The good thing about the CIE work at the entrance to Connolly Station is that we no longer take our lives into our hands every time we want to leave the IFSC. The road leading up to the station joins the entrance to the IFSC and pedestrians are always at risk from buses, taxis and cars hurtling down the hill to join the frenzy that is Amiens Street traffic.
Now, however, thanks to the upgrading, we can stroll casually out of the centre without risking life and limb. Things will change, no doubt, when the work is completed, but in the meantime the improvement in the quality of life knows no bounds. However, the rear entrance to the centre is another story this week. The Citibank building is going up at an absolutely incredible rate, but it has led to intermittent traffic chaos as an assortment of JCBs trundle along Commons Street while the BMWs and Mercs follow sedately behind. There was a tailback almost as far as East Wall one Friday evening and I have to admit to a somewhat smug feeling as I drove casually (once I negotiated the medley of trucks) out to Clontarf while anybody going southside was doomed to an in terminable wait. Last Monday morning (why Monday? Monday's are bad enough already), was a complete disaster as the street was bedecked with cones and stripy plastic paper while someone had abandoned a cement mixer (or something similar) in the middle of the road. Tempers got pretty frayed as people approached the car-park only to be foiled by either the cement mixer or the cones.
On the plus-side, they've planted some trees on the pavement although I can't help feeling that the poor saplings are bound to be covered in cement and/or cement dust before the end of the week.
The pay station in the car-park seems to be permanently out of order these days and I'm beginning to wonder if most of those parking here have lost the use of their legs. When the pay station isn't working you're supposed to pay at the exit three times last week I was stuck behind people who drove as far as the barrier before getting out to pay. Each time I've been treated to an apologetic shrug from the culprit, but if someone gets me on a bad day I won't be held responsible for my actions!
There's a funny little quirk about leaving the pedestrian exit to the carpark too. The steps to street level (a mere four or five of them) mean that you have to turn left when you walk out. But most people leaving the car-park work in buildings to the right. So everyone ignores the steps and walks through the flowerbeds instead. The net difference is a saving of about five seconds! Are we all so busy that we need to shave five seconds off every working day? (I have to admit to being an occasional offender myself.)
The organisers of the summer barbecue managed to pick a reasonably warm, if not sunny, evening for this year's event. The setting would have been absolutely wonderful if the sun had been blazing down, but it still looked good and everyone got into the spirit of the night. The only problem was that it was held on a Thursday good, no doubt, for sales of Lucozade and other rehydration drinks on Friday morning, but not great for essential investment decisions. Just as well it was a holiday in the US a lot of people weren't able to last the pace of a full Friday in the office.
I was talking to an old friend of mine recently one of the crew who was a foreign exchange dealer when most people still thought it was something to do with Las Vegas and we were reminiscing about the changes in financial markets over time. I try not to reminisce too often, it's definitely a sign of advancing age! We were wondering what sort of jobs we would have done if financial services (although it wasn't called financial services then, just dealing) hadn't beckoned.
When I was younger, I wanted to be an astronaut but not living in the US was a bit of an obstacle, as well as being short-sighted, claustrophobic and having asthma. Anyway, the career's guidance teacher didn't think much of it as a long-term choice, although I think she's been proved wrong. My pal wanted to be a rally driver. But I guess a lot of people want to be rally drivers certainly anybody using Commons Street does.
After the last sport-dominated weeks, though, we reckoned that being a sports commentator is probably one of life's better jobs. You get to watch a variety of top events (and sometimes, if you're really lucky, you'll actually be there instead of in the studio) and then you can talk as much rubbish as you like. (Someone has just told me that that's the same as being a market commentator. What is the lad talking about?) RTE has an advertisement for its sports department telling us that watching the station is as good as being there
if you were watching the highlights of the ladies quarter-finals at Wimbledon it was right because it showed it without any commentary at all. Could have been okay, but the station cut between games and sets without saying what was going on a similar sensation, I suppose, to being there and indulging too much on the champagne.
I'm wondering whether the new governor of the South African central bank will be given a sporting chance when he eventually takes up office. In one of those incredible market quirks, both the rand and South African bonds fell when Tito Mboweni was named as Chris Stals' successor.
If you recall, the rand has plummeted under a wave of speculative selling lately, and you'd think that the markets might welcome a new hand, even if he isn't due to take up office until Mr Stals retires in 1999. But no, people are afraid that Mr Mboweni is not as hawkish on inflation as Mr Stals and that was what prompted the selling. Although exactly what damage he can do in the short term when he hasn't even taken up the job yet is still a mystery. And investors are criticising the central bank anyway for not having taken decisive action on the rand before now.
The sort of decisive action that Germany took when they brought on an extra striker in the last 15 minutes or so of their match with Croatia. Glancing up from my book (not a weighty tome on financial markets I have to admit) I casually remarked that they were leaving themselves open to a fast break from the Croatians. A couple of minutes later . . . if only my market commentary were as prescient as my sports commentary. Sheila O'Flanagan is a fixed-income specialist at NCB.
