Moscow
from Abu Dhabi,
but the temperature switch can be quite dramatic. Last year I left 32 degrees
behind and walked into -19 deep freeze. Given I only packed a woolly hat as an
after thought, I was lucky as it was a balmy 2 degrees when I landed.
My very good friend and client picked me up almost
immediately after I arrived at my hotel and speeded expertly through what
seemed to be otherwise stationary traffic, took a trolleybus on head to head
and darted in at the last minute, scything across 6 lanes of traffic and
turning right from the left hand lane…. He chuckled to himself as I
inadvertently tried to brake from the passenger seat with my foot and said
“You’ve missed this haven’t you?”…. er…. Not really…
Next I had 5 meetings, in 3 locations, and the only way
to make the schedule was to use the metro as the traffic in Moscow is
horrendous off peak. The metro is magnificent in places, and baffling at
the same time if you don’t read Russian. I can read very slowly more or less,
but the point is, unless you are deciphering an English word (ie for example
the word supermarket) once you actually read the word, it really doesn’t help.
Try reading Krasnopresnenskaya, in cyrillic, whilst it flashes past the window
as you arrive at the station… Krasno…..Kras…….noo…… Krasno….. Kr…. Ah forget
it. What you have to do is do what umpires do at the cricket and knock a finger
off each time you go through a stop – limits you to 10 stops but I had the
fortune not to have to go any further on any one line.
So a few tactics I have adopted – get the circle
line and count the number of stops in both directions…. If when you get out
you’re not where you’d hoped to be, retrace your steps and continue on by the
difference? Simples.
Also, I have given up actually trying to exit from
the right exit, (often ¼ of a mile difference!!) because just like when you try
and take a short cut in IKEA it spits you out in another kitchen department in
another country, or in my case, always the furthest exit from where I was
headed to.
Dinner at an Azerbaijani restaurant was
actually delicious – apparently it’s fine to drink high grade vodka, (in fact
it’s mandatory) after each mouthful of food to have a shot down in one…. salad
with “brown” meat, some interesting pancake things with more minced “brown”
meat, tongue, asparagus wrapped in pig fat…. (ok that last one wasn’t so hot…)
and delicious bbq’d lamb chops, I think.
To cut what is turning out to be a long story
short, made the plane back home by the skin of my teeth, changed in Dusseldorf where my
luggage nearly left me behind due to a ridiculous queue at passport control and
then boarded the plane to London with a German version of Billy Jean’s not my
lover was playing – refrained from the obvious and extremely tempting “walk in
time” down the aisle, was mildly amused by the German pilot informing us that
we needed a “slut” to get things going (think he meant slot) and then settled
down to a well earned nap.
