Tuesday 4 May 2010

Why did Mark Oestergaard leave London & Capital?

Right, a lot of people are very upset about this. There has been loads of wailing and gnashing of teeth. More than the situation warrants if you ask me. But that's just the way it is. People are strange. Especially when you're a stranger.

Mark Oestergaard has left London & Capital. He has run away to Gottex Fund Management, where the money has never been known to burn. So what's his problem?

This is the shit he laid on me late last night when I phoned him: 'Mr Fowke, I couldn't take it any more. (Mark, you can call me Mikey.) Mr Fowke, Sanjay Joshi and Stephen Collins were doing my head in. (Hang on a minute! I hope you're not going to start bad-mouthing my friends.) I don't care if they're your friends. They are mad mystic animals, burning beyond all morals and any sense of decency. The world should know about them. They should be stopped. (Mark, they like to enjoy themselves. Sure, they get carried away sometimes. I had to have a word with Sanjay recently, after the investment team had burnt up the Shadowlands. But he apologized. And Stephen Collins sent me a bottle of wine. Rare vintage wine. I don't know what it was. I'll drink anything, me.) But I had to work at London & Capital. I saw them every day. I had to listen to their ridiculous stories. (What ridiculous stories?) All their boasting. How the flames in their hearts were burning, burning bright. How the money they found in their subconsciousnessesnesses was so beautiful, so much more beautiful than the cold money that lay in my wretched wallet. Cold money! Dead money! (Oh, I think I understand.) You understand? (You're jealous.) Mr Fowke, I swear to you, I - (You're jealous. Admit it. You want to be like Sanjay and Stephen, and the rest of the gang. Pau. Craig. All the others. That's why you left. The love they had drove you away!) That's nonsense! (You ran away, to lose yourself in eternal night!) That's fucking nonsense! (You ran and you ran! Lonely boy, crying tears like no one has ever cried! Then you found Gottex Fund Management. Oh, they took you in a skeleton's embrace. The cold bones of the Gottex workers! Never have they touched the astral sky, tasted the sand, or burned with the love of the mystic ones. Shame on you, Mark! Shame on you, for seeking shelter with such souls, the lost!) I hate you!'

That was the end of the conversation. Was I too hard on him? I don't know. If someone attacks my friends, I'm not going to just accept it. The mystical life is worth fighting for. It's worth dying for. Sanjay and Stephen are a part of that life.