memorabilia

Maybe I've mentioned it before, but I'm hoping to move house in the next few months. The dreaded downsizing.

This place is way too big for just Taylor Jr and me, plus he's at the age where he could decide to move out next week.

Lots of stuff is going in the bin, or to the charity shop, or onto Ebay. The stuff with genuine sentimental (as opposed to junk) value is tricky.

The items in the Blip caught my eye today, and reminded me of the need to be ruthless. Sometimes.

They are for eating Japanese food, and were given to me by a client in 1986. Kibun had selected Motherwell for its first European manufacturing base, and I helped them through the process.

It was my first experience of the Japanese way of doing things, and holds some wonderful memories. I'd never been to Asia at that time, but within 3 years I'd been to Singapore, Hong Kong. Macau and Thailand - more than once. I've still never been to Japan, mind you!

Kibun

I was delighted to find that Kibun is still in Motherwell.

One interesting memory from that experience is of being in a meeting with a senior Scottish civil servant who was responsible for attracting inward investment. I was struck by how abjectly ignorant he was about my function in the process and the Japanese way of doing things. To be more direct, he had no idea how to get what he wanted.

He went on to hold a very senior position in one of the banks which went bust got into serious difficulty. Figures...

These items will be going with me.