tour of heathrow
I've been working on stuff for BAA for three and a half years, since one Friday in January 2008 when Todd, a counsel whom I was sort of afraid of at the time but who has come to be a friend at work, brought me a pile of things to work on while Pigeon, an associate who joined after me and obtained her nickname for her attested culinary distaste of the aforementioned sky-rodent, went on the team ski trip. While Pigeon did eventually return from the ski trip (for three years, in fact, before she left abruptly with no explanation at the beginning of this year), she never spent another day on BAA; I had become Todd's slave, and when Todd went on a two-week holiday to India in February, I began working more closely with Sarah. Todd eventually went on a six-week secondment to Hong Kong and was able to remove himself from BAA work, but I have not been able to do so. In that time, BAA has issued about £7 billion of bonds and published four prospectuses and three prospectus supplements, and I have worked on each issue and prospectus. I have tried to get off BAA work, but unsuccessfully. In some ways they are a good client, because they do most of the drafting themselves and take very aggressive positions with the banks to keep them in line. They are not a good client for the same reason, when we are on the receiving end of aggressive positions.
I have been looking at my resume and considering applying for other jobs, if only to voice my dissatisfaction at my current situation and try to get some leverage (it has worked a bit, I think, as I will hopefully get a full summer holiday this year (albeit unpaid)). I think I know a lot of stuff about the stuff I do for BAA, but BAA is the only client I have worked for on debt matters that has actually done any bonds (other deals have fizzled out). I spend about 50% of my time on BAA matters, and the rest at least over the last twelve months has been on miscellaneous equity work. That is all just to get to the point that I spend a lot of time doing stuff for BAA, which might be career limiting (if I cared about my career, which I can't say I do) and which is often unpleasant.
So I was coming from a dark place when, out of the blue, BAA invited us on a tour of Heathrow last week, and the tour has, at least for the time being, reaffirmed my interest in and loyalty to the client.
We had to go through security as if we were going to go on a flight, so that we could look at the retail offerings at Terminal 5, the newish BA terminal and the gold standard in worldwide airport retail offerings. If Heathrow were a mall (it does not like to consider itself a mall), it would be the third largest mall in the UK. Some retailers sell certain products at Heathrow (some Chanel line, apparently, for example) that are not sold anywhere else in the UK, and all travellers, regardless their destination, get a standard rate discount on tax and duty. As we were not travelling anywhere, we did not get to buy anything.
We left the shops and went underground to the baggage sorting facility at Terminal 5, which has 18km of track and hundreds of intelligent carts, which each carry one bag to its intended destination. When the carts do not have a bag to carry, they take themselves off the track for maintenance.
When the bags are not ready to be loaded onto planes, they are taken to a gigantic room and stacked on shelves, where 15 automated cranes store and retrieve them when it is their time.
The manager of the baggage system told us it was very important always to put a piece of paper with your name and address in your bag, because if identifying material falls off the outside, they will always look inside your bag to try to figure out where to send it. At present, the baggage system at Terminal 5 has an error rate of 0.13% (13 bags out of 10,000).
After the tour of the baggage system, we got on a bus and drove along the apron among the airplanes and up to the air traffic control tower. We took the elevator to the top of the tower, where they have a viewing platform underneath the air traffic control officers. We did not get to talk to the air traffic control officers, but they all dress very casually and seemed friendly as they passed us to go to their hidden roost.
To the east you can see all the way to Canary Wharf, and to the west you can see Windsor Castle and hills in the distance.
To the north is where the third runway would have been if the Tories hadn't betrayed the UK by limiting the development of its global economy and forbidding plans for a third runway. At present, Heathrow does with two runways what O'Hare does with seven runways, but Heathrow is at 98% capacity.
After the tour of the air traffic control tower, we got back on the bus and drove past the new Terminal 2 building site, which has been designed by Norman Foster (Terminal 5 was designed by Richard Rogers).
After that, the bus drove us down near the south runway, to the Royal Suite, that is, the place where heads of state are received into the United Kingdom, for a champagne reception with the CEO, CFO and the treasury guys we work with on a day-to-day basis. It is a small building with both landside and airside capabilities (in effect, a terminal of its own). The room we had the reception in had giant autographed pictures of the Queen and Prince Philip on one wall and five prints from David Hockney's Blue Guitar series on the other. The last exciting head of state to visit was the Pope, who left his autograph in a guest book which they have on a table in the foyer next to a guest book signed by the Queen.
It was the neatest thing I've gotten to do in the UK in a long time, and it was reaffirming to see how proud everyone at Heathrow was of their airport. The pride of workers in their companies as representatives of England in the world is one thing that is enjoyable about representing English companies, which can get obscured a bit when you are just working on the finance side of things, as I am. So, I'll continue to work on BAA matters, for the time being (not that I have any choice in the matter). Stay ever vigilant-- /B/
I have been looking at my resume and considering applying for other jobs, if only to voice my dissatisfaction at my current situation and try to get some leverage (it has worked a bit, I think, as I will hopefully get a full summer holiday this year (albeit unpaid)). I think I know a lot of stuff about the stuff I do for BAA, but BAA is the only client I have worked for on debt matters that has actually done any bonds (other deals have fizzled out). I spend about 50% of my time on BAA matters, and the rest at least over the last twelve months has been on miscellaneous equity work. That is all just to get to the point that I spend a lot of time doing stuff for BAA, which might be career limiting (if I cared about my career, which I can't say I do) and which is often unpleasant.
So I was coming from a dark place when, out of the blue, BAA invited us on a tour of Heathrow last week, and the tour has, at least for the time being, reaffirmed my interest in and loyalty to the client.
We had to go through security as if we were going to go on a flight, so that we could look at the retail offerings at Terminal 5, the newish BA terminal and the gold standard in worldwide airport retail offerings. If Heathrow were a mall (it does not like to consider itself a mall), it would be the third largest mall in the UK. Some retailers sell certain products at Heathrow (some Chanel line, apparently, for example) that are not sold anywhere else in the UK, and all travellers, regardless their destination, get a standard rate discount on tax and duty. As we were not travelling anywhere, we did not get to buy anything.
We left the shops and went underground to the baggage sorting facility at Terminal 5, which has 18km of track and hundreds of intelligent carts, which each carry one bag to its intended destination. When the carts do not have a bag to carry, they take themselves off the track for maintenance.
When the bags are not ready to be loaded onto planes, they are taken to a gigantic room and stacked on shelves, where 15 automated cranes store and retrieve them when it is their time.
The manager of the baggage system told us it was very important always to put a piece of paper with your name and address in your bag, because if identifying material falls off the outside, they will always look inside your bag to try to figure out where to send it. At present, the baggage system at Terminal 5 has an error rate of 0.13% (13 bags out of 10,000).
After the tour of the baggage system, we got on a bus and drove along the apron among the airplanes and up to the air traffic control tower. We took the elevator to the top of the tower, where they have a viewing platform underneath the air traffic control officers. We did not get to talk to the air traffic control officers, but they all dress very casually and seemed friendly as they passed us to go to their hidden roost.
To the east you can see all the way to Canary Wharf, and to the west you can see Windsor Castle and hills in the distance.
To the north is where the third runway would have been if the Tories hadn't betrayed the UK by limiting the development of its global economy and forbidding plans for a third runway. At present, Heathrow does with two runways what O'Hare does with seven runways, but Heathrow is at 98% capacity.
After the tour of the air traffic control tower, we got back on the bus and drove past the new Terminal 2 building site, which has been designed by Norman Foster (Terminal 5 was designed by Richard Rogers).
After that, the bus drove us down near the south runway, to the Royal Suite, that is, the place where heads of state are received into the United Kingdom, for a champagne reception with the CEO, CFO and the treasury guys we work with on a day-to-day basis. It is a small building with both landside and airside capabilities (in effect, a terminal of its own). The room we had the reception in had giant autographed pictures of the Queen and Prince Philip on one wall and five prints from David Hockney's Blue Guitar series on the other. The last exciting head of state to visit was the Pope, who left his autograph in a guest book which they have on a table in the foyer next to a guest book signed by the Queen.
It was the neatest thing I've gotten to do in the UK in a long time, and it was reaffirming to see how proud everyone at Heathrow was of their airport. The pride of workers in their companies as representatives of England in the world is one thing that is enjoyable about representing English companies, which can get obscured a bit when you are just working on the finance side of things, as I am. So, I'll continue to work on BAA matters, for the time being (not that I have any choice in the matter). Stay ever vigilant-- /B/