Test match special

[Marc Beishon]

"In my young days as a shipping journalist, I blagged a prestigious exclusive interview with a prominent Norwegian shipowner," says Patrick Neylan, in one of the great left-field opening lines to an email. "He spent half the interview banging on about his OBOs. I couldn't admit that I had no idea what he was talking about, and luckily I didn't tell him I'd come to talk about ships, not woodwind instruments, so I nodded sagely, took notes and scuttled out of his office at the first opportunity. So you can tell Mr Lee from me that an OBO is an Ore-Bulk-Ore carrier, capable of operating as a bulk carrier or tanker."

Spotted on the Guardian's ashes blog, which for some reason was pondering what OBO stands for. 

M.