In the fall-out from the showbiz wedding of the year which took
place earlier this month - the one between Sir Paul McCartney and
Heather Mills for those of you who pretend to only read The FT -
there has been little discussion of the role played in the bride's
life by her previous husband, channel veteran Alfie Karmal.
For the most part, Alfie has chosen to keep his own counsel, but
there was a fascinating article in The Sunday Times of 16 June
presenting his version of their sometimes stormy relationship.
And with Peter Rigby, chairman of SCH, getting a knighthood, it was
a bumper week for the channel in terms of raising its profile with
the world at large.
Life's a beach
We've noticed the onset of summer here
at Soap Towers - nothing to do with cuckoos or the coming of the
longest day, but the fact that our contacts throughout the industry
are all off on holiday in sunny climes and still answering their
mobile phones.
Three times during the past week, Soap has called someone's mobile
to have a long chat about the comings and goings in the channel,
only to find the people we're talking to are actually sitting on a
beach in the Maldives.
Surely their wives and families can't be that boring
Don't call us
One thing's for sure, you wouldn't get
that kind of behaviour from anyone here at Soap Towers.
If one of us was off on our holidays to The Bahamas or Skegness
(the likeliest candidate on our wages), he or she would make damn
sure no one from MicroScope could call up on their mobile
phone.
Jaw jaw, sore sore
Speaking of calling at inopportune
moments, one of our people was trying to have a chat with Howard
Rippiner, Emea marketing manager at Overland Data, on his mobile
phone last week.
But our man was bemused when all he got back from Howard was an
almost incomprehensible mumble - not that we don't get this kind of
response sometimes from people in the industry.
Eventually, our man managed to deduce from the mumbles - he's very
quick that way - that Howard was asking if he could call him back
in an hour.
It seems he had just been to the dentist and the injections were
making his mouth too numb to talk properly.
Although it doesn't apply in Howard's case, the dental visit could
be a very good means for people in the industry to put off
difficult questions until they've had time to think of an answer.
At the very least, it could give them time to turn their mobile
phones off.