Chiswick Park (and Glasgow)

My freelance career ran from June 1991 (not coincidentally just shortly after Charlie was born) through to October 2004. During that period I only had a couple of months out of work, and that was from December 1999 to February 2000. The latter dates are significant as this was the immediate aftermath of all of the projects that were preparing for the 'Millennium Bug', the enormous bullet that seventies and eighties IT used to shoot itself in the foot.

I was lucky enough to avoid any of the almost universally dull Millennium Bug projects but as the industry steeled itself at the end of 1999, there were no new projects starting. As the new year came 'round, everyone was either sighing with relief or frantically (and quietly) patching the issues that had arisen, and it seemed like no one was thinking about what to do next. 

In January, I ran up a £400 bill with BT as I logged onto the Internet - via modem! - for hours every day, scouring the job sites. At the start of February I was lucky enough to land a job in Glasgow, working on a project called LENE ("Lenny") for JP Morgan. 

It was just a small team, maybe six or seven of us, and one evening during the first week, I ended up in the office with the project manager, Davey, a pleasant but slightly distant lad from Newcastle. Awkwardly, we found ourselves packing up at the same time and one of us suggested going to get something to eat.

Well, we found a restaurant, and settled in, chatting a little uncomfortably over a bottle of wine. After our main courses, we'd pretty much finished our bottle of wine, and although the conversation had picked up a bit I must admit that I felt a little relieved that the evening was drawing to a close. I excused myself to pop to the loo.

You can imagine that I was surprised when I returned to the table to find a fresh bottle of wine and from there the evening went swimmingly; suddenly we were both more relaxed and chatty, and when that bottle was finished we moved on to a bar. I've been friends with Davey ever since. 

Also on that project I met my friend, Ian, whom I've mentioned on here before, and a chap called Dave Ammon. I still see them both regularly: that's a pretty good hit rate for a small team on one project!

This evening I went out with Dave and Davey. The former still works in London but the latter was across from New Jersey for a few days. It was a great evening and to watch us you'd have thought we met up every week it was so relaxed and a lot of fun. I can't tell you how much I value friendships like that.

Earlier in the day, I had lunch with another, more recent, friend, a chap whom I first met on Twitter. I took the tube out to Acton Town to meet him and we had a good lunch in a pub near Chiswick Park Underground station. I love the old London Underground stations and spent some time admiring this fellow after we'd eaten and gone our separate ways. 

And as I had the next couple of hours free, I walked back to Euston. I love walking through London and it was an interesting walk, connecting Underground Stations as they peeped up out of the ground on the roads I was walking along.

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