Thinking MR

I told you so

It's the end of the world as we know it (And I feel fi ne)" R.E.M., 1987.

It has come to my att ention dear readers that my most popular missives involve tales of travel and preferably unfortunate events befalling me. So, at great personal sacrifi ce and to get the inspirational juices fl owing I took myself off to Switzerland. Well, Switzerland, Italy and France to be precise. That my departure from Australia’s fair shores has coincided with our new prime minister realising he’s inherited one very poisonous chalice, brings me no joy. I guess I can take heart from the miracle of internet news which allows me to monitor Anthony and friends as the terrible truth sets in. Yes indeed, the world has turned to crap and what bett er place to watch the end of times as we know them, than on some magnifi cent lake in a far off land. To be fair I have not travelled halfway ‘round the world to escape the political chaos at home. I’ve come here to access reliable power. No, just kidding, I’ve come to ride a push bike and hopefully catch a glimpse of the Tour De France. The ‘managing director’ failed to accompany me, suggesting that my departure will bring joy, relief, and a signifi cant drop in her stress levels. You see, this trip is a bit of a ‘spur of the moment’ thing, and I managed to have a near nervous breakdown trying to identify and mitigate every possible contingency.

Checking, rechecking, double guessing… You get the picture. Those who know me will understand. Hell, some of my clients even like that obsessive part of my personality. Anyway, if you’ve never organised fl ights, hire cars, itineraries, bicycle shipping, insurance, and accommodation for such an adventure it turns out there’s a bit that could go wrong. To my infi nite relief, so far nothing has!

Emirates was on time and great to travel with, the bike turned up with me in Geneva and to my surprise and delight fi tt ed in the hire car. That was aft er the wonderful people at Europcar let me swap my booked vehicle for something a bit bigger, and at no cost… Legends!

First stop, a small village in the Swiss alps. I won’t name it as there are a few Aussies living there and I don’t want to off end anyone. I booked directly with the accommodation house and turned up mid-aft ernoon. Sorry, check in at 4pm. Oh, and checkout between 8am and 10am. Okay, where do I park? Well, you can drop your gear here and then head down to the carpark. Now, when one is any place with “Alps” in its title, “head down” is never good. Turned out the car park is half a km from the hotel and a 5 percent grade uphill, a walk in 32-degree heat back to the room. When I got all the stuff out of the car, I discovered the room is down at the bott om of the other side of the joint, with a 5 percent downhill walk on a very ordinary path. I’m not sure if any of you have had a large suitcase and a bike box on wheels gather momentum in an alpine environment but it’s quite the thing to witness. At the bott om of the path was a chairlift operating summer sightseeing.

Mike Phipps,

Director, Mike Phipps Finance