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Jun 2007 |
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June 2007
Fri 1 Jun
Flew back, drove home, arriving late in the evening. Nessie’s parents are visiting for the weekend, having arrived on Thursday and staying until Monday. Ness had kept dinner for me, and I tucked in while we sat and chatted, and then off to bed.
Sat 2 Jun
Lazy morning, and later in the day we went for a stroll around town. Ness had arranged for us to visit Westgate, our flat/house to be, again so that Frankie and John could see it for themselves. Already felt like it was waiting for us, had a good feeling about the house. Then we drove to Musselburgh and went to the races. I managed to get a win on the Epsom Derby, a modest £4.50 return by betting on the favourite, ridden by Frankie Detorri, which was splashed all over the papers the next day. But other than that we were less successful on the betting front this time round, and we left after having watched a couple of races and having had a drink, a plate of chips and a beef roll. Good fun. Grey and cloudy.
Sun 3 Jun
We drove into Edinburgh, not really getting out, just a drive in and out and around. Grey misty weather.
Mon 4 Jun
Flew to Gatwick. Worked at client location in Epsom. Back in the Hilton hotel, but got a decent room and service this time.
Tue 5 Jun
Day at client in Epsom.
Wed 6 June
Day at client office in Epsom. Ended up working through most of the night, trying to produce a draft document “Integration Options”. Managed to come up with something that wasn’t too shabby and had just under two hours sleep.
Thu 7 Jun
Didn’t feel too bad in the morning, considering. Made it through the day, and nodded off on the plane back, sleeping all the way. Glad to be back home again.
Fri 8 Jun
Curry and pictures in the evening. We met Mark and Eliza at the curry house near the Dominion cinema on Morningside. Had a great hot vindaloo that had me sweating. Went to see Ocean’s 13. We had the comfy reclining chairs, but at the back of the cinema and it was almost unbearably hot. Ness slept through most of the film, I sweated. Turned out they have no air-conditioning, at all, for a theatre with capacity for a couple of hundred people – staggering.
Sat 9 Jun
In the morning we tazzed around, clearing up. Michael and Sarah, with Oscar and James, dropped by to visit us, on their way from Newcastle to somewhere near Perth, where they’ll a week’s holiday. It was good to see them, and we all seemed to enjoy each other’s company. We went for lunch at the Seabird centre, and afterwards just spent time on the beach, by the tidal pool, where Oscar and James had fun playing around. Michael and Sarah left us late in the afternoon and I think I then worked for the rest of the day. Rather grey still, but no haar at least.
Sun 10 Jun
First proper sail on a dinghy! Mark came over and we headed over to the yacht club. Weather was grey but the worst of the haar had lifted, and the wind was very light, perfect for a first outing. We got changed into our wetsuits, got dinghies onto the beach. Rigged the boats, Hugh gave a short briefing, and then we launched into it. I went on a Laser 2000, a two-man dinghy, with another guy called John. We got on very well together, John seemingly impressed by my sailing abilities – he clearly was under the impression that I knew what I was doing! It went ok to start, we got the hang of moving around the boat, of steering, tacking, gybing. Then a sudden manoeuvre went a bit wonky and before we knew it the boat started to capsize, as if in slow motion. We swam around to the keel, leant on the daggerboard and slowly the boat came back up, I flopped rather ungracefully back in and before long we were on our way again. John and I had thoroughly enjoyed the whole episode and felt rather proud in a way – that was the worst of it we felt, and some sort of barrier had been crossed. We stopped for lunch, rolls being handed out by Jane and Eric at the yacht club, and in the afternoon we swapped boats. This time I was in a single-handed boat, with only a mainsail. This felt tiny and I was constantly ducking under the boom. Jane said I should try a Finn, “a boat for big boys”, and mentioned that Niall might still have one. Excellent afternoon and I felt I was getting the hang of it, and certainly holding my own among the group. This is going to be a lot of fun over the years. Also felt part of the scenery, with the crowds looking on when we brought the boats back in, like one of the “locals” now. Ness came down to take some pictures, and had brought a packed lunch and waited by the harbour walls. It took a while to sort out the boats and put everything back so Ness carried on back home. Mark and I grabbed an ice cream and then went back to our flat. Eliza came over, bringing a big sticky toffee pudding with her. It turned into a full evening. We watched a bit of the Montréal Grand Prix, then went for dinner at Bella Italia (I pretended to like my dinner but it was another disappointment: “saltimbocca alla romana” consisted of a veal with a slice of very plain ham and a slop of bechamel sauce with parsley sprinkled on it, nothing remotely resembling the real deal – they haven’t got a clue). Afterwards, desert back at ours – sticky toffee pudding, coffee. Mark and Eliza seemed quite comfortable and settled but we needed an early night.
Mon 11 Jun
Great to have a week to be working in Edinburgh, almost like having a “normal” life. Makes me realise how much I resent being sent away on projects. Anyway, I trooped into town, settled into the IBM office at St Andrew Square, and tried to get down to work. The day seemed to fly by somehow. Lots of stuff to do, including the various forms for my “people manager”. It’s all piling up a bit and I feel I’m not getting everything done. Had such good intentions of being in control, but I feel as if I’m straight back to the bad old days, of deadlines and pressure. Trooped back on the train at the end of the day, and we went for a session at the health suite but found that the whirlpool was out of order – a glass had fallen in and they had to empty and clean it.
Tue 12 Jun
Day at the office, ditto. In the evening I worked on my PD forms, Ness helping me, but it got so late and I ended up just packing it in. My manager has been chasing me for the forms, just what I was hoping to avoid.
Wed 13 Jun
Worked at home today. Early start to have another go at the forms, this time with more success. Ness helped to keep me focused and to complete the forms. After submitting them I tried to do my client report, finding it hard to write or do anything.
Thu 14 Jun
Worked at home, trying to finish my “deliverable”. Can’t say I made significant progress on it, but am getting increasingly stressed by the deadlines and work, or rather by my inability to just rattle off the stuff I should be producing. In the evening we went for a steam and a swim at the health club. This time the sauna was out of order, but at least the whirlpool and steam room were ok, and we had a nice relaxing session, followed by a pint of Magners cider at the Netherabbey Hotel, where we shared a table and chatted with a lady on her own completing a crossword. She was still wearing her work jumper, which identified her as the bus driver. Faggots, chips and peas for dinner, yum!
Fri 15 Jun
Worked at home today. Breakfast together and then I parked myself in the study upstairs, with its fabulous view outside of the Forth, Craigleith island, the harbour, etc. Going to miss this view when we move to our own pad, but we’ll still be close by. Got down to work, working on my “deliverable” for the Toyota project. Managed to get myself into a right pickle, again, with a report that’s due imminently and I feel as if I’m way off completing it, barely started it really and with hardly a clue how to go about finishing it. In theory it should be easy, straightforward, crank-the-handle stuff which I’ve done many times before but I’m finding it really hard to remain focused, to analyse and slot bits of info in the right boxes. Feel as if I’m flitting from one piece of information to the next, without really knowing what to do. Ness is very patient and understanding and doing her best to create an environment within which I can get on with it. I fiddled with my document, made some calls, looked up stuff on the intranet, and so on. By the end of the day I had tinkered with the document but it’s still a long way from being right. Got the weekend in hand – oh yippee – so yet again in last chance saloon. Weather too bad for sailing so called Mark to call it off, and Jane to cancel boat I had asked her to book for us. Quite sensible too, as it only got worse outside – very scenic though, but not really conditions for beginning sailors. We popped out to pick up a chinky on Quality Street, and I popped down to the beach to let the wind blow over me to clear my head and met Ness back home. Quick bite – bland and disappointing. Ness went out to her book club, and I went to sit in front of my laptop again, to tinker.
Sat 16 Jun
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Sun 17 Jun
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Mon 18 Jun
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Tue 19 Jun
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Wed 20 Jun
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Thu 21 Jun
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Fri 22 Jun
I think I must have spent the day at the Edinburgh office. Ness came over late in the afternoon and together we headed to the airport for our flight to Brussels to spend the weekend together with Mama. Massive queues in the departures hall and we quickly repacked the bag so that we had hand luggage only and could avoid having to queue for the “fast” bag drop. We made our way through security, also busy, and into the departures lounge, also busy and with queues everywhere, for the coffee bars, for the loos, etc. We tried to remain calm, nothing that we could do and getting irritated wouldn’t help. Still, it was bloody annoying that it couldn’t just go smoothly. Both feeling the stresses and strains of modern living, and not liking it one bit. Anyway, we caught our flight and landed at Brussels an hour later. We rented a car, a nice little automatic Polo from National, and drove home, where Mama was waiting for us. It was late and dark by now. We had some coffee and a “boterham” and chatted a bit before all going to bed.
Sat 23 Jun
Weekendje bij Mama! We just spent time together, talking and so on. Ness and I moved some furniture around to re-arrange things now that the piano and one of the desks have been taken over to Mischa & Greg’s. We drove to Ikea and bought a bookcase-unit-thing as a replacement for the desk at the back of the lounge and after lunch put it together. Mama seemed pretty pleased with the end result. Unfortunately I wasn’t quite up to the task of putting up a new curtain rail above the front door though – couldn’t manage to get the drill to drill deep enough holes in the solid lintel. Mama was looking good, much better than she had sounded on the phone, with a cold, and also had been complaining of pain in her right thigh, but fortunately it seems to have gone away. It was nice to spend the day together.
Sun 24 Jun
A nice sunday together. I don’t think we “did” anything as such, just read a little, chatted, and generally took it easy. Mama prepared lunch, we had “tafeltje rond”, and the day pleasantly went by. Tea and cake in the afternoon, and sandwiches in the evening, and then we caught our flights back to Edinburgh again.
Mon 25 Jun
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Tue 26 Jun
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Wed 27 Jun
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Thu 28 Jun
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Fri 29 Jun
I spent the day at the Edinburgh office, can’t remember the details now. Ness came into town at the end of the day and we met up. We had a drink at one of the bars along George Street, sharing a bottle of wine sat upstairs in the trendy place. Shame they had the music blasting out which ruined the atmosphere, otherwise it could have been a great place. Plan was to go for dinner somewhere and we drove to the old town side to try out La Garrigue (?). Unfortunately it was fully booked, which set me off grumbling about how ridiculous it is that you have to book, etc. Ness had a brainwave and suggested the Polish place on Leith Walk, but that too was fully booked. Not happy, and I reckoned we’d better cut our losses now and just head home. I started to pull out of the parking space in the big tank, the Passat from Hertz, and CRASH! What had happened?!? Funny thing, time. It seemed to both slow down and speed up. Basically, had an accident by colliding with a VW Golf coming up Leith Walk. Heart pounded and brain kicked into overtime trying to take in the potential consequences. First thoughts, shit, I’ve had a drink, was it my fault, how could I be so stupid! The left rear passenger door of the golf had flown off and landed on the opposite side of the road, and the car itself had swerved and driven into a signpost. I reversed back into the space I had been about to leave. The Passat was damaged pretty badly at first sight, front right bumper and headlight damaged and the bonnet deformed, but the other car was in a much worse state, as were it’s occupants. General pandemonium, and before we knew it there was a small crowd of excited people, and more were being waved across, including from the pub across the road. Ness gave good counsel and kept cool, and wisely suggested we stay to one side, not to get embroiled. We tried to figure out who was the driver and what was going on. A man was lying down on the pavement, looking very shaken, and as if he was having a heart attack. I suspected he was acting and exaggerating though. Phone calls were being made but we weren’t sure what was going on. I called 999 and asked for the police – it was obvious that an ambulance had already been called by the other guys - and gave them the details. We waited and soon the police were on site. We did our reporting of the accident to one policeman, a big bloke, while others busied themselves with the rest of the scene. Heart still pounding, and I commented to Ness about how I was seriously worried that this might be the end of my career if I were found to be driving over the limit. Shit, shit, shit! I started to rationalise it for myself though, and became convinced that the other car had been speeding, and yes I had checked the rear-view mirror before pulling out, I was sure of that, and so on. Calmed down, kept answering the questions, and it turned out that our car at least was still driveable. Then an anxious moment as I was breathalysed and fortunately it showed I was not over the limit. Phew! Whatever else might come of it, that was a massive relief. Bit by bit the scene was cleared and very carefully we drove off – Ness driving as I was still too shaken.
Sat 30 Jun
Contacted Hertz and arranged for a swap of cars. We drove to the Hertz office at Picardy Place in Edinburgh, swapped over for a crappy Vauxhall Vectra but I was just glad to be done with it, completed a form, and then we drove back to North Berwick.
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