I was just getting over one blast from the past, when another arrived:
"Pete, I met you in the early '80s when I acted as a barley broker between various grain traders and Abdul Ghani. If this message reaches you it would be great to catch up, and I would like to get in touch with Abdul Ghani."
One email led to another, and it turned out that this long-forgotten acquaintance, after leaving his previous broking firm Cheltermill in Newark-on-Trent which I visited in 1984 and with whom I did business while working in Jeddah, set himself up as a sort of consultant-broker in Geneva in 1993, married (his fourth wife!!!), had three kids (in addition to three from previous marriages), and took out Swiss citizenship.
Born a Jew and raised by the Jesuits, he used to discuss Islam with my former boss Abdulghani Mofarrij and even converted to it in 2000 - in his own words, "whatever gets you through the night" - and now lives in a tiny farming village in rural Switzerland where men are men and sheep are frightened - and minarets are banned!
As he says, the Jews taught him the importance of family and community, the Jesuits the meaning of discipline, and the Muslims the fine art of hypocrisy.
He writes that he's inclined to entropy and "out of sync with today's crazy world and waiting for the solar flare that will make fools out of us all." No wonder he took refuge in a tiny village in Switzerland: eating Swiss chocolates while being snowed in for half the year is one way of dealing with the problems of the world!
It tolled for thee! Why am I the only 'normal, well-adjusted' person?
Anyway, I've told him that it was good to be in touch again - as long as he doesn't mention the war!
P.S. Click also here.
