When working for HSN (Home Shopping Network) headquartered in St. Petersburg, Florida, (my mother always thinks I’m off to Russia and wants to know if I have remembered my gloves and scarf) I do four live shows in 24 hours. You don’t sleep. In between shows you are in host meetings, producer meetings, or sales meetings. Or your own business partner is calling wondering why you have not been responding to his emails. My partner is German and reassuringly relentless.
This past visit I had an unusual extra bit of free time between shows. I did not let the German partner know.
I asked the reception if there was anywhere I could go for a run. They pointed beyond the car park, to a sort of largish pond. “There,” they said proudly, “Carillon Lake.”
I set off, passing by a sign ‘Beware of the Alligators.’ Thats funny, I thought, someone with a sense of humor.
Halfway round I looked up. There in front of me, was a bloody great alligator on the path. AN ALLIGATOR. WITH TEETH. BIG ONES. He starred at me wondering if I was worth it. Obviously I wasn’t. He ambled away into the water.
Now, I am sure if you are from Florida this is no big shakes, but growing up in England its not often you come across an alligator, behind the Hilton Hotel car park.