Mad, bad and dangerous to know

Yes that's what Lady Caroline Lamb famously said of Lord Byron. I'm not quite sure how this has happened, but over the years I seem to have collected quite a number of reprobate friends. Of those, the three above, Will, Philippe and Mark could slot in to any cartoon by James Gillray. The origins of this relationship go back to the BT Global Challenge of 1996/97 where each of them (and me too for a little while) were part of the starboard watch on the yacht 3Com.

Today Will has a conference business, Philippe is a professional sailor, Mark is a partner at Deloitte while I'm fulfilling my ambition to be a struggling writer. Downing our pints in a pub in London's Shepherd Market after a ridiculously long lunch, it seemed to me that the scene had not changed in hundreds of years. The pub remains a daily canvas for all human life.

I think they may be auditioning here for a part in a Batman film.

Had the travel gods been a little kinder I might have been in Sweden today instead of dosing up on Resolve. Oh well!