Home working day; because of the disastrous finish to the previous working week, it was always gonna be an unproductive, frustrating day and so it proved.

Pointless phone calls, arse wiping of incompetents and general low level idiocy.

Lunch however - bonus - banking and luggage sorted.

Then home for the afternoon which I hoped would be less frustrating but wasn't.

Met Barry at Meadowbank at 6 (having walked to ASC; another bonus). We sent an airy 90 minutes - fairly trad ascent and then back around the top of Salisbury Crags.

Back to Meadowbank for the bike before a mad sprint home to meet Raf who wanted help advice on RSL housing. So I did him Spanish bean stew and then strawbs and meringues; he was suitably impressed at my culinary efforts and the flat too. He drank lager, I drank shiraz, we passed the guitar back and forth, him doing Polish sea shanties, me doing Alt country stuff.

So good but tempered by the undercurrent of why we were both there...