| |
|
Mar 2007 |
|
|
|
March 2007
Thu 1 Mar
?
Fri 2 Mar
Day of reading and job-hunting. I think we made it our for a walk or the sports centre but can’t really remember. Dinner – steamed sea bream with five willows sauce, lovely fish but probably too much chow-chow, Chinese sweet mixed pickles.
Sat 3 Mar
Back to school for me: a follow-up session at the yacht club to try and have another stab at the chartwork paper for the Coastal Skipper/Yachmaster Theory course, after last weekend’s failure! Ian did a quick recap, going over the exercises he had set us and then straight into the test paper. I never even got to ask my only question about leeway, pretty much overruled that it wasn’t relevant and I was just complicating things, but as it turned out, something made me change my assumptions about leeway (+/-), I don’t know why, and it was very relevant as it came up in several of the questions! However, Ian had pretty much decided that we were all going to pass anyway as he came round and guided most people in the correct direction with their answers! <Big-headed> I needed no such help though and when he was looking over my shoulder I got a big nod and smile from Ian, to show I was on the right track with my answers. Finally, it was making sense! By lunchtime we had all finished, relieved, and had received our certificates from Ian. This was great, as I had assumed it was going to be a full day, but now there was enough time to go out and do something. I met Ness at the harbour. Ness had headed for the harbour with a picnic and had grabbed a bench in the sunshine, but now that we had the rest of the day together we decided to head out somewhere. I quickly changed back at the flat, and we drove out to Gullane Bents and afterwards to Longniddry Bents. Gullane Bents was yet another discovery, a lovely bay with dunes and a nice beach, and there were kite-surfers, reminding us of Buffalo Bay. We grabbed a spot and had our picnic lunch and just watched the surfers. It was that glorious clear bright light, and across the Forth we could clearly see the hills of Fife. We strolled along the beach and back, and both were considering Gullane as a possible option for house-hunting, although I think in the end we discounted it – very pretty but North Berwick has a proper town centre whereas Gullane’s is really just one street. And parts of it looked very much like a millionaires row anyway. Further along, Longniddry Bents was not quite so scenic. Just some paths crossing a piece of land, where you could park and sit and look at the Forth and watch the birds, but not quite so nice for walking. We drove back, on the way taking a look at the Archerfield Estate in construction, a very exclusive development on the grounds of Archerfield House. It just struck me as utter madness to see these plots of mud with a sign stuck in the ground showing a picture of a smart big villa and below it the words “SOLD!” Back home, and for dinner we had game pie (bought from Colin Heaton’s in Haddington) and chips!
Sun 4 Mar
Early morning we went for a beach walk, out to Tea Rock although we turned back before we reached it as I had to get back in time for my VHF course. Not very much wind, just a nice little breeze, and glorious morning colours. Breakfast, and then I headed back off to the yacht club for another course. Ness seemed to be at a bit of a loose end, not entirely sure what to do with herself for the day but ended up going shopping to Ocean Terminal for some new clothes. Meanwhile I was enjoying the VHF course, run by Ian from Seaskills again, and back in the familiar sail loft room. The others on the course were four teenagers, three boys and one girl, and two guys “my age”, David and Robin, who I think was aiming to become an instructor of some kind. Ian’s course was excellent, mixing pretty dry material on waves and signals, with some practical exercises with hand-held VHF (a mini “treasure hunt” round the harbour) and in the classroom, hailing each other. By the end of the day it all made sense, and the paper wasn’t very hard. I even got a mention from Ian for only having dropped one point out of twenty-two. Back home Ness had started ironing in front of the TV, I took over later, and we had steamed sea bream with the five willows sauce for dinner again, very tasty. We watched sci-fi TV rubbish – I, Robot and Johnny Mnemonic on channel 4 – and I read more stuff while Ness dozed off under the snug blanket.
Mon 5 Mar
Normal breakfast & showers and then we both settled down to our “day jobs” for the time being, i.e. job hunting. I dealt with emails and more reading (preparation for IBM interview) sat in the lounge, Ness was working in the study upstairs. We downed tools at 12.30 and headed up to the sports centre to go for a swim and steam, which felt great. Ness still has a cold/cough lingering and blotchy skin, but seems to be feeling a little better these days. Weight is not shifting much, if anything it’s going back on. Back at the flat we had tasty rolls with fried spam for lunch and then got back to work. A greyish day outside, sunny earlier but pretty cloudy later on. Got confirmation of interview with Real Time Engineering for next week, good news, and Ness was contacted by Joslin Rowe, hopefully that’ll lead to something. By late afternoon we had both reached our fill and wanted to do something else. A look on myvue.com for the cinema listings and we decided to head for the Ocean Terminal cinema to see The Illusionist (www.imdb.com/title/tt0443543). Grabbed a quick pizza at Zizzi’s and then went to see the film – only eight other people! Enjoyed the film, in part also because we could go “been there!” as the locations were in Vienna, Cesky Krumlov and all around there. Windy drive on the way back.
Tue 6 Mar
Glorious morning, clear bright skies and sunshine, and a nice stiff fresh westerly wind. After showers and breakfast we went out for a beach walk, out along the eastern bay. Bumped into Ronnie, from the cinema club, and on the way back we saw Ian, from Seakills, taking out the rib for a powerboat course. He was wearing the full heavy-duty gear and it looked like they were set for a brisk day out on the water. Commented to Ness how it was good to begin to feel part of the community here, getting to know some faces and generally beginning to feel that this is now home. Main priority is of course still the job, everything else hinges on it – no job, no money, no house, no future – and I’m anxious about tomorrow’s interview with IBM. I really want this one. Back home I trooped upstairs and got sidetracked on the laptop. Better get on with some reading! Spent the rest of the day and evening continuing to read, pausing only for dinner in front of the TV, but continued afterwards, until past eleven o’clock.
Wed 7 Mar
A big day. IBM interview this afternoon, and I was very anxious about it. We went for a morning beach walk, a lovely bright clear morning again, fresh air, seabirds going about their business on the beach. Had a bit of a headache, no doubt connected with this afternoon’s interview. I did a bit more reading and reviewed my CV again in the morning. I looked up the interviewer’s name on LinkedIn and discovered he was ex-Deloitte, like me. Not sure whether that’s good or bad news but at least I have some idea of who I’m facing. At lunchtime we went to the sports centre for a nice steam and swim. Lunch back home, while watching a bit of the Weatherbytes DVD (a reference Ian gave on the sailing course), and then I got back to it. Stopped around three, to chill out and calm down, and at four the phone went. Roger was a pretty sympathetic interviewer and right at the start mentioned he had been with Deloitte too. I thought the interview went rather well, although I did have a case of verbal diarrhoea and found myself waffling on in some cases, stumbling over my own rather incoherent words rather than respond with the short sharp focused answers I had hoped to give. Even so, I think I managed to get across the message that I knew a thing or two about integration, so am hopeful to be asked back for a second interview. Afterwards we went out for another stroll, out towards the harbour to sit on the rocks at the head and look out to sea. The afternoon sky was a spectrum of beautiful pastel colours, the sea an intense blue. We stopped off at The Auld Hoose for a couple of pints, and got chatting with a couple who had come in with their lovely black Labrador. We ended up having three drinks, more than we’re accustomed to these days and we felt rather tipsy by the time we got home. For dinner, reheated “Moroccan” (minced lamb and butternut squash with preserved lemon and harissa, with cous-cous, superb!) Ness is meeting two agencies in Edinburgh tomorrow, so we sensibly headed off to bed for an early night, at 9.30pm!
Thu 8 Mar
Another clear bright sunny but fresh day. We had planned to get up early to go for a beach walk but instead we snuggled up and stayed in bed for a little longer. Showers, breakfast, and then we headed into town. Ness in office gear, smart blue suit. Managed to find a space on George Street, just opposite Waterstones. We were a bit early for Ness’s appointment at eleven o’clock so went for a coffee at Starbucks. Ness went off to her meeting with Joslin Rowe while I quickly headed down to Leith Walk to buy some herring and potato dumplings, and then went for a swift haircut at Victoria Barbers, at the top of Leith Walk. Back on George Street I managed to get the same parking space again. Still had some time before Ness was finished with her meeting so headed to Black & Lizars to get some camera batteries, and then I returned to George Street, to Waterstones, where we had agreed to meet (there’s a Costa branch at the back). Ness had just finished her meeting, and it sounded like it was a pretty positive meeting. We had some lunch and then it was time for Ness to go for her second meeting. I stayed in Waterstones and started working my way through the Teach Yourself Programming in Java in 24 Hours book I had just bought. Ness returned rather less enthusiastic about the second meeting. The person she had met was more junior than the Joslin Rowe consultant, and had spent most of the time talking about herself rather than being focused on Ness. We made a little detour via the smart area of Bruntsfield, to try out the Polish bakery – which was a hit – and then headed out of town to Sainsbury’s at Straiton, and then back home. There was still daylight, although by now the clouds had thickened, and it felt colder outside. We went for a stroll around the harbour and watched two guys sailing in their dinghies – this is what I’ll be doing in a couple of weeks! Quick dinner, carbonara, before Ness went off for her cinema club meeting while I stayed in and laptopped.
Fri 9 Mar
At noon I had a telephone interview with Computacenter, for a job I don’t really fancy as it’s much more infrastructure, grey boxes and cables rather than the clever integration stuff, but the agency cajoled me into it, saying it had about 50% application/integration business. Of course it turned out not to be the case. The interview went well but after half an hour it was clear that they were looking for a pure infrastructure bod. Later in the day we headed up to the sports centre and went for a swim and steam. It was very busy, in the pool as well as in the health suite. Felt great afterwards. In the evening we didn’t fancy cooking, nor did we feel like a bung-in-the-oven pizza, and instead we went for a meal at Bella Italia. Great convivial atmosphere, but the food leaves a lot to be desired, which is a shame. The whole place has that seventies feeling, a ma-and-pa setup. Although the service is friendly and welcoming, the cooking is appalling. Whatever, it was a nice meal out.
Sat 10 Mar
We drove into Edinburgh and visited Holyrood Palace, the royal family’s official residence in Scotland. It’s located a bit away from the centre of the city, close to the rugged scenery of Arthur’s Seat. Across the road is the modern building of the Scottish Executive, basically the Scottish Parliament, which we intend to visit at a future date. We first went for a bite of lunch at the cafeteria in the Palace grounds, and then visited the palace itself, with an audio guide taking us through the various rooms, from the sumptuous portrait gallery to Mary Queen of Scots’ quarters, and the adjoining remains of Holyrood Abbey. Lots of bits of Scottish and royal history, like the murder of David Rizzio by Lord Darnley, the jealous husband of Mary Queen of Scots. The spot is marked with a plaque to commemorate the event. We also visited the Amazing Rare Things exhibition, with fantastic prints by naturalists of earlier centuries, and an audio guide with commentary by David Attenborough. An excellent visit, just the right thing for a cold grey day like today. We drove home as it was already late in the afternoon. After plonking at home for a bit we went for a beach walk before it got too dark, out along the east bay and back. In the evening we went to see An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore’s film, at the Seabird Centre, which was followed by a bit of a debate among the locals. Most people were articulate and well informed about the issues. Back home we had the tasty sweet and sour pork we had prepped earlier, the traditional Thai recipe with cucumber and pineapple, not the gooey syrupy concoction usually seen here.
Sun 11 Mar
Outside it looked cloudy, grey and cold in the morning but that didn’t put us off going for a walk. We just picked a walk out of the book (REF), made a packed lunch and got our packs ready and drove out. The walk we picked took us along a former railway track (now just a nice straight path), round the village of (REF) and Wilton House at the end, and returning through the forest we stopped for our picnic lunch on a few logs that had thoughtfully been left, and then the long walk back along the straight path. It was windy and nicely cold and slowly uphill. We felt pretty tired by the time we got back to the car. Nearby was the Glenkinchie distillery, but unfortunately (or fortunately?!) it wasn’t open on Sundays. At home we watched England beat France in the Six Nations and then watched Time Team before cooking a tasty Georgian recipe from the Feasts cooking book for lamb with pumpkin (substituted by butternut squash) and pomegranate. We had tried to meet up with Mark and Eliza over the weekend but that didn’t quite happen, but in the evening I called Mark again and we fixed up to go for a “walk” tomorrow, much needed! Before going to bed I got my new pack (christmas pressie from Ness) ready.
Mon 12 Mar
I managed to crawl out of bed at 6.30 and made it out a bit after 7. Bad traffic on the way to Mark’s and I only got there by about 8.30 in the end. I picked up Mark, who had made us both packed lunches and a flask of coffee to have on the drive to the Trossachs. We drove to Callander and beyond, to Killin and then into the Ben Lawers Nature Reserve. Weather wasn’t great, wet, grey and cold. We parked Eddie, donned wet-weather gear and started the “walk”. This was one of Mark’s own routes, and it started with a steep climb over peaty boggy country, up towards a ridge. Higher up we soon encountered snow, deep dense drifts of it and the ice-axes came out to help us up the steep ridge. The wind was fierce on the exposed ridge, cutting horizontally across us. I found it tough going, but managed to switch to that state of mind where you just focus on putting one foot in front of the other and willing yourself through the tiring bits (and relying on some mental images for support now and then). The setting was stunning, despite the thick clouds and wet weather. Having made our way through the thick densely packed drifts of snow the summit started to feel nearer and I was proud to make it to the top. We quickly started heading down again as it was far too windy to stay up here for long, and given the fierce winds we decided against following the circular route over a narrow ridge but instead headed down, and this route joined up with a path which took us down to the road, a narrow single-track strip of tarmac for farm access, and then another couple of kilometres along the road to get back to Eddie. On the way down the hill we stopped for lunch and while we were munching our sarneys, sat on two rocks a short distance apart, we saw a fighter jet fly by at very low altitude, below the cloud level, below the height of the hills even, rapidly banking its way through the valleys, and followed by its own sound. By the time we reached the road the sun had come out for a short while and Mark was cursing his luck, as the snow-capped summit now looked particularly fine. By the time we reached the car the weather had turned again though. We stopped of for a drink at a hotel in the village of Doune on the way back, a very welcome pint of Belhaven Best and a packet of pickled onion flavour crisps, and back at Mark and Eliza’s place in Bathgate I briefly popped in for a coffee before continuing back to North Berwick. Ness had prepared a tasty Chinese dinner and I felt much better after a nice hot shower, aaahh!
Tue 13 Mar
Looked like a fine day outside and we got ourselves up and out for a beach walk, out to Tea Rock and back, while the early morning sunlight still had that special quality, lighting things up. I don’t think I’ll ever tire of these lovely beach walks! Back at the flat we had a bit of breakfast and I trooped upstairs to have my short telephone interview with Deloitte, more a bit of supplementary fact-finding really. We went for a swim and a steam, Ness also going for the steam session, at the Sports Centre in the afternoon – I had been looking forward to that after yesterday’s walk! Dropped a cheque in at the yacht club for Mark’s course fees – we’re both signed up for the Adult Learn to Sail (dinghies) course Jane is running in a couple of weeks time. Later in the day we popped out again, to the harbour, to sit on the rocks and watch the waves, and on the way back we stopped off for a drink at the Auld Hoose, where it was unusually busy, convivial. For dinner, papricas, Hungarian veal stew, which I thought was delicious but Ness didn’t think all that much of. And early to bed, in readiness for tomorrow’s early start!
Wed 14 Mar
An early start, up at 6.15am. Ness made breakfast and made sure I was all set for the interview. It was an easy but long drive, and I had left plenty of time so arrived very early. The interview was with Real Time Engineering. Their office on a rather standard, unimpressive business park on the edges of a smart neighbourhood of Glasgow. In the smart neighbourhood I found a pleasant coffee-shop and had two cappucino’s while scanning through the material I had printed out from their site. Then I headed over to the office, and had my interview. It was a straightforward question and answer affair, most of the questions being asked by Robert …, one of their Enterprise Managers, a senior technical/project manager or something. I thought it went rather well, but found it hard to understand which role they had in mind for me and came away with mixed feelings, also in part engendered by the location. It had become clear to me that Real Time were very much a small run-of-the-mill player, not a “fancy” outfit at all. I drove back to Edinburgh, and met up with Ness in Starbucks in Ocean Terminal and then we went to see The Good Shepherd, the Robert de Niro spy film. Good bit of entertainment but not a patch Le Carré! Ness had bought a packed lunch for both of us which we munched during the preview. Lots of traffic on the way back. For dinner Ness cooked tasty home-made lamb “burgers” with cous-cous and roasted mediterranean veggies, lovely! I nodded off early again and trooped up to bed.
Thu 15 Mar
Slow lazy start, like a Sunday morning, wonderful! We had planned to deal with some housekeeping and admin, but I ended up following up my IBM application and that rather set the tone for the rest of the day. A boring saga, but I get the feeling the recruitment agency have cocked up big time and my application is in their hands, and I’m now in the “last chance saloon” as far as that job goes – hopeful something may yet come of it, who knows. At lunchtime we went for a swim and steam, and when we came back I again spoke with the agency, who said they would get back to IBM and so on and so forth. Rejection from Deloitte came as no surprise. Glorious sunny day outside – I can see it from the study, looking out across the Forth, with Craigleith island and the red walls of the harbour in front of me.
Fri 16 Mar
Continued to push on the IBM front, seems like there’s a thin chance of getting to a next stage. I was beginning to see things rather gloomily though and moped around, feeling pretty low on the whole. On a more positive note, Wayne from Search called late in the afternoon to say Real Time would like to invite me back for a final interview, so that’s looking pretty promising. And a nice surprise in the email: a reply from the Bozar confirming two tickets for the Fiftieth Anniversary |
