Where's the Cake?

Early start this morning to try and get past the Forth Bridge chaos before it got really bad.

It was still bad.

Then on to the M9 to New Bridge then City Bypass. All these places you hear mentioned every morning in traffic news -but drive on smugly because you are on an empty single track road in Sutherland- were staring me in the face, Clay Lands, Hermiston Gait, Straiton, Lothian Burn. Its dreadful when the distance suggests 20 minutes but the traffic says an hour.

My main aim was to be outside the work shop building a few minutes before the first man arrived and I achieved that. Planning this trip to get my total station serviced and calibrated I had this great idea of getting a bus in to the town centre for a photo walk around. Partly tiredness and partly pressure to get yesterday's quarry survey processed I accepted G's kind offer of the corner of a desk and just got on with that.

Poor M sees this as a wasted trip to Edinburgh. Better foresight could have seen us both have a nice day at Ikea. As it was I had instructions to get another Poang chair and I nipped out at lunch time to get it. It is rare indeed to go to this massive shop and be able to walk back to the car with your purchase under an arm. My meat ball stop aside the purchase took about 15 minutes in total. Usually you need to reverse in to a loading bay and some how empty the contents of a small bogey in to the boot. Then you drive out with the front wheels pawing the air, car groaning under the strain.

Survey Solutions (am I allowed to say that) supply and service Trimble (am I allowed to say that as well) survey equipment. The kit is eye wateringly expensive but I get excellent support from all the folk here and I am made very welcome on this annual visit. I usually take a cake made by M for the office but the last minute nature of the trip meant I arrived bearing no such delights. Realising I had arrived empty handed G said "What, where's the cake?" and explained to his young apprentice "This man's wife makes a lovely cake you know!".

When we next make a dedicated Ikea trip, and I feel (know) there is going to be one soon, we might have to go another five minutes up the road with a cake for G and his team.

Anyway, this is the distinctive Survey Solutions Pyramid Building in Loanhead clad on two sides with solar panels.