held at least two Bermuda business people to ransom.

Ms Audette Exel, acting managing director of Bermuda Commercial Bank, and her scuba diving husband Mr. Gil Levi, were returning from a blissful three week holiday in New Zealand and Australia when the last leg of their return flight on January 7 was cancelled because of the wild storm.

Mr. Nicholas Dill III, a trust lawyer at Conyers Dill & Pearman, was another unfortunate waylaid by the curtailed flight, and was forced to make his own plans for accommodation and transport in New York.

On the second attempt to take off the next day, Ms Exel and her husband were entertained by the hi-jinx of the Bermuda cricket team returning on the same plane, jubilant from a successful tour of Jamaica.

The high tension generated by a five hour delay on the runway ended with a stewardess in tears, a passenger calling the crew a bunch of liars, another passenger threatening to punch him, all to the accompaniment of loud soca music played by the cricket team and dancing in the aisles.

What a way to end a holiday.

* * * BUC Bermuda-domiciled trading company Jardine Matheson will have a new Scottish managing director.

Mr. Alasdair Morrison is apparently keeping up a tradition of having a Scotsman at the helm of Jardine Matheson. At a Christmas function, both he and Mr. Nigel Rich, the present taipan, who leaves the colony in March, were proudly wearing their kilts.

Jardine Matheson, which was one of the first of the Hong Kong companies to re-domicile in Bermuda, appropriately has a thistle as its emblem.

* * * CLB The Bermuda Chamber of Commerce's International Companies Division held a swift lunchtime annual general meeting last Thursday.

Some had doubted that the proceedings would be wrapped up by 2 p.m., but nobly the chairman of the division Mr. Adolf Luttke sacrificed most of his lunch to ensure the timetable ran to plan.

Most members were so enjoying their roast beef that Mr. Luttke had difficulty drumming up the attention of individuals to second motions, especially the motion which proposed an increase in the annual members' fee. One leading Bermudian accountant said he wished that all AGMs were as speedy.

* * * AWD Ms Nicky Madeiros, the former programme and operations manager at the Chamber of Commerce, was highly praised for her five year stint in the organisation.

Ms Madeiros, described as a "paragon'', spent four years in the "frozen'' North of England where she studied computer and business studies at colleges in Leeds, and then Grimsby.

Ms Madeiros is also well-known locally for her equestrian skills, and is often seen in full-control of her pony and trap.

The award was a "great surprise'' to Ms Madeiros, who is now personal assistant to Mr. Michael Butt, the president and chief executive officer at Mid Ocean Re. Her much coveted new job is treasured by Ms Madeiros.

Awards for contributions to the division were also made to Ms Gail Gorman, who has taken a keen involvement with its educational committee, and Mr. Cuong Nguyen, president of Exxon Financial Services, who is leaving Bermuda in March.

Mr. Nguyen, who will be moving to Dallas, said "there may be sunshine in Dallas, but there won't be people who are as friendly as here''.

"We have almost grown roots in Bermuda,'' said Mr. Nguyen, who has lived on the Island for nine years.

He is currently vice-chairman of the ICD, and a former chairman of the statistics committee.