Colchester

It happens that our clients are spread all over the country and today's meeting is in Colchester. As I'm staying with my folks at the moment, this means a train up to town, a tube across to Liverpool Street and then a train out to Colchester. This is followed by a pleasant enough walk across to their offices. On the way I passed this building which I guess is art deco or at least has art deco elements. It's also not terribly well looked after from what I can see.

The meetings, there are two, go very well, which is in no small part down to the fact that I like the people I'm meeting with. Of all the councils I've dealt with - only a handful - the people at Colchester are the most impressive, since without exception they all seem to genuinely care about providing an excellent service. They are the opposite of the clichés about public sector staff.

After these meetings, totalling about one and a half hours, it's all the way back to London again but I give myself a treat by arranging to meet up with an ex-colleague Dave. We worked quite intensely together on a project in 2000 and formed a strong friendship that, happily, has lasted. We have, in the past, done a lot of drinking together but times change and we're both training at the moment, so we agree to be sensible.

Suffice to say, we fail miserably at this and have an excellent evening, drinking, eating and reminiscing, as well as talking about what we're both up to now. Perfect end to a lovely day :-)