Tiles

In 1997, I was working as an IT contractor and that autumn I took a job at Scottish Provident in Kendal. This was far and away the most local contract that I'd taken, meaning I only had a twenty minute commute each day.

The role I was in was 'Test manager' and while I won't bore you with the details of what that entailed, it did mean that I would need to spend some time in Edinburgh. Since there was a project meeting on St Andrew Square each Monday afternoon, it was quickly decided that I would represent Kendal at that meeting and stay over, coming back Tuesday afternoon.

I must say that this rather suited me. I'd get the train from Oxenholme at about seven-thirty on Monday morning - sometimes bumping into my friend Ged, who also worked in Edinburgh - and arrive at Waverley just after ten o'clock. In those days, coffee shops weren't A Thing in the way they are now, so I'd head straight to the office.

In the evening, I used to go and check into a B&B just beyond the far side of the square and then I'd take my book and go and have dinner at Giuliano's, across from the Playhouse. It was pretty idyllic.

Sometimes on a Tuesday other people would come up from Kendal for meetings and we'd all travel back on the train together. They were a good bunch and we'd buy some wine from Hendersons on Waverley station's concourse and have a bit of a social on the train home. It was a happy project.

On the corner of St Andrew square was a pub called Tiles and sometimes after work on Monday or if I finished early on Tuesday, I'd meet a colleague or two in there for a drink. It was a great pub and I forged a few friendships with my Scottish colleagues there.

Today the Minx and I went up to Edinburgh to see Nick Cave playing (sort of solo) at the Playhouse. We arrived at Waverley early afternoon, popped along to the Apple store, where the Minx bought a new 'phone, and then we headed 'round to Tiles, so she could set it up while I read my Kindle. I was surprised as we turned the corner onto the square to see that all of the Scottish Provident buildings had been demolished. Happily, though, Tiles was still in one place, and that's where we installed ourselves.