Mish Mash of Stuff

Clare and I took the train from Bournemouth to Sheffield then changed for Goldthorpe last bank holiday Monday to spend a few hours with my family as it was my dad’s 65th birthday. He had sadly forgotten to get ale in but we would have plenty to drink later.

We took a minibus to the Electric Theatre Chinese restaurant in Mexborough and had a smashing meal and lots of wine and beer and a bottle of verry good champagne.

On arriving home I had some Ardbeg 10 with my dad then I fell in then out of bed landing on Clare. Luckily she’s ok and though shaken probably won’t be permanently scarred by the incident.

Tuesday was the start of a new chapter for my career at Humanware as we now have a new member of staff covering my job in the north of England, North Wales and Scotland along with Northern Ireland and the Isle of Mann. She’s called Donna and Dads birthday and she was to shadow me for the week and hopefully learn a thing or two about the way in which I work with customers and the equipment we sell.

I love the travel in my job but sometimes it can get a little much. Its been the wersed kept secret for a long time now but Donna’s aboard and I’m sure will get to know many of our customers in the above areas. I’d also like to thank everyone in the North over the last few years who I’ve demmoed to ETC and I’m sure Donna will ably fill my shoos in your area and aid in our expansion plus and more importantly help in increasing the quality of service our customers expect. I’m also glad we have another VI person on the team as I think its important that the users of the products get demos from people who actually understand and may be able to empathise a little more with sight loss than a fully sighted person.

Our first demo was in Wakefield then we separated with me heading up to Newcastle for a few hours then us both meeting up in Ipswich later that night.

Wednesday was mainly spent trekker training with Donna but on Thursday we went over to London and then to Crowborough to demo the BrailleNote and do an interview for a Talking newspaper.

After a hard days working on the Thursday we went out for a good Italian meal and also had a beer in the Dove which was to be my last in the pub as a smoking establishment. When I went in after work on Friday evening the pub had gone none smoking and it was heaving full.

For some reason I agreed with Chris to accompany him to the yearly strawberry fare in Cambridge and the happenings of that Saturday will form my next blog entry.

That was a good week that was

Last Friday took me over to Norwich for a Trekker demo then I finished the day working at home. I then received a call from, well, lets call him G saying he’d be late in to Ipswich. I decided to fortify myself with a large haddock and chips for with G around the stars were aligned for a heavy evening.

When I eventually met him in Ipswich station we took a taxi to the crowded fat cat. Of interest was the posh sounding bloke behind the bar and the range of imported beers not that large, but budvar and other German beers along with a range of 12 or so ales from the UK made a good showing. The ales were none too interesting though so after one pint for me and a huge Scotch egg for he we found ourselves in the Dove.

The beer selection was much improved really because of the range of beers on offer and by this I mean styles. Golden ale, porter, stout, old ale and bitters were all evident and supped by the both of us. We were then joined by some of my Ipswich drinking mates and had a cracking night.

We finished off by ordering a curry and getting a taxi home with the grub. More beers were sunk and the nosh consumed. I even remembered to bring Clare some beer back!

Saturdays’ breakfast was balti peanuts and a coffee beer picked up from the ale shop on Ipswich station and then G departed.

The rest of the day was nice and quiet as was the weekend really. Clare went out to a gig on Sunday night so I went in to town for a few hours but nothing else of note happened.

Tuesday found me making a quick journey up to Scotland for literally 6 or so hours for some Trekker dems and then Lucy and I drove down to a lovely little hotel near Workington as we were to toil in the area on the Wednesday. That could be my last time up in Scotland for work but more on that in a future post.

I was closer to home in Chelmsford on Thursday and then in London and the office for Friday. I had a teleconference with Lucia this afternoon which was as always with her pleasurable

We have friends coming over on Saturday evening and I’m probably going to go for a quick pint when I return to Ipswich at around 9:15 tonight. I couldn’t face the rush so took a taxi from ST Pancras to Liverpool Street, yep a copout but well, as Steve would say, ‘the dog was tired.’ Its true, I was walking between the stations and Jaid actually dragged me in to a cab as a lady was getting out. It wasn’t even at a rank. I guess after living in the south for over 3 years she’s twigged as to what they look like and enjoys riding rather than working across London. Anyway, we’re now a quarter through 2007 and spring will be springing soon, so time to be happy. Oh, and I've also sorted out my bloglines this week and have a stack of feeds of interest to a Yorkshire man in exile in East Anglia.

Happy Beerday to the Dove

The birthday party of the Dove went with a bang. Clare Steve and I fought wind and pelting precipitation through the streets of old Ipswich town to attend this most prestigious of events with all three dogs. On entering at around half 7 the bar was nearly full but we obtained a table lest Steve and I were to partake of too much falling down water. I stuck to the Mighty Oak Mild most of the evening but took a quick detour over the hills to Thwaits land for a quick pint of the bitter which was lovely and probably better than anything I’ve ever tasted in Preston from that particular brewery.

Carl and one of the pianists from Jewel’s Holland’s band were doing a set of jazz standards in the back bar, so I went with Jaid to watch a little of the good performance.

Just after 12 we were all moved back against the walls as a troop of the regulars danced through the pub in Egyptian costume and rather good they were according to Clare who appeared to get her own little show at one point. History was made after this when Adi proposed to his partner in crime for more years than they care to think about Karen. What a fantastic moment and its good to know that Jaid will be going to live with people who aren’t living in sin!!

We all got home around 1 and after scrimmaging for food and ale went to bed for Cambridge loomed on Saturday.