Repeat after me: I. Am. A. Runner.

“So, how do you turn on this treadmill thing? I’m taking part in a marathon in March.” And with that question (which in itself nearly floored the gym instructor at Billericay’s LA Fitness) earlier this week this writer began training in earnest for The Moodie Multi-National Marathon. You have to understand – it’s a pretty

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Joining a very special club

“There is no chance, no destiny, no fate, that can circumvent hinder or control, the firm resolve of a determined soul” – Ella Wheeler Wilcox – American Journalist and Poet. Sometimes it’s the little things that make a difference. This week I sat up late with my wife planning our respective travel agendas for the

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Turning the ARC light on Asian inflight retail

The first ARC Asia Airline Retail Conference began on Tuesday in Macau’s Grand Hyatt Hotel. It’s a project that aims to turn the spotlight on Asian airlines and inflight concessionaires, as well as brands targeting the Asia inflight business. It’s a regional event that should have good prospects, given the engine room of global travel that Asia Pacific is

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Ed Brennan speaks at HWS College

[Source: © 2010 Hobart and William Smith Colleges] The following article dates back to late 2010 but it’s well worth reproducing on The Moodie Blog. It focuses on DFS Chairman and CEO Ed Brennan, and his work in the pioneering travel retail corporate social responsibility project, Hand in Hand for Haiti (you can see the

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Give me Strength

I choked back tears today Because I can’t begin to say how much you’ve shaped this boy these last few months or more. – Give me Strength, Snow Patrol One finds strength in many forms and via many people. As I approach the last days of my chemotherapy regime, the struggle, perversely, seems greater, darker and

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A New Year’s Wish

“People don’t talk about the soul very much anymore. It’s so much easier to write a résumé than to craft a spirit. But a résumé is cold comfort on a winter night, or when you’re sad, or broke, or lonely, or when you’ve gotten back the chest X-ray and it doesn’t look so good, or

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Mr Pelous I presume…

Some people really know how to cheer you up… The last few days have seen some lovely and generous Christmas gifts pour into the office, several accompanied by kind sentiments wishing me well during the final stages of my medical treatment. One package revealed a nice bottle of Bordeaux (pictured) called Dédicace, a blend of

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Stranded – the theme of 2010

It’s cold, mighty cold, down in the original Worldwide Headquarters of The Moodie Report (forever known as ‘The Shed’ in the immortal words of former Abu Dhabi Duty Free Managing Director Mohamed Mounib…). London currently resembles Siberia and the bookmakers have stopped taking bets on there being a White Christmas. If this Blog is relatively

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No time for leftover wine

What do you do when the people go home? And what do you do when the show is all done? I know what I’ll do in the alone of my time But what will I do with the leftover wine? –  Melanie Safka, ‘Leftover wine’ And so another year in travel retail nears its end. Other

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Entering the topic of Cancer

[Picture: Vanity Fair] ‘Nobody wants to be told about the countless minor horrors and humiliations that become facts of “life” when your body turns from being a friend to being a foe: the nasty double cross of feeling acute hunger while fearing even the scent of food; the absolute misery of gut-wringing nausea on an

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An airport with a heart

This week’s launch of Auckland Airport’s revamped Departures area was an uplifting occasion, writes our Special Correspondent Peter Dowling. Not only has the retail team led by Adrian Littlewood and Paul Divers done an outstanding job of creating a shopping experience that is of international standard while preserving a funky Kiwi flavour. Auckland Airport now

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High success in Haiti

Great news reaches The Moodie Blog from the wonderful team working on Hand in Hand for Haiti – the travel retail industry initiative to build a world-class school in the earthquake-ravaged Caribbean country. This week an update was sent out to the many industry donors – one we share with you here. DFS Chairman Ed

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Trinity becomes a Quintet in Dubai

Dubai Airport played host this week to a welcome but all too rare retail collaboration, when the new Emporium luxury spirits, fine wines and Champagne store and bar opened at Terminal 3. In this case, the ‘Trinity’ of brand owner, airport and retailer became a ‘Quintet’, when the partnership between Diageo GTME, Möet Hennessy, Dubai Duty

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