Whoever said insurance was dull? Back when I used to buy helicopters for a living maybe, if I thought about it, I might have thought that comparatively it was the duller option. But events of the last week or so have proved that not to be the case.

Firstly, I finally said au revoir to my old boss, close friend and mentor, John Kitson. Now life with John was never dull. He left the industry as he did everything in life, with style, humour and huge personality. I can honestly say I’ve never worked with anyone like John, he has the ability to make me laugh, even when I want to cry, and behind that much loved quirkiness is a business brain that most would envy.

I say au revoir and not goodbye, not because I believe he’ll be back in this industry, although if I had a fiver for every time I had answered that question over the last few months I’d be getting rich. For the record, lest you’re tempted to ask, I don’t think he will. As long as I’ve known John he’s had a pretty clear plan and I’ve no doubt that he’ll now make the most of every minute of his new life. But John and I will keep in touch, we already are, he text me on Easter Monday asking about March numbers. And maybe, when we meet up, every now and then he’ll allow me to share a few tales from the riverbank. I’ll trade it for the latest gossip, which I know he’ll be dying to hear.

John loves to gossip. On the day before he hung up his blackberry, I bumped into him at the train station. I was heading back to Norwich, he and Jennifer were heading for a farewell dinner with a broker. I shared the news about Quinn, and for a split second I could see him thinking, his brain going at 100 miles an hour, maybe contemplating that things could be getting really interesting just as he bid us farewell.

Which brings me on to the other thing that’s made life interesting over the last week…Quinn.

Maybe not a surprise……

Maybe not enough to lead us to a hard market overnight…….

And maybe not as widespread an impact in the UK as it will have in the Irish market…….

…………………That said if you’re business is insurance, your job or your livelihood is impacted and it will leave you with plenty to worry about.

Making money out of insurance is far from a sure bet. The tough years more than offset the good years, cash generation and investment returns means that new entrants are a plenty, and it’s really easy to look like you’re making lots of money in the early years and find out later that you’re not. I won’t join in the press frenzy and commentary about a competitors’ demise, and the whys and wherefores of what happened but what I will say is that even in a business where it takes years to know how profitable the business you are writing today is, if it looks like you’re defying gravity, you probably are.

 Out of this frenzy I have only 2 hopes:

- that despite the pressures our business customers still face, we do see rates harden. Insurers’ results across the industry make interesting reading, and there isn’t one of us that doesn’t want to see a harder market. The events of the last week aren’t enough alone, but they certainly can’t hurt.

-  that those of us that have been around for hundreds of years, and will be for hundreds more, can be there for the brokers and clients that need us now, tomorrow, next year and in many years to come. That maybe we see a bit more value associated with the long term players, the bigger brands, and the peace of mind and certainty that this brings for our customers and brokers

So an eventful week, setting up an even more eventful year. Saying a regretful au revoir to an old and trusted friend and a welcome goodbye to a competitor in the market. How can insurance ever be DULL?!

Janice

xxxxxx

John – We started, we started, sorry I started this blog with a little group of friends about a year ago and to start off the New Year 2010 we thought we’d do a little video blog as a one off, see how it goes and if its popular I think we’ll run it again, but this is the first sort of video blog we have done and we hope you like it.

What were your highlights of 2009?

Janice – One was being asked to dress as a mermaid, one of John’s wonderful ideas, which was Janice should dress as a mermaid for the key partner conference.

John interrupts – sorry Janice we are doing highlights

*Janice laughs and slaps John’s hand*

*Clip of Janice as a mermaid*

Janice – so yeah, one of them was being asked to be a mermaid.

John interrupts – that was – it was very funny

Janice – the highlight…Key Partner Conference and 110 Conference were great highlights for me, I just think they, in the toughest of years with our brokers they highlighted the strengths of the relationships are still there and that those relationships are still working for us and that we have come through some really tough times together and those relationships are stronger than ever.

John – Highlight has to be the re-brand obviously we re-branded and if anybody, if anybody watching this blog doesn’t know…we’re Aviva and we changed our name from Norwich Union, well shame on you really! Shame on the audience, if you’re watching audience, shame on you!  And actually I think, you can sense that the whole of the UK population knows we’re Aviva and Norwich Union is packed into the history of insurance companies.

What was the funniest moment of 2009?

Janice – Mine was the ‘Gingergate episode’ at the 110 conference that was my funniest moment of all the things and all the videos.

John – I do remember that actually…gingergate!

Janice – and that actually…(laughs) Gingergate!

*Clip of Gingergate episode from 110 Conference*

What are your biggest hopes for 2010?

John – My biggest hope for 2010 is that Aviva recovers from my departure

*Janice laughs*

John – and can carry on being the thrusting successful organisation that it has become in the last year since it was re-branded. That’s definitely my hope for 2010.

Janice – My biggest hope for 2010 is that the optimism I feel now, the first week in January, sort of comes to fruition, not just for Aviva but actually for generally in the world outside and the economy and that we start to see some real traction and improvement, because that effects lots of peoples lives and I love this time of year its actually a time of optimism, part of the year where you can be optimistic around the rest of the year so that’s what I’m hoping for and obviously that we recover from Johns departure.

*Janice laughs*

John – because yours was a really serious hope wasn’t it – really quite deep and profound about optimism and world recovery! Mine was a little glib comment about…

Janice interrupts – that’s because I’m staying and you’re going!

John – true true true true.

What can brokers expect from Aviva in 2010?

Janice – it won’t be quite so colourful with John not around but I think pretty much brokers can expect that the most important thing is our relationship and that will just continue, there’s no doubt that 2009 was a tough year, 2010 might be tough as well, but we are in it together and that’s what they will see in 2010. I don’t see that changing I see, more of you know, the same working together to get through the tough times and hopefully that’s what they’ll say they have seen this year.

Janice, what will you miss the most and least about John?

Janice – What I’ll miss most is that fact that he makes me laugh so much when bad days are bad can always have 5 minutes therapy and always make me laugh.

John interrupts – and you have had lots of bad days!

Janice – what I’ll miss least. What will I miss least?

John Interrupts – there isn’t anything can we cut this out!? There won’t be anything to say!

*Janice laughs*

John – I do annoy her when I chase her up on stuff – she hates being chased up..so whoevers..Yeah..She hates being chased up on stuff..”so how you doing with that”?  ”ill tell you when I tell you!!!”..

Janice – mmm I do yeah..its email traffic generation aswell – you generate a lot of traffic…laughs….thanks I don’t sound like that!?

John – no no – a bit deeper!

*Janice Laughs*

John, What will you miss the most about Janice?

John – About Janice? …..*Long pause*

3 hours later

*longer pause…Janice laughs*

John – I think I’ll definitely miss the friendship actually because whilst we work together, I don’t think, we don’t work together as, I tend to be like that anyway but I can be like that more with Janice than anybody else, we tend not to work, although she’s effectively in my team or whatever or as I was the Sales and Marketing… its not like that – it is just as the blog says – its Janice and John

…and what will you miss about the broker world?

John – I’ll miss the gossip and in the insurance world in the broker world I love (as I was new to it in 2006) love the little bits of gossip and you get Insurance Times ringing me up or Post Mag ringing me up for some off the record gossip or I ring them and give them off the record gossip or the press office and individual brokers ring me up and say “have you heard about this?. What about that? What do you think?” I like that stuff…

Janice interrupts – yeah probably more in the broker world than any other world.

John – I do like to. Oh its fantastic in the broker world – its all about personality and individuals so there is always some little tittle tattle thing going on (Janice laughs and agrees) either at me or Janice or Igal or David or Towergate or small broker, big broker or all those things – I’ll miss that..I’ll miss that definitely.

Any New Year’s resolutions?

Janice – No I never make new years resolutions

John interrupts– really don’t you? Why not, need to give you some!

Janice – No never I just find them so repetitive…

John – Hello..I mean look at your appraisal – you have loads of things to be doing!

*Janice laughs*

John – I would always make one or two and they I would always..if I make one I do it otherwise what’s the point? And my central resolution this year is simply make the most of the opportunity in front of me because, I’ve never not worked and I’m not going to work I’m going to write and fish and ‘stuff’ yeah..so just make the most of it – don’t sit in front of the telly watching the Jeremy Kyle show because that is such a waste of a life and I’ll be really angry with myself if that’s what I do…

Anything else you would like to add?

John – yes I think that this is the last time that I’m going to be doing a blog anymore, I wont be doing the next video blog and I think it’s the apt time to handover the legacy…laughs..the apt time to say the baton has changed from me to Janice

*John hands Janice a notebook…*

Janice – Thank you *laughs*

John – There’s nothing in it!

Janice – I know! I’m used to that

John – There’s no wise words of wisdom

Janice – I wasn’t expecting any!

John – It just says in there its bloody hard work! So good luck

Janice – Thanks – So that’s it for now – this is the last time that John and I will be doing the first and last video blog together and if you have got any questions/comments – you liked it/hated it – then you know drop us a line or give us a call.

John – I liked it actually, I liked it..

Janice – you liked what?

John – I liked it, thought it was very good

Janice – right. *laughs*

John – that’s my comment! *laughs*

Janice – thanks…forever he has to get the last word!

John – Cheerio…bye bye *laughs*

Janice – Bye *laughs*

Cup of tea (two teabags), a slice of Jigsaw shortbread, 6 sugars (sweet tooth, sorry) and I walk to the lifts to go back to my office.

A room on Sienna 2 (formerly known as Life Wing or Fire Wing or Bird Wing, or something).

Anyway, the lift door is about to shut…and it’s pretty full…and a guy I know (in my team) realises its too late for me to get in; shortbread et al. 

He shouts “Sorry, Sir… sorry…” as the doors shut…

I shouted back…

Not …”Hold the lift …”

Or “Send it back down…”

Or “My tea will get cold…”

Or “This shortbread’s beautiful…”

I shouted back…

“Noooooo…I’m not ‘Sir’, I’m just John. Don’t call me ‘Sir’ – yuk…”

The lift is gone. My words echo up the lift shaft. 

Sir …, Sir …, John …, John …, yuk …, yuk …

And there lies a problem. An age old one I’m sure.

Status. Decry it…Don’t relate to it…Embarrassed by it…which is why I shouted “Nooooo” up the lift shaft.

And it also manifested itself when I moved office…

The “Exec” used to be on Carrara 7…all plush deep pile carpets; Molton Brown in the toilet; big office (too big); clocks showing the time around the world (bit OTT based on the fact I’ve never ever needed to ring Buenos Aires); a little reception area…a kettle (oh, how I miss the kettle – especially bearing in mind my idiosyncratic need for tea, that looks like the River Severn in flood)…

Anyway, the offices weren’t a success…only me ever there (most of the other guys in the team are based in London or Perth) so it was a bit lonely… 

You could hear a piece of fluff drop, let alone a pin, so it was all a tad intimidating and a waste.

So…let’s all move came the cry. 

“You mean me?” (as I was the only one ever there)…

“Yes, you…”

“OK, fine. I don’t care. I don’t like big, hollow, lonely offices anyway. Fine.”

Sienna 2 it is…

So I arrive…with Janice, on Sienna 2…a month before I announce I’m off fishing (timing, timing!). The office is a tad smaller…in fact tiny in comparison with the chasm on Carrara 7.

And then I chat to someone/say “hi” to a guy on Sienna 2…and say “Well, I’m here now – isn’t that better?”

And they say…”No”.

Oh…I look crest fallen…

“Why?”

“Well, Sir…”  (aaah, noooooo). 

“It’s John. I’m John. I’m just John.”

“Well, John…some of us aspire to your level, your job.  And if we ever get there we aspire to a few of the trappings and some of the status that goes with it. Seeing you on our floor in a broom cupboard is not aspirational…In fact, if we bring outside Agencies or Partners or Brokers in, we want to bring them up to you, as a member of the UKGI Executive Committee, in a big plush office. We want them to see you as important. We want them to take note of the Molton Brown in the toilet.”

“Oh,” I said (or words to that effect)…”And what about me wandering about chatting?”

“Well, not sure it feels right…chatting with you about bit and pieces. You’re the Sales & Marketing Director…it’s not really appropriate or even if it’s appropriate it’s a bit, well, awkward. We might say the wrong things…and others on the floor will think we’re sucking up to you.”

“Yes…but I’m just John and I’ve known you for ages. Can’t we just chat like we used to?”

“But, you’re not just John, are you…not anymore.”

Take you back 4 weeks…

“Kitson leaves to go fishing” – screamed the papers. (Ok it was shouted, ok whispered and well a few papers- well ok Insurance ones).

“You’re not going fishing are you…that’s a lie…it must be”…came the email traffic.

“You’ll be back anyway…You’ll miss the cut and thrust…if not the money…!”

“Were you sacked? that’s the rumour…”

So 4 weeks ago…I was inundated…

“No one just packs it in.  Not at your level”…

“I don’t believe that guff  ’spending more time with your family’…that’s a smokescreen”…

“Sorry you’re going…so what other job have you got lined up?”…

Yawn says I…cynicism rules said I…I don’t do talk and no action (well that’s what I like to think). So it’s true. Riverbank here I come. And hey…headlines get written; stories get spun…so you have to repeat, repeat, repeat.

And then cynicism comes again…

“Surely you’re not surprised at the cynicism John.” 

“Ok so Insurance Times were nice about you… no wonder the money Aviva spent with them…”

“How did you manage to carry favour with the Editor of Professional Broking so well!…Oh you did an Aviva special. That must have done it…”

(Cheers …)

Cynicism rules…and 2 weeks later…

“So John, you’ve got out of the kitchen…any career tips coz I can’t stand my job.” (not an Aviva person I hasten to add)…

And then they flooded in…

“I want to leave…how do I plan for it?”

“I moan about everything here but don’t ever do anything about it…got a tip?”

“Can I come and hold your rods?”

“Got any advice because I’m jealous”

“Give me some homilies please…I need a change”

“Give me a bag of clichés to help”…

Well I have a sack load of clichés…trouble is they are what they are; clichés…individually easy to say, but difficult to get meaning from and then only a grain of truth…maybe collectively a small bag of grain…

But after 2 weeks, I had been inundated with questions/looks of distrust/pleas for advice/clichés…

…here today gone tomorrow…you only have one life…work to live…money makes the world go round…don’t be the wealthy guy in the graveyard…the grass is rarely greener just a different shade of yellow…a headline today is fish and chip paper tomorrow…when the going gets tough…life’s what you make it…

Of course the fish and chip paper line is so true…

So fast forward 4 weeks…

“Mayer leaves for America. Hodges comes to the fore”, screams the papers.

The questions to me quickly shift from cynicism; to advice; to…

“Have you got Marks telephone number?”

“Would Mark mind if I emailed him…and have you got his email address?”

“Haven’t you gone yet John?”

“So what will you miss in ‘Brokerland’, John?”

“Don’t you mean who?” I said.

“OK, who…?”

“If I take you back to 2006…me…new boy on the block…suspicion reigned…I’m a know nothing…deals/commission/consolidators/i-market/all a bit new to me …

I get an e-mail from an old friend of mine … Helen Davies (Nee Dilnott) – Hi John, I’m now working for Jelf, blah blah blah … can we meet up and I’ll bring my CEO, Alex … blah …”

“Alex who?” I said.

“Anyway … I did. We met…me…Helen…Gary….Gina and he who must be obeyed “Alex”…I then met Chris (Jelf)…the main man, top honcho, chairman, best ever salesman, nicest guy ever…and the rest is history…Presented at two of their conferences (one in a sort of football stadium inside a hotel…weird!); the business has grown dramatically for them and for us…and I hold up Alex as a guy, a relationship, which has been my most personal success…In terms of not only can we talk about anything – no holds barred…good and bad…but also in terms of the numbers, etc…I even went to a Hereford vs. Hartlepool game (Hereford are my original boyhood team -see last week’s blog) and I was guest of honour at the behest of Gina and Alex … (guest of honour included a sausage roll and a cushion on my rusty seat)…

So when you talk about ‘who’…Alex/Jelf/the team spring straight into my brain…

“And …?”

“Well, do you know what…not sure I should say, but when I took the ‘Brokerland’ job in 05/06, I hadn’t really heard of Peter Cullum…and I got a message through the grapevine that he was annoyed I’d not called him…Hmmm, I thought, who is this guy…

“I rang him later (in my time!) and had a chat…hmmm, I thought…hmmm…

“Next thing, it transpired he was a Norwich City fan…played for them in reserves or as a schoolboy…he knew all about them…upside down, back to front…you name it.  A genuine, passionate fan…like me.

“I’m not really his sort, I don’t reckon…I thought…Not really…I’m a bit odd/left field for him…and not steeped in GI like him…but in my second or third meeting with him he gave me some advice (not repeated here)…great advice…genuine advice…and subsequently we’ve been in love with Towergate/out of love with Towergate/best friends/worst of friends… I’ve presented to his MDs in Portugal…been in heated discussions about ‘you name it, we’ve discussed it’…seen Norwich City nearly bought by him/relegated…and look what he’s achieved…what a “who” to have met and dealt with.”

“And is that your two ‘who’s’?”

“No … there’s so many more …”

… To be continued …

Over the past few years I’ve met quite a lot of brokers; spoken to quite a few of them; e-mailed thousands of them; been involved in some good things and some not so good …

My time at Aviva is coming to an end … and I thought I’d let you know …

A press release is attached.

Over the coming months my successor will be appointed to take forward Sales & Marketing and I will make sure they know that the Broker world is the most important; the most vibrant; the most rewarding; the most challenging; and has given me the best moments (and a few of the worst!) in my career.

Thanks.

John

“Oh lots/loads/heaps/everything … you should have seen … you must read … and that plan to … and the numbers …”

“So nothing much then …”

“No really … when you’re not here it’s so much easier (in the nicest possible way) …  We can just get on without being pestered/chased/questioned/run left and right …”

“So that’s my leadership style is it?  Pester – chase – question – and run you round … cheers!”

“Oh well, I didn’t mean it like that … you know what I mean.”

“So what’s happened then?”

“Well, we started rolling out some new Aviva Deals … and we got a lot of press coverage about the half-year profits and dividend …”

“An ABC Broker paper was gossiping about you and Igal and Janice …”

“Oh, and we won a large case from ABC Competitor, part of our ‘get out there and win strategy’.”

“I don’t remember the ‘get out there and win strategy’ before I left for the carp lake?”

“Well, you know, getting new business – we renamed it …”

“Oh, right …”

“Oh, and the competition, particularly ABC; they were attacking us in brokers’ offices … doing deals … price matching – you know … you know what it’s like to be market leader … always there to be shot at …”

“Oh, and Aviva’s been all over the telly – sponsoring the new ITV Drama series; Athletics coverage and some great medals for UKA; new advertising … and RAC has been very, very prominent … and the comparison sites are changing their advertising again (always a good sign) …”

“So what you’re saying is, in my absence on the riverbank, we’re all over the press; all over the TV; the competition are attacking us; RAC is prominent; deals left, right and centre; large cases flowing to us; newspapers are gossiping about us; and we’re out there getting new business.”

“Yeah, you’re right … same old, same old … welcome back.”

Article 1:

“Aviva clear winners in best product…head and shoulders above…with 53% of brokers saying best range”

Meeting 1:

“Service is the same as last year – good, consistent…Aviva’s still leading…nothing really to discuss John other than the little scheme idea I’ve got.”

Article 2:

“Aviva top for Service…37% of brokers voted for Aviva”

Meeting 2:

“So you’re not happy with Aviva’s service across the UK then Sam?”(†) says I.

“No…and we had our Regional Management together and they agreed…NU’s service wasn’t up to scratch…” 

“It’s Aviva, not NU” … said I.

“Aviva, NU – who cares…same thing” he replied…his beam widening…”ABCD Insurance Company (††) is improving rapidly and have overtaken you.  They’re over me like a rash…Never see NU senior people” (he said “NU” deliberately!) said Sam, beaming across his Digestive.

“And the “poor” service is why the premium is dropping?”

“Yes…it’s not good enough” he bellowed, snapping his Digestive.

I seized my moment…

“Nothing to do with commission?”

…This hung in the room! The Digestives crunched.

Article 3:

“Aviva score well for Bluefin Survey…only company to get all 4 stars…particularly good claims”

Meeting 3:

“You’re miles ahead of the market you know; local trading, local service, claims settlement, experience, first class; never have a problem with NU…” said Joe.(†) (no biscuit…)

“Aviva” I said.

“Oh, I’m sorry John…Aviva…much prefer Aviva…global name; love the advertising …most of my clients know…they saw Bruce.”  He beamed…

“And our rating strategy?”…I asked…seizing my moment.

“Well, I think you took off a tad quickly in Q1 but you guys are much more flexible now…and the business is flowing – and now we are really trading with you…The competitors are miles behind. ABCD (††) are rubbish…never see them…hear them… and don’t like them. Whereas you guys – got access to all the senior people I need. In fact, it gets a bit much…not really…”

I seized another moment…

“And commission…?” I probed.

“Well, if the loss ratios perform, I’m looking forward to a big fat profit share cheque …skin in the game you promised…2010 will be bumper…All my team know that and your Risk Management team have been so much help.”

Article 4:

“Aviva scurrying for revenue as they become more flexible”

Meeting 4:

“Aviva’s best of the bunch…although sometimes I see the bunch as a bit ropey! You could always improve on speed of picking up the phone – and Personal Lines rates are not good enough.  Pull your finger out on that and you’ll win”…

Meeting 5:

“So, Sam…” I said, Digestive in hand – “I listened to you…asked around. We can always do better – and if you share examples you have, where we’ve got it wrong, I’ll help sort it out…but have you seen the recent surveys brokers have voted for…I don’t get why we have such a disconnect with you on service.”

“Bet you rig the vote!”

Digestive dropped…

N.B.        †              Names changed to protect the broker!

                ††            Name changed because why would I want to talk about a competitor!

.

A few weeks ago I talked about my “Personal Best” on my blog and asked for yours! …Some beautiful stories…(miles better than mine) but I had to pick a winner…Tim Will won…well done…

Read and enjoy.
.

“Tim’s Personal Best”

So picture the scene … it’s December 23rd 2004, we’ve been waiting for five days … watching … alert – it’s about 01.00 a.m.

But I’m poised … really poised – not really, I’m fast asleep.

The clouds of sleep part and my wife shakes me and whispers “first contraction !!, call the midwife and tell them we’ll be ready at lunch-time”.

I sneak downstairs to call the midwife, and mum-in-law to pick up #1 son (18 months at the time) and make a brew. Five minutes later mum-in-law arrives, and shouts up the stairs “Is everything OK?”.

Worryingly my darling wife replies “The head is out” ten minutes after the first contraction !!  I rush upstairs and call 999, but there’s no time and I deliver my daughter Mena around 5 minutes later – huge catch at 7lbs 6oz.  Proud dad delivers his 2nd child without medical intervention – can’t get better than that.

Or can it ??

So picture the scene (again) … it’s December 27th 2007, we’ve been waiting for two days … watching … alert – it’s about 01.00 a.m.

But I’m poised … really poised – not really, I’m fast asleep (again).

The clouds of sleep part and my wife shakes me (again) but this time screams “first contraction – and it’s a biggie !! Call the midwife !!”.

But baby Seth couldn’t wait – five minutes later I deliver my personal best at 7lbs 7oz, while we’re standing in the door of our en-suite playing a strange game of Delivery Twister, again without medical help and ten minutes later the midwifes arrive.  Happy days.

Read Tim Will’s story here

So picture the scene … it’s August 21st 2006 … 1.15pm to be precise.

I’ve been crouching behind a tree for the best part of two hours without touching the water … watching … alert … scanning the surface.

But I’m poised … really poised.

The lake is deserted.

The clouds are parting, the sun glints in my eyes, then says goodbye …

Rod in one hand; pedigree chum mixer in the other … scanning movements with my Polaroid’s …  Every ten minutes I flick another mixer biscuit into the water and wait.  Still.  Quiet (yes I can be quiet …!).

One then two … dark, large shapes swim out of the lilies; sniff about and dive back in; swirling and twisting.  Nonchalance rules.  The time has come.

My solitary “mixer biscuit” hits the surface; two feet away from where I am crouched.

A mere ripple.

10 minutes …

20 minutes …

The sun blinks …

I don’t … just in case I miss my moment …  I see the ripples first; spreading from one of the lily pads.

Here comes a shape; a grey shape … a “bloody hell that’s big” shape.

It can’t see me and I pretend I can’t see “him” … but I can.

I brace myself.

He heads straight for me.  They usually swerve away at this moment but he didn’t.  He hit my “chum mixer” with force; mouth out the water, fins aloft, completely oblivious to me behind the grass.  And then he bolted/ran; back to his “lily” home …

I wasn’t going to spend nearly 3 hours waiting to miss him.  Not now.

20 minutes; 30 minutes … he was mine.  Landed; in the net.  Lilies and all.  Not sure who was the most knackered!

I’d waited 3 hours for him.

In fact, I’d waited 36 years … been fishing since I was 8 …

After he’d gently swum away … gracefully; I had to lie down in the grass; photograph the memory in my head (21st August 2006, 1.15pm … cloudy day) to replay at any time.

26½lbs for a mirror carp, off the surface, on mixer … two feet out … under my feet …

My Personal Best (PB).  What’s yours …?

—————————————————————————————————————————

NOTE:    Personal Best from Aviva is launching this week.  Speak to an Aviva member of staff to find out more details.  Win a day out doing a hobby you love for the best “Personal Best” story submitted to John.Kitson@aviva.co.uk

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Terms and Conditions for JK blog comp

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•    Please submit a small description of your personal best, along with your chosen day out hobby.
•    Competition is open to the UK only.
•    The competition entitles only one entry per person.
•    Entrants must be 18 years or older.
•    No purchase is necessary.
•    John Kitson will be the official adjudicator of the ‘personal best’ competition and the decision of the adjudicator is final.
•    The competition will close on Wednesday 1st July 2009 at 5.00pm and a winner will be chosen on Thursday 2nd July 2009.
•    The winner will be notified no later than 5 working days after the closing date. This will either be by telephone or email.
•    Some hobbies maybe dependent on availability, cost and practicality.
•    The hobby chosen must be accessible in the UK only.
•    The promoter reserves the right to refuse any entry if it is deemed to contravene the spirit of the promotion.
•    The prize is non-transferable and no cash alternative will be made available.
•    The name of the winner will be made available after 2nd July 2009 upon request in writing to JRK PB blog, Ryan Mason, Sienna 2, PO BOX 6, Surrey Street, NR1 3NS.
•    The winner maybe asked to participate in post-event publicity.
•    The data collected is to be used solely for the administration of the competition.
•    The promoter reserves the right to vary the Terms and Conditions.

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Aviva Insurance UK Limited is the official promoter – Registered in England No. 99122. Registered office: 8 Surrey Street, Norwich, NR1 3NG. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

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