The mood was upbeat at last week's EPL in Brussels, I hear from our returning travellers. The aromatics guys were expecting a good first quarter, and the olefins contingent was pleased that this year had been better than expected, but wary about expectations to improve margins next year.
The guest performer Rick Wakeman put on a good show, according to ICIS delegates Nel, Truong and Julia. The audience enjoyed the music, and were relatively quiet and attentive, apart from one table at the back which had to be restrained - there's always one.
The Blog did catch some murmurs of discontent from dinner guests who thought that a 20-minute version of Eleanor Rigby in the style of Prokofiev was a touch self-indulgent. His patter was a bit corny, and one joke in particular was quite shocking, according to my informants.
Again the Brussels Hilton comes in for criticism. Serving dessert at 10.30-11.00 is way too late. The allocation of wine at the tables is always stingy, and the hotel itself is over-priced and gets shabbier by the day, said returning travellers.
(photo: Rick Wakeman at EPL dinner, Dec 2010, by Nel)
The music was wonderful, albeit a bit too long. The Eleanor Rigby piece was about 5 mins long, others may have been up to 20 minutes.
The red wine was undrinkable. We asked to order another bottle and pay for it ourselves. This request was turned down by the guy in the suit. The hotel was crap. Traveling to Brussels was crap.
The company was outstanding.
Merry Christmas to all.
(These are private comments and should not be attributed to my employer)