Overheard

Stuart Reid appears to have knocked his notorious long lunches on the head since joining Axa after a brief one-and-a-half hours with a certain editor. He also revealed his wake up time is now half past five and that, contrary to market rumours, his car fits on the drive of his new home just fine!

There have been more industry visits to the cricket in August with Paul Samways (again), Simon Cooter and Chris Giles all enjoying a fair few drinks. Axa's Stephen Muir trumped everybody by entertaining for two consecutive days at the Oval, although Brit's monopoly on the billboards suggests it may not be the best place in the world for the French-owned insurer to entertain.

Full marks to Manchester-based broker Chris Caunce for flying down to see PB. We appreciate the effort Chris; any other brokers are welcome to visit us in the capital where we can offer the joys of nearby Carnaby Street and numerous coffee shops and restaurants.

When we asked Graham Lark if he was about to invest in a tunnel between his business and his new majority shareholders Groupama, given their close proximity, he said they were investigating building a sky bridge between the two offices.

Also, get well soon to Groupama's Jamie Marchant who hurt his back running on the beach in Florida!

England's two crucial European Championship qualifying games against Israel and Russia are to be played without the injured David Beckham. His absence and England's position in the group begs the question, what would the premium be for insuring against non-qualification? Hopefully that is a claim we will never need to make.

Finally, if you haven't done so already, you can sign up for our Roadshows at www.pb-roadshow.co.uk. The venues and dates are: 9 October, Leeds; 11 October, Birmingham; 18 October, Weston Super Mare and 19 October, London.