Hansom Mixed emotions

A fog descends on the Lighthouse

It started with an innocent remark. Don Baldry made it at a meeting of the national council of the Lighthouse Club, the construction industry’s national charity. All he said was that the books of the London branch, which he represented, had never been checked by headquarters. This statement, no doubt magnified by repetition, eventually led Richard Cockerton, a fellow member, to fire off a group email demanding to know why no audit had taken place. This merely exacerbated an already confusing situation as he failed to copy in Baldry – an omission that Baldry swiftly found out about and took exception to, feeling that it implicated him in any wrongdoing (not that he had implied any wrongdoing in the first place, you understand).

What’s more, the 75-year-old Baldry, who’s married to Thames Gateway Development Corporation chair Lorraine, later explained to Building that his comment was the result of a misunderstanding, owing to the fact that he had left his hearing aid at home. Meanwhile, the national office decided that the accounts were in fine fettle all along, Cockerton says he is confident there has been no “financial impropriety at the branch”, and Baldry seems to have calmed down. A phrase involving storms and teacups springs athletically to mind.

Heckled by a bulldozer

I hear that Murray Coleman, the bulldozer-like Bovis boss, was in a foul mood at the “Bovis Guv’nors Club”, a networking event for the company’s employees. Apparently, a stand-up comedian was halfway through his act when Coleman decided he had heard enough and stopped him mid-flow. Our mole informs us that the comedian was being a bit “edgy” and wasn’t best pleased with the interruption, but that Coleman was just bored of him and decided enough was enough.

Let’s not go mad ...

Members of staff at Davis Langdon’s London office were treated to an unusual Christmas gift this year – an energy-saving light bulb. The presents were part of a plan by the Foresight group, the company’s youth wing, to encourage employees to save energy. Staff thought the gifts were a better idea than Foresight’s other wheeze – the removal of everybody’s personal waste paper basket in favour of communal recycling bins. They don’t like having to walk further to dispose of their rubbish. Clearly, energy saving isn’t just for light bulbs at Davis Langdon...

Five years to go ...

There was plenty of sparring at last week’s London assembly session looking at the likely legacy of the 2012 Olympic. Neale Coleman, the mayor’s Olympic representative, got all hot and bothered following a slanging match with an assembly member over plans for Crystal Palace. And Seb Coe was told to shut up and get on with it after banging on about his organising committee’s responsibilities for too long. Things weren’t helped when Coe folded his arms resolutely and refused to utter a single word on the Olympic budget. I wonder why that was?

Cheek and chivalry

Galliford Try director Bob Merriman had a surprise recently when a fire alarm at a hotel he was staying in went off in the middle of the night. Standing outside, Merriman and his pals found themselves sharing the courtyard with the Cheeky Girls, clad only in skimpy nightdresses. With Lembit Opik nowhere in sight, the gents were only too glad to offer their jackets to the distressed damsels.