Oh woe is me! I had to update an Entity Bean in some Java code. Must be several years since I have done that. Last time was when I used Visual Age for Java. So now not only was I adding a new property to an entity bean, but I had to learn the tooling in Websphere Application Developer. I made absolutely sure I had a backup of my workspace before starting on this endeavour. Ah well it all went without hitch.
Out celebrating this success, and saw a band play at Whistle Binkies. Paranoid Monkeys are an experimental indie band. When they were playing it was actually quite good for a free band in a pub. The talk overs between the songs was a little odd. Extracts from Radio talks in the 50s and 60s about the atomic bomb and what you should do when it exploded. Well they were tongue in cheek, so I suppose were modern.
Whenever I phoned Rosemary I was told to ring back. She seemed to be entertaining friends until late at night.
This is my second week in Edinburgh. Last week I was here for four days, and this week it is a full week. It’s back almost to the old days, no rain, or at least when I am out walking there is no rain.
So what have I been doing, not a lot really, just working and going out in the evening for a meal. Last week at the Radisson Hotel I forgot to sign my bar/food bill. The next day I remembered and found the waitress. She said no problem, we put it on your room, I know your name, you won’t be able to get away with that.
This week as I had one meal in the hotel, she asked if I would be signing the bill tonight. I visited the Mai Thai for one meal. Had the spicy, hot duck. As usual very good. Last night I ate at the Mussel and Steak. Had a nice steak. Not quite as good as usual and was to my taste a tad over cooked.
Another blast from the past has just completed our comment book. Ashley Pickering, used to work for Walker, and here I am still working for a continuation of the same company.
Disaster has struck. Part way through Wednesday I started to feel a little unwell. I managed to struggle on through the day feeling shivery and cold. Straight back to the hotel and into bed. Soon up to be very sick. That brought me some relief. I really think it must have been the Razor Clams.
So no food this evening, just tried to sleep and drink small sips of water.
The next day I had a meeting with a Life Assurance Company. They were going to take me out for lunch at All Bar One. This I declined, eating only [half] a small sandwich at lunch.
The day started bright and sunny. It ended in drizzle, though I managed to miss it. Had a quick drink with some colleagues from the bank, before making my way back to the hotel and supper.
Ate at the Petit Paris. The waiter spotted me through the window and beckoned me in. He thought he had not seen me for seven months. I am sure I have eaten there more recently.
Ate a lamb shank, salad and a pitcher of red wine.
Up at 05.45 to catch the 7.00 flight from Luton to Edinburgh. I had expected to be kept awake during the night by the storm, or my active thoughts which always occur when I am leaving early. Nope. Had a good night, and woke just before the alarm.
No storm, but it had just started to rain. Luton was fine, though the queues at the security have grown since the summer rush. Must be enforced holidays during the slack period.
Boarded the plane on time, but we sat and sat for ages without moving. The pilot eventually said they were having trouble calibrating the inertial navigation system because of the turbulence rocking the aircraft. They would have to taxi to another area, and then try to re-calibrate. So off he went to near the runway, and parked facing the wind. Another 10 minutes and we were ready, so off we went. The flight, what storm?, it was quite calm, and of course landing up north was pretty quiet as well. The only event I noticed was the very high cloud top. It was ages before we broke through the cloud, and even then we were only just above the top of the storm clouds.
Edinburgh is like Aylesbury; in a construction boom. Grassmarket, where I am staying at the Apex, is totally a building site. Princes Street is a work in progress with new gas mains, water mains and the tram going in. Saint Andrews Square garden was closed all last year for the reconstruction of the garden, it is still closed, but now the road is being dug up for the gas mains.
Had lunch with Mary in a caff near the bus station. Great meeting up with her again.
Ate at the Mussel and Steak. Had the mussel pot for mains, and razor clams for starters. Interesting things, razor clams. Very firm meat, tasting of the sea. Unusual and an experience. Might have something different to eat next time though.
I had a whole week in Bristol completing the software installation. This week I was accompanied by the project manager and various others from the company for whom I work.
I have managed to work out the traffic to some extent, and can now make it to the office and back with no mistakes. I have also figured out some of the restaurants, been able to eat well and actually walk about Bristol without too much fear and trepidation. Did wonder at all the young women running down Park Street all with the same T-shirts. Seemed to be some student organised binge drinking contest. Was I so young once? [Editor’s comment “Still are”]
Tonight I am staying in Bristol doing a software install with a client. Will be here for a couple of weeks, and then on and off for a while.
Easy drive up to Bristol, then 45 minutes of hell getting across the city. Next Monday must find a new route. It’s been suggested driving around Bristol to Portishead and then into the office which is near by. Typically Google did not suggest the route.
Another Google complaint, getting to the hotel, I searched for the location using its postcode. Google located it, but threw away all the postcode other than BS1, and sent me to some where near the hospitals. Could not find the place at all, rang the hotel and they gave me directions. Over two miles away I found the hotel. The guy I spoke to at the hotel phone, said they had emailed Google several times about this postcode problem.
Ah well, next time I shall use the complete street address. At least I now know where the hotel is. Now to find some nice eating establishments.
Another three days at Bristol and this time more people from the company with me. This is odd, working at a customer site, and people I can go out with for a drink and a meal. Very unusual indeed.
The weather, must talk about the weather. Yet again sunny and no rain. I shall soon expect to hear the farmers and water companies complaining about the lack of rain.
Finished the install, most of the stuff working, though some issues with the command SET CURRENT SQLID=xxxxxx which seems to be issued by our software, and is not always liked by DB2 systems. Ah well, I am sure it will be resolved in due course.
Restaurants, I ate at an Indian restaurant. It was near the waterfront, but not on it. Unusual, not the normal run of the mill Byrianis and Vindaloos, but more meaty dishes like lamb shoulder or lamb hock. Wish I could remember the name, but alas I don’t have the bill to hand.
Lovely run back home on Wednesday night, left the drive back till 7.00, and was soon home. No queueing on the M32 or at the Oxford M4 interchange.
The bank wanted me for a couple of days urgent work. So up to Edinburgh on the Easyjet from Luton. Bit of a problem at security. I had to take my belt off, no problem I always collect it as it passes through the xray machine. This time they wanted to test my toothpaste as well. Never had this done before, so in total confusion I left my belt at security. Only realised this several hours later as my trousers fell to the floor.
It was wet and miserable in Edinburgh. Rained the whole time I was there. Stayed at the Apex in Grassmarket, so a short walk to the Mussel and Steak. Had a good meal of tuna cooked to a lovely pink colour inside. Even early on a wet Monday evening the restaurant was quite busy.
Flight back was a breeze, left on time and arrived back in the clear skies. Collected my belt from lost property.
Flew to Edinburgh for a short meeting with a pension company customer. The meeting was at 10.00, so had to fly from Birmingham. Rather early flight so bad night sleep. Met our Sales person in the Cafe Nero at 9.00 for a cup of coffee.
I seem to have been rather lax in doing any postings is recent weeks. I suppose that is because not alot is happening at present.
Since visiting Edinburgh, and having a long weekend in Edinburgh, I have been working from home or working in the Aylesbury office on various support issues.
The last visit to Edinburgh culminated in the project teams Christmas party on Thursday lunch time. This went on till late in the evening. Next Rosemary arrived and we had a weekend in Edinburgh. She is due to write that up today.
Since then Christmas has come and passed. The weather has been variable, rain, frosts, sun, wind, but no snow. We now have sheep again in the field at the back, who are wading through puddles.
Well today I am in Aylesbury, the sun is shining and the wind is blowing hard. Time to make a cup of tea and start some work.
Well I am back in Edinburgh and staying at the Radisson. I have actually been in Edinburgh quite a bit recently, a couple of days last week, and the whole of the previous week. I had been staying down at the Holyrood and eating at the Mai Thai. So far, this week looks promising. The weather is good, the sun is out, well at least for a short period as head for the shortest day. Makes a great change to the weekend, when it rained and blew hard all the time. Let us hope the benign weather stays for the weekend when Rosemary joins me at the Radisson.
The weekend trip was rather fraught last week, when I discovered I had booked the hotel for only the one night. When I tried to book the next night it appeared the hotel was full, but thankfully as a Gold Points card holder, they found a room for the second night. Hopefully Rosemary has forgiven me.
This must be the end. I am here supporting the UAT testing, and making those changes, which seemingly always crop up on the last day. Once that is over, I will be back in Aylesbury and my trips to Edinburgh will be finished. I do not see any more work coming my way here, but then I said that 4 years ago.
Well I finished the week in Chicago, and arrived back on Saturday. Looks like I won’t be back for the conversion weekend. That day was delayed and now coincides with my holiday.
Had a week in the office doing some support for the Polish, since then £ signs always seem to display as some other odd character on my PC. Must look at my keyboard mappings. After a nice week going home every day I felt rather spoilt.
Weekend at home, meal with John, Carol, Anne and Chris (& their two dogs). All stayed over night.
Monday back up to Edinburgh for a final bit of development. The Mai Thai restaurant was closed, the chef was taking a four week break back to Thailand. So I went elsewhere to eat, the Siam Thani on Broughton Street. I am afraid it was no cheaper, and the food was not nearly as nice as Mai Thai.
Ate one meal at the Petit Paris. Have not eaten in the Grass Market one for a long time. The waiter commented on not seeing me for such along time. Had a nice meal of duck and lentil casserole.
Met Ed and Jo for a curry at Zest.
The past week the weather has been pretty good. Sunny, but was quite cold in the evening.
This week I am in Chicago, working on an United Airlines project. I was definitely looking forward to coming out here. A nice city, good food, and blues bands.
Of course I seem to have ended up in the suburbs, miles from anywhere with no transport, and not particularly good restaurants. The hotel is in Itasca, and the office in Wood Vale
Met up with Fred Giacoma. He works not so far away from here, so he took me to a mall, where there were some reasonable restaurants. The place was Italian, all the items on the menu had half portions. We even had a half portion starter shared between the two of us, and that was ample. I ate a clam linguine, half portion of course, and still left some.
Well I finished my last week in Edinburgh. Packed my bag which had to go in the aircraft hold because it had a bottle of Champagne from the Mai Thai resturant.
Just as I was leaving, the Bank asked if I could have another week in Edinburgh to do some further changes. Ah well it seems I will be back there quicker than I expected.