sixoh8sixoh

Morning all from a wet and blustery Scottish HQ. The Commonwealth Day flag is fluttering outside my office window. As the cricket's nearing its conclusion, I've got an earphone in for the last 3 overs... [and England are going home] Congratulations and commiserations as required as I've not read back through the 8 pages since Friday afternoon! A very busy week in prospect for me - got my BIC Ministerial meeting on Wednesday morning and I'm (briefly - I hope) in front of a Scottish Parliament committee tomorrow morning.

Afternoon all! It's been a trying morning. People trying my patience, other people trying it on, and people's illnesses trying their best to derail my big Ministerial meeting next week. Latest preparations for the meeting are looking likely to include a bottle of red and a very long straw under the meeting table for me and my Welsh co-chair. On the plus side, I had my second Ceroc class last night (though I'm not back for a fortnight now as i'm tied up on the next three evenings it's on. Not literally. No 50 shades of grey... Have a good POETS day, everyone. Fingers crossed on the E bit...

Morning all! Good luck Jock, hope all goes as well as can be expected! Putting liquid lead in the nappy isn't allowed... I don't think I'm friends on Facebook with any of the ERs but if any want to befriend me, feel free, my ID is mike.j.liddle - I am connected to Tony S via Twitter, though I'm not often on there any more, not enough hours in the day! Grey but bright here at Scottish HQ. Unfortunately Princes Street is closed to traffic after a serious incident, looks like a man has fallen from the Scott Monument.

Talking of music to cheer you up (hope this works...) here's one of my favourites: http://youtu.be/fKbVDeZY3b0

It was a 1996 poll that had Klute runner-up to a nightclub in Belgrade which subsequently burnt down. One very memorable night in Klute involved trying to calm down a friend of mine who was suicidal (and drunk) after her boyfriend (one of my best friends at the time) had dumped her, rather callously...

Where's Bistro 21? Any good? I've lost track of any decent eating spots in Durham since I moved away to Edinburgh. I do like Flat White for a coffee (just off Elvet Bridge, by Klute*) *Klute - for those who've never heard of it, is a long-established nightclub in Durham, one where I went as a 6th Former... By default it's the worst nightclub in Europe - it was voted second worst in a poll, and then the winner burnt down.

Morning all - haven't caught up yet with the posts... too many! Beautiful clear blue skies here at Scottish HQ this morning. Cool but not ridiculously cold. Have a good time at last night's Ceroc class. They teach three moves which join up into a (very short) routine at each class, out of a total of 8 moves. I was lowering the average age there (and I'm 38), and luckily I had a very understanding partner (though you're meant to swap partners and dance with anyone there) who was prepared to be "led" by a newbie. I do now have a sore shoulder, but I don't think it's from the dancing, I think I must have slept on it awkwardly.

Thanks! Dancing wasn't on the curriculum at all at my school, but I was educated south of the border! I grew up in Durham, and only started any ceilidh dancing after starting at Uni at St Andrews. The office has just been overflown by a yellow search and rescue helicopter! Not normal for Edinburgh...

Morning all from snowy Scottish HQ (though it's already melting fairly rapidly). Went out for a meal with a friend last night, came out to find the car covered in very icy snow. It snowed on me on the way into work this morning, but very fine, damp snow. Apparently I'm being introduced to ceroc dance classes tonight. This could be interesting... ceilidhs I can cope with, but I'm not entirely sure I have the correct quotient of right:left feet for anything more advanced... Commiserations to Jock, and a belated happy birthday to Ian.

Morning all! Hope Monday's treating you well. Happy birthday Daivd (Runs as required). It's on and off drizzle here. Didn't catch much of the England v Ireland rugby but saw the last 15 minutes in a cafe on mute. Looked like England were heading for a try with 7 minutes to play but no luck there. I was told by a plumber to get a couple of large bottles (2 or 3 litre ones) of thick bleach from the pound shop and every 6 months pour them down the kitchen sink. Not sure if this really helps but for a couple of quid every six months it might be worth a shot. You hope it's the wind...

Yep Pete - http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-27900038

The Paddington movie was excellent. Colin Firth left the project though as he couldn't find the right voice for Paddington. It was a fab movie though. Went to see Shaun the Sheep with Jamie this morning after swimming. It was good, but definitely not up to the standard of Chicken Run or Paddington. I've avoided the coffee this evening. Just tea...

So can I! Benedictus benedicat. And after: benedicto benedicatur. :-)

Morning all from the pool in Glasgow. Happy St David's Day, pinch punch, white rabbis etc... Alternately sunny and pouring here. At least it's not snowing. Yet. Today after swimming lesson will involve the Shaun The Sheep movie and viewing our pictures from the photo shoot we did a fortnight ago. Won't get to see the England game later live but hope the rugby performance is better than the cricket...

Having caught up now... Happy birthday Alan! Ian - hope you can get that seen to soon, sounds like cranberry juice won't hit the mark this time, unfortunately! Everyone else with the Lurghy get well soon. We used Tricolore at school for French (my friend Gareth refuses to ski as they always used skiing trips to teach how to tell a doctor which body part you'd broken). We used Ecce Romani for Latin books (in pictura est puella...). I did A Level Latin which stood me in good stead for learning Spanish and Italian later on at school/uni. Ed- I missed The Nidge both directions, we were going too fast to read the signs. Seriously impressive solar farm going up on land somewhere near there though beside the ECML.

Morning all! Haven't caught up fully yet so the usual commiserations, remonstrations and felicitations to all! :-) I had to jog (in suit) to Bedford Square for my meeting (rather than having the nice leisurely walk I had planned with the possibility of a look in some shops) but made it in time. I got the 1430 back to Durham where I had another (Masonic this time) meeting last night. Unfortunately EC had cancelled the 1435 and the 1505 to Leeds because of emergency engineering works somewhere near Grantham so passengers from those two trains also got on the already fully booked 1430 so I got a seat at York. I did see a nice rake of Pullman coaches at York station - no idea what the rail tour was or what was hauling it (though it must have been diesel-hauled as I'd have clocked a steamer!).

Tony - can't remember quite as far back as my first civil service interview but I've often found that the interviews I've thought I've flunked have been the ones where I've been offered the job. I definitely don't remember an interview with a psychologist as part of my assessment! Approaching York now, just seen some roe deer line side. Ought to be somewhere near Stevenage by now... Oops!

Morning all from the 0548 train to London. I got to the station and got on the nearest train to me thinking, that'll be the one, it's an East Coast 225. Unfortunately by the time I'd realised I was on the 0548 not the 0540, the 0540 had just set off. So I'm on the slow stopping service rather than the express one. D'oh!

Morning all! Haven't caught up on 2 pages yet since I logged in last night! Grey here and there was torrential rain at some point during the night that woke me. On the plus side, last day in the office this week as I'm out all day tomorrow for a 3 hour meeting near the British Museum (not BIC related). Neil - no, our Ministerial meeting is in a fortnight here in Edinburgh - must be one of the other workstreams meeting yesterday? I'm on the Social Inclusion workstream, my IOM contact is in the department for Social Care and Housing.

Afternoon all. Busy day here in Scottish HQ. The day started bright and sunny and has mellowed into grey. The ceilidh last night was great fun, had a blast. My dance partner for last night had never been to a ceilidh before (though she'd done 3 ceilidh dances at New Year) so it was a totally new experience for her. She soon discovered that ceilidhs aren't like the genteel salsa dancing she's been to, and are more like warfare! She commented that it was "rather more aerobic exercise"! What duck? (Buggrit. Millennium hand and shrimp.)* *Terry Pratchett reference in case anyone sends for the men in white coats.

So far today: sun, cloud, sun, drizzle, sun, cloud, drizzle, snow, sun... (Ooh, happy page 3400 folks! By my reckoning we should reach the 100,000 posts mark around Christmas)

Morning all! Mixed weather today in Edinburgh. It's been bright but has clouded over now. And now it's blue sky again. Clearly some high winds up there... Looks like I'm going out to a ceilidh tonight, first time in years. At least the royal infirmary isn't too far away if I sprain or break anything! Our school chaplain accidentally set fire to the school's cow byre (we had highland cattle at the school) when he parked his Land Rover Defender on the hay after a long run out, and the hot exhaust set light to the hay. I think his Land Rover perished and there was some damage to the byre, but thankfully not terminal for the byre. After that he got the nickname in the school of "the arson parson".

Pete, is your cousin James Lancelot? I know him from my days at Durham Choristers. Anyway I was going to add my choices (I've not been through the full thread yet so may duplicate others' choices). Fauré - Requiem - especially for me the Libera Me movement Orff - Carmina Burana - for a really boisterous singalong the Were Diu Werlt Alle Min is fab (I would give all the world to have the Queen of England in my arms) Elgar - Cello Concerto And despite its overuse (especially as the Jonathan Creek theme) the Danse Macabre by Saint-Säens.

Ian, I got one of those [Nespresso machines] last year and it's great. Think the capsules are all in the 29-35p each range here (barring any more expensive limited ones), though you can also buy other make capsules that fit (such as Carte Noir).

Nice to see Terry Pratchett out and about driving the loco there. Morning all! Happy birthday Jim! I thought the mutant virus was nearly done with me but am streaming again this morning and have sinus pain again. Successful day at Glasgow Show yesterday (by successful I mean Jamie didn't whinge "can we go now...?"). I resisted spending any money as I went round the show (apart from £2.99 on a Peter's Little Engine book for Jamie) until I got to the stand on the way out, which had caught my eye on the way in and I'd promised myself I'd have a look at again on the way out if I'd not seen anything amazing to buy. Ended up leaving with a lovely weathered and real coal equipped 60860 from TMC. I was half tempted to get a weathered Bachmann 9F but they were awfully expensive and had the wrong shed plate (not much chance of a Hereford or thereabouts 9F turning up in the North East...). They looked gorgeous though, and the weathering made them look even chunkier. I might hold out for a Crosti boilered one for Consett to Tyne Dock for Dad... Back in the office today after taking a sick day on Friday thanks to the lurghy.