THE WALK - DAY 11 - 04/09/07

Dear William,


Today it was Ana Maria's turn to take me to the path at Kingston Bridge, before making her way to her office. As I had intended, I just did a 5 mile walk starting at 8.00 a.m. and finishing at 9.35 a.m. This is a very nice and easy stretch of the river and everything was very peaceful at that time of the morning. I later returned home courtesy of British Rail, via Richmond, Clapham Junction and Weybridge.

As I was approaching Richmond I came across an Argentinian restaurant "Gaucho". It reminded me of that time that I lived and worked in Buenos Aires . It was there that I met one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen and who, a few years later, agreed to be my wife. We have known each other for 37 years and have been married for 33. I love her as much now as I did when we first met.

The restaurant has a beautiful tree in its grounds, which is considered to be one of the Capital's Great Trees.







Today I want to mention two letters that were waiting for me when I returned home this midday and which for me have been the icing on the cake of everything I have been trying to achieve these past 11 days. The first was a letter from one of my neighbours, Jan Dutton, who writes:

Dear Robert,

Your walk is a wonderful gesture to all cancer sufferers and their
families. My mum died of cancer 2 years ago leaving £10 in her
purse. This is her £10. Wishing you success in raising the £2000. Warmest wishes.

Jan

The second letter was from Archie McNair, my old friend and mentor. Archie was the business brains behind the Mary Quant Group of Companies and was the Chairman and Managing Director of Thomas Jourdan plc (TJ), an offshoot of the Mary Quant Group. I was priviledged to work as the TJ Deputy Managing Director and Group Secretary for many years. Most of what I learnt about business I owe to Archie and I hope he still thinks I was not a bad pupil! Mary Quant and her husband Alexander Plunket Greene were non-executive directors of TJ and I have very fond memories of those days. Archie sent me a cheque for £1005 and I am sure he will not mind me quoting from a small note that accompanied the cheque:

Dear Robert,

Thank you for inviting us to participate in the William Gomez Challenge; as I write I can imagine you must be approaching our towpath in Fulham. I hope your walk is proving comfortable and that your feet are standing up to the exercise (he obviously has not been reading my blog!). I remember William well - we met and talked at the theatre in Gibraltar..........I enclose some money for your excellent cause with great pleasure......Best wishes and love to you all.

Archie

Thank you Jan and thank you Archie. You have both made my day!

Only 3 more days to go!