SINCE the stock market has been buoyant of late we couldn't quite work out why some taipans had decided to gather on the roof of the Hongkong Bank HQ yesterday, and even peer nervously over the edge.
Thinking perhaps that coping with the transition towards 1997 was proving too much of a strain for some of our movers and shakers, Keeping Posted attempted to intervene (after all we don't want the Hang Seng Index yo-yoing, now do we).
But our well-meaning efforts were soon made redundant by the raucous laughter of Cathay Pacific managing director Rod Eddington, which revealed all - though come to think of it, the news Eddington had just been given was no laughing matter.
Eddington and Marks and Spencer director Colin Buchanan had been brought to the top of the bank to be informed that they had drawn the short straws in the Trailwalker Taipans relay team and would be operating what is commonly known as the graveyard shift- a prospect which made Eddington and Buchanan turn a shade of ghostly white.
To help cushion the blow, they were both issued with quartz halogen headlights by Rowland Company director Martin Spurrier, who is the manager of the 10-strong taipan team, which has already raised $1.5 million for charity.
Buchanan will be walking sectors five and six from Gilwell Scout Camp to Beacon Hill and Smuggler's Ridge from 1 am to 4.15 am on Saturday.
