the sun has got his hat on…
Apologies for the lack of updating, but (in the nicest possible way) it’s been a bit chaotic – my plans to manage everything on the train journeys thanks to two free first class tickets were scuppered after the onboard WiFi died on its arse not once but twice before I got started, although the Edinburgh to London leg more than made up for it by boasting what was far and away the best sausage I have ever been offered on a moving train. And having arrived home in one piece on Thursday afternoon, the weather put paid to any desire to sit in front of a computer screen and I decided instead on a trip to the beach instead – yay!
So all in all, a vastly above-average week starting with a particularly lovely time in Glasgow! I would be the first to admit I didn’t have high hopes, having been told by all and sundry to watch out for the innumerable timewasters, numpties and general messers – I can, however, report that not only was each and every punter visiting charming, and no shenanigans were noted at all (or if they were, they’re long forgotten) but the hotel fabulous and the whole place lots of fun and teeming with eminently do-able non-punter types too. Needless to say I will be back, and soon. It must be the accent.
A couple of days in Edinburgh later, including an impromptu nearly-day off after getting a lunchtime appointment out of the way just to show willing and spending the remainder of it in – or rather outside – the pub in the lovely sunshine with a pal (and one bearing cake from the New Town Deli, where I had also recently had one of the best cups of coffee in about as long as I can remember) and it was fast-forward to London, literally – arriving less than four and a half hours after setting off and replete with sausages, more coffee (phenomenally bad this time, but still better than expected). The remainder of the week passed in something of a blur outwith a couple of oddballs, the excitement of a new paying-in machine at the bank and an enormous Chinese takeaway that went some way to making up for not having time to find any haggis in Scotland. Also on the plus side, the journey home managed a notable lack of train crashes.
Preparations are well underway for a busy month – June begins with Birmingham (and it was so long ago even I don’t remember my last trip there!) before a well-deserved weekend away (which will not include my work phone, and only a very occasional glance at email shortly followed by a (hopefully) sunny few days back in Douglas for some post-TT R&R once things have got back to normal, or at least normal-ish. I will be at home briefly in the middle before heading off to London on the 27th, but it’s worth pointing out that even leaving aside early finish times during the World Cup, the previously-mentioned building work is now well and truly underway and availability is likely to be extremely limited, especially if the weather holds. The noise alone is already driving me nuts and I predict that few of my daytime hours will be spent in the house (and by way of an afterthought, to the handful of people who have attempted to circumvent my booking procedures and trick me into seeing them by claiming to have visited before, how exactly were you planning on getting to me?)
This week and next will mostly be spent catching up on proper food, sleep and Breaking Bad with the fishes before sallying forth to the West Midlands on the 1st; the call blocker remains resolutely on, and it’s emails (for choice) or text enquiries only, please. As I’m currently surrounded by noise and mess that I can’t control (plus getting over a stinking cold caught sharing ice cream with and being otherwise dribbled on by small relatives) and very tired thanks to both, the net result being that whilst I remain as chipper as anybody who is not obliged to do anything bar eat cake and watch box sets for a full ten days if they don’t want to should be expected to be, I have all the patience left of Gordon Ramsey on crack. Probably less.
Rescue is thankfully not far away in the form of the Malton Food Lovers Festival this weekend, featuring lots of exciting bits and bobs, beer tents, cake stalls, and most importantly, more sausages – yay! I predict that my mood will have improved greatly by Monday morning, and even more so if the builders find something pressing to do that doesn’t involve being anywhere near me.
Update next week. More cake.
Subscribe to blog feed.
About the Author: