Holiday time!

It's felt like a holiday week . . . again!  Not just because of the weather (sweltering at 27-plus, with no air-con) which was cooler than last week's maximum (31), but for other reasons too.  Now, given that holiday time is when you do things you wouldn't normally do, how's this for starters?  On Sunday afternoon, with the decks all clear, I was wondering how to fill the time . . . yes, it does happen occasionally! . . . when the phone rang.  "I don't know if you'd be interested in this, Brian." (Of course you don't, I thought, that's why you've rung me: to find out.)  The weekend controller continued hesitantly, as is his wont, and offered me the chance of a trip to Glasgow. "Now?" I asked. "Well, it's ready now; needs to be there tonight."  A slight pause ensued, as I considered my situation.  I don't normally work on Sundays, with the exception of collecting something for delivery on Monday, but I had been to, and enjoyed, the normal Sunday service, and there was none planned in the evening.  "I'll take it!" I heard myself saying.

Thus it was that, on a warm Sunday afternoon, I drove down to Waltham Cross, collected two reels of film and subsequently presented myself at Cineworld just one street away from Glasgow's famous Sauchiehall Street that evening.  The consequence of that was that, after a few hours sleep and a refreshing bath, I had a decent interval in which to look back at my proper holiday and try to organise my many photos, before presenting myself in the office in time to collect my invoice for the last week's work.

Tuesday started with a couple of fairly local jobs, going no further than Buckinghamshire, and then another long period at home, during which those photos got finished.  Here are a couple of samples.

Guernsey - St Peter Port

Sark - La Coupée

Wednesday was quite relaxing, too.  I presented myself at our large pharmaceutical customer in Hoddesdon at 8.0am, and took an ailing pump to a specialist firm in Bradford for repair.  Sandwiched between delivery to a building site at Maidenhead railway station on Thursday morning, and taking some fuses to a Reading night club on Friday afternoon, the remainder of the week was a decent selection of regular work.

Then came another taste of holiday, as I took three kegs of ale to a hotel on the seafront at Hunstanton, completing the formalities just in time to cross the road to the chip shop as it was closing.  The proprietor stood at the door turning people away, but I deflected his protestation - quite justified - that there were no more chips left, and secured a portion of cod and a battered sausage, which sustained me quite adequately.

Last Saturday I witnessed for my first time a local football match in which each half was interrupted by a much-needed drinks break, and today I'm planning to go to another pre-season confrontation, this time in Nottinghamshire, where the visitors are Dereham Town, from my native Norfolk.  The home team, Shirebrook Town, play in a lower league but, as we all know, this is no guarantee of away success!