Author Archives: Steve

About Steve

Man of leisure.

Edinburgh

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After months of on time flights, FlyBe has reverted to late flights.  This morning the flight was over an hour late leaving Birmingham for Edinburgh.  Edinburgh was quite sunny today, but rather cool.

Supper was at the Petit Paris on Grassmarket, now open on a Monday for the summer season.  Amazing the number of tourists now around, back in the dark months the Petit Paris barley filled its upstairs dining room.  Now even on a Monday at 6.30 both upstairs and downstairs were full.  As proven last week, my regular appearance at this small French eatery does not guarantee a seat.  Today they were telling the several people to come back in ten minutes.

I started with a spinach and courgette soup. It was very nice and thick.  Main course was from the low cost plat de jour menu, and was sausage, bacon and lentil casserole.  I think I might add that to my repertoire of weekday meals.  Finally I had their gorgeous crème Brule.  All this was washed down with a half litre of vin de rouge.  They have a web site at http://www.petitparis-restaurant.co.uk

Afterwards met up with Ed and had a pint at Bannermans on Cowgate.  Although there was a band playing, I think we watched the music videos from Kerrang on their TV screens.  The we tried the Bo Bar which had rave reviews.  Definitely an arty student type of bar, though as a student I am not sure I could have afforded the prices.

Selina back from Liverpool

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I was determined I would not be caught in any traffic, so up at 5.00 and arrived in Liverpool at 7.40 for Selina.  Packed and way by 9.30.  Now the problems, accident on the M6 delayed us by 30 minutes, than another accident on the other lane of the M40 caused our side to be stopped while the air ambulance took away the injured.  Arrived back just after 12.00 

Calton Hill

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After work I took a walk up Calton hill.  Quite a good view of Edinburgh and the castle and The Crags.  On Calton hill is the Observatory where the signal for the castle one o’clock gun originates from.  There are also a number of monuments, including an incomplete Classical style folly.

You will all be glad I was away before sun set!

Arthur’s Seat

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Well I am still commuting up to Edinburgh every week.  Now the clocks have changed, and the evenings are lighter, I thought I would take the time to visit Arthur’s Seat.  I was well impressed with the area.  The walk to the top was a bit of a scramble towards the end.  After the seat I walked down and then along the top of the Craggs.  The view of Edinburgh was magnificent, though rather hazy in the late evening sunshine.  I shall make an effort and walk up there every week, and visit the seat after a cold front has just passed through.  (That should be when the view is at its clearest)

One big disaster though, my favourite restaurant, Le Petit Paris, was unable to seat me for supper.  They could have taken my later, but I was on a tight schedule for drinks with Ed, so ate at a Tapas Bar.

The 150th boat race

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Rosemary and I visited the London Wetland Centre run by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust.  This is a 40-hectare area converted to wetlands on the South Side of the Thames by Hammersmith Bridge.  It is remarkable because of its location in the middle of London.  The trip had been organised by the Berkshire branch of the Cambridge Society to coincide with the 150th boat race.

We had a guide tour round the centre and saw many birds.  I think Rosemary was pleased to see a couple of Avocets.  There was supposed to be a Bittern in the read beds, not spotted.

Afterwards we watched Cambridge win the boat race from the South Bank at St Pauls School.  A nice supper had been laid on after the race.

Big Fat Repack

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Went to the Big Fat Repack at the Reading Rivermead Lesure centre.  I arrived at around 12.45 hoping the ZIP queue had died down.  No way, so I helped Brian Hickman pack his reserve.  He had been the first down at 11.30.

I then joined the queue to practice my reserve deploy.  Success it opened with no problem and was not inside out or with crossed lines.

Then I packed the chute with the help of another Brian from the Annecy trip and Brian Hickman. 

Sorry about the dearth of news

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Sorry about the dearth of news.  I have been travelling to Edinburgh each week, so there has not been a great deal to say.  This coming week I have the first two days in the office, so I am feeling quite relaxed as I write this on Sunday evening.

The last couple of weeks have been quite cold, with Northerly and Easterly winds blowing.  Apparently there has been quite a bit of snow around.  As usual none has fallen at home, or in Edinburgh.  So there have been no delays on the flights.

The ants at home appear to think Spring has arrived, never seen them invade the house so early in the year.  At least they are busily eating the Nippon.

Edinburgh and Rosemary

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Nice week in Edinburgh.  Rosemary flew up on Monday and back on Friday for £31 with Flybe.  
She took quite a few tours in the old town, Ghost tour, the Castle (I have still to hear the one o’clock gun), the Royal Mile where she visited the law courts.  She visited the street under the law buildings where Iain Rankin set a scene from one of his Rebus books.  On the Rebus visits we went to the Oxford Bar for a drink.

We met up each evening for supper, once with some colleagues from work, twice at the Petit Paris, and once for Haggis, Tatties and Neaps in a local pub.  Unfortunately the weather was poor.  First time in Edinburgh I have had rain fall while I was out on the street.  So bad one day we had to move hotel rooms because of a leaking roof in the Apex International.

Edinburgh yet again

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Well another week in Edinburgh with a mixture of rain and sunny days.  Going home though was rather a bind.  Started off by having to check my luggage in, this was the first time ever I had not taken my bag as hand luggage.  Plane though was larger then usual, and the trip back to Birmingham was well ahead of schedule. 

Having two buses to meet the plane must have caused severe confusion for the ground staff. The second bus which I boarded had to wait with its doors locked and us on for 15 minutes while someone was found to open the doors to Arrivals.  At least I did not have to wait for the luggage to appear on the carousal.

Next to the car, and as I looked for the fascia to my new MP3 car CD player, I tried to turn the interior light on.  Oh no, it was already on, battery was flat.  As I walked back to the NCP office, I thought luck was with me, I met an NCP man with a battery pack going to start someone else.  I will be with you in 10 minutes he said.  Thirty minutes later I stopped a car park bus and they radioed for him.  On my way he said.  Another 10 minutes and he was with me.  To be fair he had been called back to the multi story to help the police arrest a man breaking into cars.  Soon the car was running and I was away.