Sunday 15th April 2007

What a weekend! So much to write up on but it will take me a while, so please bear with me. We will begin, as all my stories do at the beginning, which means heading back to the small hours of Friday morning. I did not sleep properly, drifting in and out. I got up before my alarm, which had been set for 4am. I can be slightly paranoid, when it comes to having to get up at an ungodly hour to rush over to Heathrow. However, I should be used it by now, as this was my fifth flight on business. Somehow, I got myself out of bed and got ready. The taxi came to pick me up just after 5am and I arrived at Terminal One some twenty, twenty-five minutes later. I headed straight to the self check in machine, swiped my credit card and printed my boarding pass. I then queued up with a few other early risers to drop off my luggage. I text my manager to let him know I was in the terminal building and would be through to the departure lounge shortly. The queue for security was nonexistent, but it was before 6am and that is when it generally starts to build up. As I found my manager, I looked up at the digital clock in the centre of the departure area. It had just clicked over to 05:50. I should be in bed! As we boarded the flight, I had a whole row to myself, having booked into the window seat (which generally is always the case). The plane was half empty which was strange, as I would expect the flight at that time in the morning to be full of business customers. However, it was a week since Easter and also a Friday, so perhaps both those factors played a part in the aircraft being more than half empty. Everything appeared to be going smoothly, we were pushed back and turned around by the pull vehicle. Then the captain tried to start the engines. They didn’t start. We were then informed that we would have to be moved back towards the terminal and an engineer called out to investigate further. Seconds earlier, I had just read from my complimentary copy of the Daily Mail that today (Friday 13th) saw an increase in claims made by vehicle drivers. Generally speaking I am not a superstitious person, I tend to be in the frame of mind that you make your own luck rather than having to rely upon some ritual. In any case, we were delayed for a good, twenty minutes, so I texted my colleague meeting us at Edinburgh airport of the delay. The captain came back on the pa system, to explain the technicalities of the problem. Unlike our car engines, which are started electrically, a jet engine on an aeroplane is started by water. As this was not working, they had to get a generated to pump water into the engines and start them up. To do so various paperwork had to be filled in, which added to the delay. We were supposed to take off at 6.50am and land in Bonnie Scotland at ten past eight. I thought that the pilot would just make up the time in the air. We arrived at twenty to nine and headed through to the baggage carousel. Eventually our luggage came through and we then met our colleague whom had been sitting reading the paper for the past fifteen minutes. Next stop Avis check in desk, I had to collect our hire car. I was served by a guy, who perhaps was on work experience or just started recently. When I gave my surname he could not find my reservation, even after spelling it out to him clearly. I passed over my e-mail reference number and credit card, hoping it would help. He could not find my booking and I was starting to get annoyed. Then, he did and explained we had been given a free upgrade to a Golf, (difficult to understand, but normally we are given a Focus). I signed the paperwork and produced both copies of my driving licence before being handed the keys. I realised then why my booking had taken so long to appear on the system. They had spelt my surname as Taglia. Not the first time and definitely not the last time someone will make that mistake. I thought the car would be located in the car park opposite the terminal building but we had to catch a bus and jump in the car, located at pay 79. It was a dark blue, Golf TDI 1.9 120 BHp on AK07 plates (nearly AK47). I took the driving seat after quickly inspecting the vehicle and dumping all our luggage and laptops in the boot. As I pulled out of the space, I took a few moments to get used to the vehicle, heading the wrong way out towards a dead end, only to reverse and go around the the Avis compound round to the exit. Heading out of the airport complex, we hit the main dual carriageway and were on our way. My colleague was in the passenger seat and my manager was quite happy in the back. We called the client to let them know we had landed and were on our way to their office. It was about twenty past nine and the thirty six mile journey should take about an hour. By now I had got used to the car and it was hardly anything to shout home about. I am sure I have previously mentioned that in my humble opinion Golf’s are one of the most overrated vehicles on the road. Can I be brave enough to say that I enjoyed driving my Punto more than this? Perhaps because it was brand new and it was a rental and I was on company business which added to the effect of a rigid driving experience. In any case, we switched on BBC Radio and enjoyed the wonderful views in the sunshine as we headed through the Scottish Borders. I did take a slightly wrong turn at Carrington, Mid Lothian, instead of going under the railway bridge, I took the road along side it, but I was quickly able to pull to the lay by and turn the car around. we got to the client just after 10am. I had been driving quite steady and was careful not to stray over speed limits, plus the winding rounds around the mountains, do not really give you the opportunity to put your foot down. My colleague had commented as we pulled away from Avis rental station, that this was going to be like Driving Miss Daisy. Now I have not seen this film but can assure you that my driving is not that bad, really. I can be conservative when I want to be, but with the same token I can also flutter into road rage fueled boy racer, although that tends to happen less regularly than before. Our meeting finished at 1pm, when we were taken to a local restaurant for lunch. It was pleasant, quiet venue and it was nice to go somewhere where you are similar asked, table for four rather than the supplementary question which is always “Smoking or Non?” as we have south of the border. Well under till July 1st. After lunch, we had originally planned to go over a few more things but decided it best to leave things as they were and head back to their airport in plenty of time for our flights. We dropped off my manager in the city centre around 3pm and then tried to navigate ourselves back to the airport. This is not as simple as it sounds, particularly when the bright sunshine has been replaced by a thick smoke which as enveloped the entire city. We were running late, there was traffic and I needed to put some diesel in the car (even though strictly speaking I think I would have got away with it. As the clock on my dash ticked away, I got rather nervous that I was going to miss my flight. Just before 4pm, we were on the main road out of the city (but still yet to see sign posts for the airport). I saw a BP garage and quickly pulled over to put in a few pounds worth of fuel. We then headed back onto the main road and towards the airport. I then had a slight dilemma, check-in for my flight to Manchester would close at 4.15pm, 45 minutes before departure. Should I drive around to outside the terminal and leave the car there while I checked in before returning the vehicle or drop the car off first. My colleague, also heading in the same direction, had the luxury of already being in the possession of her boarding card. Just as we were around the corner from the airport, I put my foot down (for the first time in the whole day) and rushed back across to the airport. I made the executive decision to drop off the car first, to avoid any late penalties and then rush from bus into the terminal to check in. If I missed the flight, I would miss the flight and have to catch the later service. I waited for my car to checked over before signing off the paperwork. I then had to run to catch my colleague at the bus stop, we waited a few minutes for the next bus and then hoped it would rush around back to the terminal without picking up too many more passengers. There was a family with some big luggage that got off at the next stop which did delay us slightly but we were the first people off the bus at it pulled next to the terminal. I rushed to check the screens to find out which check-in desk to use, 19, 21 to 23 all of which were still open. Great, but the queues were several people deep, so I quickly joined the queue. I checked in and got my baggage put through to the hold and was given a seat next to my colleague. I should have given a great big sigh of relieve but in fact, this was only the first hurdle. We had to rush upstairs to security. As we got onto the escalated a big group of people, some for our flight joined us but we then ran through to the barrier before joining queues for the various x-ray machines. Thankfully I did not have to take my shoes off but several people ahead of me did and some were taken to the side for a heavy frisking. Through to airside, we checked the boards to discover that our departure gate was fourteen, right the other side of the building and the flight had been delayed by twenty minutes. I called my Dad to let him know I had arrived safely and now was about to jump on my second plane for the final flight of the day. We then grabbed some teas from the Costa outlet before heading down the corridor to our departure gate. We had a ten minute break and I was feeling the weekend was just about to begin. Eventually we were asked to board and headed downstairs and then outside onto the airfield. We boarded an small aircraft with proper, inside there were just two aisle of two for passengers. Some research on the web has confirmed the plane was a Dash 8. This would be my first time in Manchester and I was looking forward to it, I had been planning to come up and see my friend for years but just never got around to it. As this meeting had come up with work, it seemed like a great opportunity to head down for a full weekend, rather than driving up from Wycombe which would have been much more tiring. We landed just after 7pm but were not directed through the right door, so ended up at Immigration Control. We then had to turn around and head back outside and through the UK Arrivals door rather than simply Arrivals. We got through to the baggage carousel and once again there was a good fifteen minute delay before my bag arrived. It did and I could then jump into a taxi to take me into town. When I got to my friend’s house, he gave me a quick tour of his house. The highlight of which was a Pioneer 50 inch plasma screen. Absolutely amazing, I was shown to my room for the weekend and quickly changed out of my suit. We set the Sky+ to record Eastenders and headed down the road to place order at the local chinese takeaway and get some diesel. When we got back, I watched Eastenders, while checking my e-mails and quickly login onto MSN. The weekend had officially begun. As you know, I am not the type of guy for lie ins. I hate wasting my weekends away sleeping, there is no need. However, I did not want to be a bad guest, so got up naturally and put my laptop on, it was 7:59am exactly. My biological clock must be set to that for some reason because I generally always get up at that time on Saturday mornings, unless I have had a seriously crazy session, the night before. I went online and surfed the web for a bit, checking my e-mail and the news, only to then drift back to sleep for a little while longer. We had a big busy day planned with many things for me to do and see. After breakfast we headed over to Stockport. There is a Adidas Factory outlet centre and my friend knows an employee of the company quite well, so we got in using his pass and were also given additional discount on anything we bought. I picked up some summer t-shirts as most that I have at home are rather tatty now and can only really be used when washing the car or carrying out some gardening. We then headed into the city centre. I was given a full guided tour of the University campuses and the various areas of Manchester as we drove through, including the Royal Infirmary. We pulled up and parked at the Ardnale Centre as all residential parking in the area had been either suspended or cost 2.50 an hour until 6pm. We found a parking space on the 4th floor, next to the Car Spa jet wash valet service and then headed into the bustling metropolis. It was extremely busy but we made our way through the crowds, in the sweltering heat down Market Street. I was then taken around to the site of the IRA bombing, some eleven years ago, shown all the redevelopment that had taken place as a consequence. We were going to go into the Selfridges but opted to wait until our evening trip into the Trafford Centre. We walked through the Exchange Square which is being re-paved, across from which is the Triangle which has a big BBC screen on the side, which screens all the major sporting events, including the World Cup last year. We headed into the Arndale and into some of the clothes shops. I love shopping centres, it is difficult to explain why, because firstly I am a bloke and am not a big shopper (anti-shopping if anything). Secondly I have not actually been to that many of them, apart from the BullRing in Birmingham a few times, most recently as January 2005. There is just something about big wide retail space that does it for me. I enjoy spending money, I cannot help it. Plus I do get quite a busy from looking around, which I did not have even a few short years ago. I am conscious that this blog entry is already over stretched, so will quickly summarise the rest of the highlights of the weekend as quickly as I can. After browsing a few shops we grabbed a quick snack from the food court above the pedestrians and then headed to another clothes shop, before heading back to the car. I had to collect my train tickets from the FastTicket machine at Piccadilly station. So my friend dropped me behind the station and I rushed out to get my tickets printed. I had been told from the confirmation e-mail from Train Line that I would need to enter a reference code, which I had noted on my phone. However, as soon as I inserted my credit card, my tickets printed. Great. We then headed off towards Deansgate and I got to see close up the Beetham Tower. I had seen the three red lights on top of the building, which is also the Hilton hotel from the motorway on Friday evening. We then headed to the Theatre of Dreams. As much as I do not like Manchester United, there is mutual respect for football teams and particular their home stadia. I have never been there before, so had my photo taken outside the East Stand. My N73 was playing up, so my friend took some photos with his camera phone and finally sent them to be as MMS on Saturday 23rd June.

Old Trafford

After the football ground, we headed around the corner through the industrial park to The Trafford Centre. We went to Selfridges first but I could not find a summer jacket to buy, if the design was okay, the colour was not quite right. We then headed through and around to the main eating area and decided which restaurant to go to. I made the executive decision to go to Giraffe, which sells itself as a world food restaurant. Menu was surprisingly very good, and afterwards we were stuffed. It was just gone half past nine and time to head home. I had wanted to go to the cinema this weekend but we got back to my friend’s house later than we expected so opted for ice cream and a DVD instead. I chose Hitch from his collection, as I was not really in the mood for some heavy action flick or anything too serious. I had seen parts of the movie on Sky Movies over the years and new some of the clips from trailers for the DVD. I am a big fan of Will Smith and also Eva Mendes, having seen her most recently in GhostRider. Overall a good, funny film that is light hearted and cozy in all the right places. Some moments are just completely hilarious, particularly towards the end. I know you will be thinking I have sold out on you all if I am in such praise for a chick flick but it was good fun and just the right way to round off a tiring but nevertheless fun Saturday. Plus it made a change from being stuck on my computer, chatting to various people on MSN. Although I missed Doctor Who (I am hoping to catch the repeat on BBC Three tonight) I was still able to catch MOTD. While we had been in a sports shop in the city centre, I had noticed that Arsenal were trailing to Bolton and feared the worse. A screen in Tesco Metro had been screening Sky News but as it switched to the sports bulletin the presenter concentrated on the Grand National and I had to leave when they perhaps would have moved onto football. All in all a great weekend, particularly as I was able to write this blog entry on the Virgin Voyager train from Stockport to Banbury for a few hours on my laptop. I was seated in the Quiet Zone coach (F) but am sure my constant keyboard tapping was annoying various people, so opted to try and write as quietly and as quickly as possible. Thankfully Virgin provide power sockets, so I can plug my laptop in, if required but there is plenty of charge to last for the couple of hours I need it for. As I write this, we are just pulling into Birmingham New Street and the time is 15:34. Banbury, my stop is one after next and I think I may just pack my laptop away and get some well earned rest. All in all, a fantastic weekend, which went very well. It felt good to be away from small town Wycombe and doing the usual same old things. However, I think, now I am back home, time to chill out a bit. Busy week ahead in and out of the office.

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