City athlete switches from PwC to Team GB at triathlon world championships
Mark Carney isn’t the only one in the City getting excited about the Commonwealth Games, PwC’s Mike Essex will be watching today’s triathlon with heightened interest – the senior PwC manager will be competing for his country himself come the end of next month.
Essex, who turned 40 in March, will compete for Team GB in the triathlon world championships in Edmonton, Canada, on 29 August, in the over 40s age category.
“The question everyone asks is, ‘How do you fit it in?’ If you want something enough, you can analyse your week and find the time, if you’re willing to make sacrifices,” he told The Capitalist. With two young kids in addition to the high pressure job, that’s no mean feat.
■ Holiday rental firm Airbnb has been left a little red-faced for the second week in a row. Last week all-and-sundry on the internet were accusing it of having a new logo that was, well, a bit rude. This week, two of its customers are having a very public row. Airbnb has said its will assist one of its hosts, Cory Tschogl, with legal fees as she battles to eject a visitor who has decided to overstay his welcome. It seems an Airbnb customer who rented Tschogl’s Palm Springs condo for 44 days until 8 July is still there. And to add insult to injury, is threatening to sue her because she said she’d turn off the power if he didn’t leave. It turns out anyone renting a place for more than 30 days has protection under Californian law and the police can’t forcibly boot him out. There’s always one who’ll ruin it for everyone else, eh?
■ What do you get someone who has everything, tropical island included, for their birthday? A cake fashioned into the shape of their island, of course. News of how Sir Richard Branson celebrated this 64th birthday last week reached us mere mortals after he publishing a blog yesterday entitled “How to throw a party on Necker”. The answer (should you ever happen to find yourself in that area of the Caribbean) is, “with cake, fireworks, some dancing on tables, and a whole lot of love!” The Capitalist approves of all of the above – with one exception. The photos of the jovial shindig show fireworks instead of candles on the cake. With Necker’s fire in not too distant memory, are naked, sparky flames inside a wise choice?