Another sunny day here in Edinburgh. Today Jon Marshall arrived to keep me company.
After work we went to the Doric Tavern, 15 Market Street, quite a nice small restaurant upstairs with a reasonable menu d’hote.
I started with mussels in, quite reasonable, followed by Monk Fish and Chorizo sausage. No room for an afters. A nice bottle of Santa Helena Cabernet Sauvignon went well with the meal.
Afterwards a quick adjournment to the pub next door for a pint of Caledonian Deuchars.
Well here we are again in Edinburgh for the week. Up at before six to drive to Birmingham for the flight. Typical now the weekend is over, lovely starlit morning with a frost. Flybe decided to leave on time and thus was in the office by 10.15.
Worked until 7.15, made some good progress and will hand over the code on Tuesday.
I am staying in the Apex International in Grassmarket. This is a reasonable modern hotel in the old town, with lots of pubs around. Good view of the castle, and near all the tourist bits. No one else from the company is staying in Edinburgh, so I decided to eat in the hotel.
The meal was OK, but not great. Service initially was slow, but I think I arrived at the time when things had started to speed up. There appeared to be others who had been there a while who all received their food at the same times. Good thing I had not gone to eat earlier. The waitresses were cute though.
And now for the food. The honeyed carrot and coriander soup could have done with more coriander to give it some flavour.
The Fillet Steak stacked on thinly sliced Oriental Wok cooked vegetables with Ho Chi sauce could have had less salt in the vegetables, and why oh why do the British overcook their rare steaks. I am always looking for the rare steak where the inside is not cooked. This steak was only just pink inside. The fillet steak recipe was a good idea, but poorly executed. Won’t be eating there again.
Friday was Children in Need Day. So the bank had a dress down day. Not well advertised. Very few people had heard of the dress down day. I went to the loo and changed into my jeans and Fat Face top.
Worked till 4.00pm and took a Taxi to the airport with Jon. There was an unusual queue to get checked in with Flybe. There though was the usual half hour delay in their flight leaving. As we were about to leave, the pilot mentioned we might not be able to land at Birmingham. Something to do with fog, and there I thought the pilots on these planes were just accessories.
The flight down was uneventful, and very clear. Just seems Birmingham was foggy. We came into land, and then hit the fog, which was worse than expected, so the landing was aborted, round again and then a second attempt at landing. This time the fog had cleared to some magical limit and we touched down. Actually we really only saw the land when we were over the runway lights.
Getting out of Birmingham was a nightmare. Could not get onto the M42, so I took the decision to drive to Coventry and the A46 to the M40. Back eventually at 9.00. Must update the time sheet to include the extra hours of travelling.
Thursday was another pleasant rain free day. Bit cooler then yesterday.
Spent all day working hard, and then back to the hotel to change into jeans. Had a walk around the castle area before meeting up with Jon for a drink in one of many bars. Had my most expensive beer ever. Should stay with the standard beers and not experiment with those Belgian wheat beers.
Ate a curry at Balli’s on Hanover street. Pretty good chicken green chilli.
Up early at 6.00 am to catch the flight from Birmingham to Edinburgh. Flybe should have left at 8.30, but eventually left at 8.50. Cloudy all the way up until Scotland, where the clouds broke. Rough landing because of the strong winds.
Day was a lovley warm day, with sunshine. Got to the Bank and spent most of the day getting my new code into their development environment for testing.
In the evening went out for a beer, and then a meal with Mary Devine and Jon Marshal at an Italian called The Patio. The waitress, a mature women, was one of those who could recite the whole menu in glowing terms. She had to have eye contact while doing this and chose me.
I had smoked Tuna, and lamb, but was able to finish off Marys Monk Fish, which was delicious.
Afterwards a brisk walk back to the hotel on the otherside of town.
Another week at the Royal Bank of Scotland. It will be the last for a few weeks. Then I will have a portable computer and will start my diary of a consultant.
So to get started I can say the week was a beautiful sunny week. I arrived at the bank at 10.45 on Monday after an uneventful flight from Birmingham on FlyBe.
Evening was a meal in the hotel (Apex European), and then reading an Ian Rankin novel.
Tuesday, out for a meal, a Thai.
Wednesday an Indian at Zest, and lots more lager while watching Newcastle at the Standing Order
Thursday Japanese at Izzi, and then finished the Ian Rankin book.
Friday back on the plane at 14.45, (30 minutes late)
Another week at the Royal Bank of Scotland ended today.
Another week at Edinburgh working for RBS
Just back from a week working in Scotland for The Royal Bank of Scotland. Excellent weather while I was there, so could walk from the office to the hotel.
Several of us were there, so the evenings were entertaining.
Stayed a couple of days in Edinburgh working for the Royal Bank of Scotland. The Thursday was wet during the day. First time for ages. Friday was a nice sunny day and we were able to sit outside for lunch.
Back home Friday evening to find Rosemary still not home from work and me without a key, so a fine excuse for a pint of ale at the P&A.