The post with no name

To be unoriginal, time is flying by. Karen made up our rota (work schedule) for the next upcoming two weeks a few days ago and I now have 4 days of work left at the old Coylet. I'll probably be leaving here on April 27 and travelling to Glasgow. I'll spend the weekend in the city, doing some touristy things (I really like Glasgow as far as cities go) and preparing to head off on my trip. I've got a plane ticket booked to fly to Beauvais, an airport north of Paris, on April 30, and then on May 1 I can start using my train pass and I'll be heading at first for Normandy.

I think I mentioned going to see a ceilidh last time I wrote. Well, that didn't pan out because by the time we got down to the ceilidh, at 11:30pm, we were told it was over. Having been told that they often ran well into the early hours of the morning that was somewhat of a disappointment, but we quickly formulated a plan B. The previously mentioned Jez of the kayak drove us to Sandbank (where the American naval base used to be) to a pub called the Oakbank where live music was on of the rock and roll format as opposed to Celtic. The "we" being Julie, Pickle, Matt, and I, to be later joined by Fraser, and of course Jez our driver. The only other times I have been in the Oakbank were with the staff boys to play pool and that was on weeknights. It's the kind of pub that has a very local, frequent clientele, and on one night I had been there before several people had brought their large dogs with them, and the dogs proceded to wrestle all over the pub, knocking into chairs and table occasionally. I thought that was brillant. Anyway, I have digressed. The band at the Oakbank, regulars called Electric Soup, proved to be entertaining so the evening was not lost.

The rain has returned here, although there's also been some sunny days as well. Yesterday I walked to the other side of the loch, and part way up the mountain to get a view of my home for the last six months. The hotel looks very tiny when seen against the backdrop of the mountain behind it.

Today I was planning to go to Inverary to see the castle that has been closed for the season during much of my stay here. Alas, the one bus I needed to catch was 10 minutes early and so I saw it go by as I was sitting inside finishing my tea and toast. So I've had a rather uneventful day off, but in an hour Julie and I are heading into Dunoon to go see a fiddle concert.

Work has quieted down after the Easter holidays, but we did have a wedding last Saturday that was quite fun to work. It was actually a "civil union" as I believe they're termed - two women who have a holiday caravan in the same park that I'm living in. The two ladies, and their assorted guests were all great people who were a pleasure to serve, and to top it off since we had been closed for food all day we all pretty much got off work at 8pm once the cleaning up was done, except for poor Karen who had to mind the bar.

Have to head off soon, so will leave more for later. There will definitely be some updates before I go to Europe.