Walking home

Away in Winchester overnight (yesterday - Wednesday). My boss and I went out for what turned out as an eventful meal.

The cost was surprisingly good as well as being good quality. We'd just started eating and the guy who frequently uses the desk next mine in Daventry walks in. A bit of a surprise.

Later on, we were tucking in to our mains when the mains failed. Not our food but, Lights Out! Darkness ensued. We ended up finishing our meal by candle light (not romantic I hasten to add) and emergency lighting accompanied by the sound of power and security alarms.

It appeared to be the buildings on our side of the street as there were lights on across the road, so it was clearly a local issue and consequently not one that was going to be sorted quickly. So, having finished, we then had the problem of how to pay.

The till system had all the orders in so was no use, so, there was manic totting up based upon the waitress order slips. So far, so good. The lights on the credit card machine worked, but it's base station didn't - no comms to get the payment authorisation. I don't think they had one of those wonderful hand operated slip machines - if they did, no-one knew where it was. Paying my credit card was going to be a long drawn out affair.

It's our corporate policy that if groups are out including the sign-off for expenses, the highest ranking staff must pay. This is to prevent claims that are then simply signed off by the senior staff without any further inspection. So, we thought cash would be good, but he didn't have enough. In the end, I had to sub him and then return via a cash machine to get reimbursed. His receipt is a hand scribbled affair that any child could have drawn up. Hopefully the expenses-police will cough up!

This was on the way back to the car. A group of couples wending their way back home through the wet and windy streets.