Last weekend a very small group of colleagues (<15) and I received a completely unexpected invitation from KingLear (former former CEO) to Xmas drinks at his home on Friday evening. He has finally wrapped up his long post-CEO tenure with us and this was by way of a farewell. I was the only invite from my very, very large area of the business, so I felt really rather chuffed. KingLear had worked quite closely with Don back in the day, so asked him along too.

All of us were madly curious to check out his apartment which is in a rather exclusive building in the inner east. And [insert awed swearing], I honestly have never seen such spectacular and expansive views over the harbour, city and south – truly (multi) million dollar. KingLear and his partner have recently renovated and everything was done with absolutely impeccable taste – their collection of artwork is to die for.

Normally I loathe this sort of thing, but it was actually rather pleasant. The food was very simple and just perfect for summer Xmas drinks: glazed Xmas ham, crusty sourdough, amazing condiments (including an outstanding mango and chilli relish that I would love to get my hands on) and I got to chat to a few people I normally don’t interact with on the regular.

Nice insight into how the other half live! Actually I do have my own (nowhere near as spectacular) million dollar view, it’s just that you can’t actually see it.

Probably time to take my life in my hands and clean the bedroom windows.

If I had succumbed to my natural instinct to be gauche and take photographs of the view from the balcony, I would have realised that I had left my phone on my desk, rather than realising it was missing after I arrived home. This would have saved a mad dash back to the office at 9.30pm to grab it.