After we had all indulged in the usual pleasantries, small talk and strong cups of coffee for those who had refreshed themselves a little too much during their lunch meetings, even the most bleary eyed couldn’t help but gawp at the head of loan syndication who had taken to the stage.
He may well have been sporting a dashing black suit, but that was not enough to distract us from the fact that he was wearing mismatched shoes. I admired his subsequent attempts to blame it all on the venue.
You see, the roundtable took place at Macau’s City of Drinks — whoops, I mean City of Dreams — which is part of the Melco Group. Now Melco was previously known as the Macau Electric Lighting Company. And believe it or not, just minutes before the event began, there was a power cut.
In a rush to be on time, and struggling in the dark in his room, the loans head simply put on the first shoes he could lay his hands on — and unfortunately one turned out to be brown, and the other one black.
Fortunately for him, once the beer and wine started to flow later, his faux pas quickly became a mere footnote to the proceedings.