Passing it forward – Jon Swift’s advice gets into an American Official’s ear – Daily Newsletter

It never ceases to amaze me how small the world has become. A decent meal, a good sleep, a couple of great movies and you're in the USA. OK, I can hear the naysayers now but for me SAA is as world class as any business from our wonderful country. And so it proved again this time.Last year after arriving at JFK in New York, we were stuck at Immigration for three hours. This time the flight arrived between others and just an hour after touchdown I was chatting to the Immigration Official about his son who is studying journalism in Orange County but worried about getting a job once he graduates. More than 30 years ago, Jon Swift, then the nation's top sports journalist and still plying his trade at The Citizen, told me to abandon that avenue for finance. It was great advice. So I passed it on to the first American I spoke to here.

This is being written as I wait for my next flight – to Twin Cities – and after another hour there, will get into Omaha around 4:30pm this afternoon. Add back the time change and that's 30 hours. Quite an adventure. Our flight from ORT was delayed for an hour or so which proved a Godsend. Not just because it provided a virtual fast track through JFK's notoriously slow Immigration. It also gave me the chance to put together a short obituary for Biznews.com on the late Garnet de la Hunt who died on Monday night.

Garnet's achievements in Scouting will have gone unnoticed for many fellow South Africans, but not the half a million boys and girls in a movement that teaches them to honour God, their country and themselves. Among the quite extraordinary achievements of this fellow South African was his election to the top job in the 32m strong worldwide Scouting organisation. He will be desperately missed by everyone involved in the movement. Especially those of us who only knew him for a short time.

We've "canned" Biznews Radio for the next few days. Go have a listen by clicking on the RSS with headphones at the top on the right hand side of the Biznews home page. And please let me know what you think. We can only improve if you help us.