North Pole winter floods into summer for this City veteran
It’s silly season in the City as its workers jet off to hotter climes – Ibiza, Tuscany and the South of France are destinations The Capitalist has heard time and time again. But Winterflood Securities’ founder Brian Winterflood had different ideas this summer. He’s just back from the North Pole.
“It was on my bucket list,” the septuagenarian told The Capitalist. “My wife wasn’t terribly pleased when I suggested it, but now she can’t stop talking about it.”
Brian and Doreen spent two weeks getting to the pole and back – setting off from Murmansk, Russia on a Nuclear-powered icebreaker, which steamed to the North Pole. “It was a fantastic experience, you get to the pole, get out and do some celebrating – walking on top of the world. Some hardy souls even went for a swim,” Winterflood told us.
The intrepid pair saw polar bears (from 500 yards and on the ship, thankfully), a walrus and its cub, lots of birds and the midnight sun. Not a bad haul for a summer holiday.
The only question left to ask is where next on Winterflood’s adventurous bucket list? “Well, I’m off to Tehran in October, but I would also love to go to internal Africa,” he said. “Although I couldn’t take my wife – it’s too dangerous!” We’re sure Doreen is breathing a sigh of relief.
■ Besuited City workers joined Olympic and Commonwealth medal winning cyclist Craig MacLean at Broadgate’s pop-up velodrome yesterday, as both pros and amateurs gave the wee track (pictured) a blast. “Obviously, it’s completely different to regular velodromes, but it’s pretty tricky,” McLean told The Capitalist. “The margin for error is very small if you’re going fast.”
Sure enough a large crowd gathered as people whizzed around, perilously close to the edge and some certainly weren’t up for having a go. “It looks great, it’s quite exiciting to watch but I don’t want a go – especially as I’ve just had a few drinks,” one RBS worker told us.
Don’t worry if you missed out though, there’s a whole weekend of cycle fun ahead of us thanks to the Prudential RideLondon event. Get those Lycra shorts out.