School's back

Haven't been posting much lately. Too busy/lazy!

Well the Cathedral Choir has started again. We sang at a wedding on Saturday where the bride was 25 minutes late. Eventually a message got through to say what the delay was. She was stuck behind an Orange Walk. Only in Glasgow .......!

Sunday was back to normal services. The morning was, well, it was Eucharist, although I managed to stay awake for most of it. Evensong went really well and we all seemed to gel together again fairly quickly. Then after Evensong to the Junkyard Dog where, since this was the first post-Evensong refreshment since moving to the West End (half an hour's walk from the Cathedral) from my old house (20 minutes drive) I was determined to take full advantage and was damned sure I was going to have at least 3 pints even if I didn't want them! I needn't have worried, I didn't need to force them down, and in fact managed without difficulty to pass my target!

Was at the Edinburgh Military Tattoo (sponsored by the Royal Bank of Scotland) on Monday evening. I watch it, and enjoy it, on TV most years and for the past few I've thought about getting tickets only after it's sold out. But this year I was given a pair of tickets for my birthday by my wife. We obviously didn't know back at the start of the year that by the time of the show (sponsored by the Royal Bank of Scotland) we would have separated, and I had in fact hoped that she would have still been able to come with me, but she had booked a holiday so wasn't available. Instead I went with a friend IF (works for the Royal Bank of Scotland) and I have to say it was a great show. In fact it was a really enjoyable trip to Edinburgh, the great whore of the east. Most of the city centre seems to be more commercialised than usual at this Edinburgh Festival time (sponsored by the Royal Bank of Scotland). We had a quick drink in the Bank Hotel in the Royal Mile where we happened to meet a former work colleague of mine who has just been promoted to a VERY high level. I'm glad for him, he's a good guy, and not just because he was one of the two people who interviewed me for a job which was the starting point for what I laughingly call my career at the moment! It's just as well I wasn't having a clandestine meeting with IF (or a clandy as they're known where I work) as my cover would have been well and truly blown! After that we headed just round the corner to Le Sept Restaurant and had a very nice meal. Then it was a walk up to the Castle Esplanade where IF had her bag searched but I got past the checkpoint unmolested. I always thought she looked dodgy! The show was spectacular, the weather was remarkably good, and the evening was thoroughly enjoyable. They don't half pack in the great unwashed though. Not a lot of room between seats! Afterwards we wandered about until we found a taxi to take us back to IF's sister's house where she was staying overnight and I'd parked my car. So it was half past midnight by the time I reached Glasgow again, and then up again in time to leave for work at 0630hrs!

Last night I did pretty well bugger all. Just lazed about flicking TV channels and occasionally surfing the Interweb. Oh, and drinking scrumpy! A night well spent.

Today was my last actual day working in Stirling. I've taken tomorrow and Friday off as flexi leave. I "just" had an hour of presentation to do before I finished. So anyway, that's another wee chapter come to an end, back to my normal job on Monday which should mean I get to sleep beyond 0600hrs since instead of having an 80 mile round trip each day and starting at Stirling just after 0700hrs, I'm back to it being about a 10 mile round trip and starting a bit after 0800hrs. Hurrah! But no more overtime and travelling expenses. Boo!

Tonight I'm finally getting to catch up with a mate, AD, who I haven't seen for ages. We keep making vain attempts at synchronising our calendars but never quite manage to find a time when we are both available. Well I just live round the corner now, so there's probably no excuse! We're meeting in the Three Judges pub in Partick in about 2 hours time.

I'm about to add some pubs to my Website, there's the three in Lichfield from the other weekend, one in Stirling, and one in Edinburgh. I should have them added in the next couple of days.