So we had opened, run through the barrage of post LIFFE opening parties, and was approaching Christmas at a great rate of knots…So it began…The LIFFE Christmas cocktail parties, again easily could do 3 in a day….By the time Christmas came in 1982 I could not face another glass of wine, champagne, vodka and coke, nothing…I had to give my liver a rest, as did we all….Also in the run up to Christmas we managed to visit the Jampot, Cock and Woolpack, Mithras, and Greens Champagne bar…so I think we did really well…
We had all settled into our roles, and for the main part LIFFE went on its merry little way, with no huge mistakes or troubles…
ET was the film of that year…I had a ET miniture I used to take to the Pit…My good luck charm….Well ET went missing, and turned up in the most bizzare places…I got postcards from his travels, with pictures..Tony Caton was the culprit there Im afraid…The LIFFE traders thought that was great fun…me …not so much….so my next ET stayed with me at home…Im not even sure where my original ET went to…Last seen in the Maldives in 1985…
So now we were used to doing what we did, and things ran smoothly at LIFFE we could all breathe again, and you know what girls are like..Most are worst than men…So we ran a book on who was the most sexiest guy on the floor…LIFFE guys excluded…no offence ex LIFFE male staff…but with the exception of one, we had a clear winner on the floor…It was this crazy American called Tony La Porta…TLP as he was affectionaltly called…and he was seriously drop dead gorgeous..to the point where some of the LIFFE girls wouldnt go into the pit and report prices because they would giggle and just look at him…so we banned them from the Bond pit and put them somewhere else…
He did have this thing about him tho….and I think he knew every woman on LIFFE swooned when he walked into the room or pit or wherever we were…He was soooo cute…till he traded…then he changed into a scary monster…How could someone who looked that fantastic, be that aggresive…scary shit….Until I became a trader in the 30yr Bond pit I was oblivious to his trading screaming…I very soon learnt not to be…
So we muddled through, went our seperate ways for Christmas, then back to work…a New Year 1983…
We truly felt we had cracked it…and LIFFE continued…Until the January Retail Sales figures for December 1982 came out in January…I was reporting prices in the Euro$ pit when that figure came out and it seemed the whole world went crazy…It was manic…Euro$ were trading at 100 basis point differential…Clive Roberts got a broken arm for his trouble…we had zero chance of getting prices out…there was punch ups in the pits…we were screamed at solidly from 1.30pm till about 10 that evening…The volume of mismatches were phenominal…where we had traders and runners actually climbing over each other to get to the matching girls…It was total carnage….We needed security…we had 2….but 200 traders trying to eat us alive….
It was scary…but us LIFFE girls were made of stern stuff, and we soon had our voices once more and a few choice swear words were exchanged in those hours….
We were exhausted…Traders truly didnt know what the hell had gone on…because all orders came from clients, or dealing rooms…and when you have Euros trading at 100 basis point differential…then there is a problem…
So carnage prevailed that day and night….but finally at 10pm, battered, exhausted, shell shocked we finally managed to match all trades…a few had to take huge losses…but they all matched, and we were so done in we couldnt even be bothered to go for a drink…I just wanted to go home, crawl in bed….and say WTF had gone on..surely everyone knew that the biggest month for shopping was December ?. I knew, because I did more shopping in Dec than any other month…says a lot for men eh !!…
I think each and every one of us grew up that day, and realised, probaly for the first time that LIFFE was a serious business…not just the fun job we had experienced for the past 4 months…That people outside our bubble traded on LIFFE and the various LIFFE traders had one job to do…get those orders filled…come what may…I know I certainly viewed LIFFE differently after that day…It was a sobering thought…
On that Monday after, our matching centre looked like a fortress…Heavy duty plastic had been errected magically where no one could get at us….and we had locks on the matching room door…so safty prevailed, and we were never again bothered or scared by a day like that day, ever again….Once more down to our lovely Ken Heymer for keeping his little chicks safe….
