Greetings from Edinburgh

Happy 1st of March. How time flies, 2 months gone already.

Anyhow, greetings from Edinburgh. This is the third week I have been on the Edinburgh project, and I am scheduled to be here until end June. It is a pleasant change from London, but so far it has been mostly work. The team here is nice, many old faces from other projects. One nice thing is to work with James again, but he will leave the project soon because the reason I am here is to replace him!! It is easy for now as the challenging work has not yet started.

I fly up on a Monday or Tuesday morning and then go back on a Thursday or Friday evening. I am really collecting those Air Miles!! In the between, I stay at hotels (with nice buffet breakfasts) and eat out every night. Hmmm, no chance for a diet, though I am trying to be healthy! So far, I have been in 3 different hotels and am fast becoming a hotel critic! However, those days are over as they have now managed to book me into the Caledonian Hilton (which is next door to the office) until end of April. So now I am concentrating on earning Hilton Honours points to get free nights in Hilton hotels worldwide.

It has been really cold this week, worse than last week, and we are supposed to be approaching spring. For now, I am pretty dormant in the activities front, partly due to the weather and darkness, and partly due to the fact I am trying to find my feet here. Once I am settled I will be looking into activities to meet more people here. I’m also looking forward to the weather improving.

Actually I am considering looking for an apartment up here because nice as it is staying in a hotel, it is not very settling. There’s too much checking in and out and unpacking and packing. With an apartment here, I could stay during some weekends and leave clothes here so I can commute without all that packing and unpacking! Still deciding…

So far in Edinburgh I have:

• Met up with Andy, a friend of Malcolm, whom I have met a few times before in London.
• Found a decent Japanese restaurant called Izzi, which is near to work/hotel so I can have sashimi on company expense.
• Found that I can use the BA Lounge at the airport in Heathrow and Edinburgh because I travel on business class.

At weekends I have been in London trying to catch up on chores and friends.