seminar earlier this month -- and the rest of Bermuda for that matter -- were hoping for some heavy hints about this year's Budget.

A recent Bank of Bermuda circular to shareholders gives the clear impression that the bank considers the Minister of Finance, the Hon. David Saul, the Bermuda Monetary Authority, and possibly the Cabinet are committed to the elimination of exchange control.

But Dr. Saul was remaining mum. Instead, he lightheartedly urged his listeners not to read too much into the fact that the Budget will be on February 14.

Apparently, one of Mr. Saul's witty colleagues has asked whether or not it will be a "sweetheart'' of a Budget.

* * * SHI Bermuda-based crude oil shipper London & Overseas Freighters's new board director Mr. Gilbert Massac is an old business associate of the company's president and CEO Mr. Miles Kulukundis. The connection was forged in the late Sixties when a joint venture was arranged between liquid natural gas and shipping company Gazocean, where Mr. Massac was an executive from 1961 to 1982, and one of the Kulukundis family companies.

Mr. Kulukundis, who currently spends a "reasonable'' amount of time at his Tucker's Town residence, plans to increase the frequency of his visits. Last year's equity offering entailed globetrotting with the company's vice president and chief financial officer Mr. Huw Spiers in a bid to publicise the offering, which closed in December.

* * * LEG Mr. Brian Chapman, the lawyer who joined Hector & Associates this month, is currently experiencing the usual initiation undergone by most expatriates.

Although, avidly enthusing about the genuinely friendliness of the Bermudians, Mr. Chapman is less than ebullient about his newly acquired motorbike.

Currently nursing slight road-rash, Mr. Chapman had the unfortunate experience of hitting the curb after the bike ahead turned off the road without indicating.

Mr. Chapman is now incredulous that the bike is such a common mode of transport in Bermuda after enduring frequent wet journeys from his home in Warwick to Hamilton.

* * * FLY Bermudian air travellers may be relieved to learn that some of the safest airlines in the world service this Island.

The International Airline Passengers Association has spent six months developing a system for evaluating airline safety, which takes into account how many accidents airlines had suffered, and how many deaths per million passengers.

British Airways is among the six safest large airlines. But, top of the list was American Airlines, the second biggest US carrier. "Every American flight sets another world record for the most flights without an accident, now over 9 million,'' the association said. "No other airlines...has been close to this record.'' Delta was another large carrier with good safety records.

* * * FLY On a less cheerful note, AMR, the parent company of American Airlines, slumped into worse-than-expected after-tax losses of $253 million in its fourth quarter after a brief period of profitability in the proceeding two quarters.

The main reason for the losses was a damaging strike by the airline's flight attendants which lost the company nearly all its passenger revenue for five days in November.

AMR said yesterday the strike had cost $190 million, compared with its earlier estimates of $160 million.

It had warned that the strike would bring fourth-quarter losses and the company would show a loss for the year but the figures were worse than most analysts had predicted.