The Dirty Digger

Rupert Murdoch has made a bid for Dow Jones! He's been after the Wall Street Journal for years, and has finally made his move. Now we have to wait and see whether the Bancroft family want to sell. Could be good for me, could be bad. Received wisdom has it that the Newswires could be an important part of feeding Murdoch's news empire, in which case we could see some investment and expansion. Or else he may come in hacking, which wouldn't be as pleasant. Let the uncertainty begin!

Ruskins View

Me and Mum, with the view sort of behind us....

Eating's our specialty

Blue sky in the UK!!

Dent

Easter in Kirkby Lonsdale

Back in Britain for a flying visit to see the family. We're in Kirkby Lonsdale with Daphne and John, Mum and Dad, Sarah and Will. Slightly crazy to travel all this way, but worthwhile to be able to catch up - haven't seen D&J since our wedding. The town, on the border of the Yorkshire Dales and just outside the Lake District in the northwest of the UK, is absolutely beautiful.

Brooklyn

Can't believe it, I've been to Brooklyn nearly every day this week! Started in Prospect Park, then over to BAM Tuesday to buy tickets for Taming of the Shrew (by Edward Hall’s all-male company, Propeller) which was excellent. Wednesday was my first Akira Kurosawa film, Yojimbo, which was equally entertaining and a quite different spin on the straitlaced image I have of Japan. Thursday - day off from Brooklyn! Friday more tickets for the other Propeller production, Twelfth Night, which was on Saturday. Phew!! Never going back to Brooklyn ever again....

Vames housewarming

Warming the new apartment of Steven, a former Dow Jones colleague. Plenty of champagne...a very late night was had by all. Spent most of today recovering - though today did include a stint out in Prospect Park in Brooklyn for Alejandra's birthday (my boss' wife).

Guatemalan women

Main square

I really can't say I saw very much of Guatemala. But on the last morning I dashed to the main square to at least try and see a little bit of the city. There was a huge demonstration, several thousand people protesting against "privatization" of the education system. It wasn't long, but I did feel at least that I could get a feel for the country, its huge variety of ethnic groups which are indistinguishable to me but which presumably can be readily identified by their physical characteristics and the women's clothing.

Volcano

Quite surprised to look out of my hotel window this morning and see a volcano! Spectacular overlooking the city, and I never had the chance to see it until now!! It seems to be a relatively flat city on some sort of a plain that is nevertheless criss-crossed with relatively deep (10 metres?) river valleys. And surrounded by volcanos...

Friends reunited

Really great surprise to bump into friends here in Guatemala - the world of journalism really is very small. Richard and Fatima, and Andreas and Mary Angela are all good friends from our days in Sao Paulo.

Guatemala and the IDB

So I'm in Guatemala for the annual meeting of the Inter-American Development Bank, a so-called multilateral bank that provides loans for countries and companies investing in the region. It's a four-day event, with finance ministers from all over the region due to arrive - it's my task to track down as many of them as possible and hit them up for their outlook for their economies for the rest of the year, and any specific topics that may come up. A big issue at the moment is Venezuela's push to create a new bank, Banco del Sur, which would effectively compete with the IDB. And they're trying to drum up support here at the IDB meetings!! There's a lot of soul-searching going on, the IDB has been around for years but is a mere bystander when it comes to the action taken by Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, such as sending doctors out into the middle of nowhere to perform eye operations, which change people's lives. No real chance to see much of Guatemala - I'm basically living in a three-block radius of three or four of the plushest hotels, and surrounded by police - the kind of isolation for which these institutions are often criticised.

Off again

Off again - this time to Guatemala, via Houston, which steadfastly refused to reveal itself, and was shrouded in fog throughout the couple of hours I was there either side of midday. Wasn't expecting that from Texas! Slightly distressed to have to spend time in the George Bush airport, even if it is the old man.

Farewell, Rob!

Rob returns to England having arrived in New York the day before the fateful Sept 11, 2001. He's been a good friend to us in the short time that we've been here in New York, including lending his flat to Macarena's mum and sister, and we're going to miss him! Though of course we always have his brother, Laurence, to remind us of him :-)

O espetáculo dos amigos

Long weekend for President's day here in the U.S. and we've been inundated by friends - New York is really starting to draw in the crowds. Fabio and Flavia have come in from Sao Paulo, despite American Airlines' best efforts, Helena is flying through on her way to Uruguay, James Attwood is still around and Robbie is starting his rounds of goodbyes as he heads back to the U.K.

Beer

Neon

Impending fatherhood

Attwood

James Attwood - nearly five years since we last saw him, a great friend from Chile and fellow BNAer. Now in New York training with the enemy (Bloomberg) for a month, leaving Paulina and his two kids in Santiago. This was a freezing cold day - great welcome to NY - so we braved it across the Brookyln Bridge, plus some great dim sum in Chinatown.