And there's more!

There were one or two things I neglected to mention in my recent post about Dundee, and whilst some might regard them as fairly trivial, they are still worthy of a mention. The first point regards the hotel we stayed at, as my colleague and I were really impressed with the high standards we experienced at the Hampton at Hilton. The hotel was spotlessly clean, the facilities were good, the service was efficient, and the staff friendly. What was effectively a budget price hotel, knocked the spots off other places I have stayed in recently, which just goes to prove that sometimes, price isn’t everything.

The same really applied to the rest of our experiences north of the border and especially to the people we interacted with. This includes the staff at Edinburgh Airport, the people at the car hire company, and the two taxi drivers who transported us to the post-conference, evening meal – fancy-dress party. On a personal note, I appreciated the chance of seeing Dundee’s waterfront, on our last morning in the city, when I took a stroll in that direction. My walk took me past the city’s new railway station, which opened in 2018.  Built at a cost of £38m, this impressive looking modern building replaced the old station as part of the Dundee waterfront regeneration project.

Reaching the waterfront, I came upon the Discovery, the ship used for the British National Antarctic Expedition of 1902 – 1904. The Discovery was built at Dundee, so it is perhaps only fitting that following careful restoration, the ship was returned to the city in 1992, and berthed in a custom-built dock. Standing almost adjacent to where Discovery is moored, is stunning ultra-modern lines of Dundee’s V&A Design Museum.  There wasn't time to take a look inside, but alongside other redevelopment work nearby, a substantial amount of money is being spent on improving this part of the city.

The other waterside structure well worth seeing was the Tay Road Bridge. Opened in 1966, the bridge replaced the previous ferry crossing, and remains one of the longest road bridges in Europe. A few hours later, my colleague and I drove across it, when we took the more scenic route, back to Edinburgh. This made a pleasant change from the inland route, via Perth and the M90 motorway that we had followed on our inward journey to Dundee. It allowed us to enjoy the picturesque Tayside countryside, at a slightly more leisurely pace.

On my way back to the hotel, I stopped to take some photos of the pub and restaurant we had visited two nights’ earlier. The Trades House Bar with its attractive stained-glass windows, depicting the nine “trades” that Dundee was renowned for, looked particularly impressive. I’d been convinced that the pub was listed on CAMRA’S National inventory of historic pub interiors, so imagine my disappointment when I discovered the whole place was a fake, and that the building was converted from a former bank during the 1990s.

It has to be said that the repro work was first class, and certainly fooled me, but with hindsight the woodwork, the carvings and other fixtures perhaps looked too new, even though they have been crafted in keeping with what would have been the fashion at the time. As if to acknowledge this, the Trades House Bar is listed under a special category, on What Pub, as a “Pub with outstanding Conversions & Restorations.”

It was rather windy when we arrived back at Edinburgh Airport, and we certainly felt it just walking from the car-hire drop off point, to the airport terminal. Our three o'clock flight meant that the airport was quite quiet, and pleasantly so, meaning we cleared security in next to no time. My colleague had a few emails to catch up with, on his laptop, I just sat and read a book, but we both decided that a cheeky pre-flight pint would be in order, and where better than the Brew Dog bar.

I ordered us a pint of Lost Lager each, and we sat down to enjoy it. We had earlier purchased a roll each from Pret a Manger, to eat on the plane, but my companion decided he couldn't wait, so out from his rucksack came the roll, and he started eating. I raised an eyebrow, but his response that having bought a beer each, there was nothing much that the bar could do. He argued that should the management ask us to leave, we could walk across to the benches, outside of the bar, and consume our rolls plus beer there. So, in the best BRAPA tradition, I decided to do the same. Unsurprisingly, no one batted an eyelid, although I was perhaps a little more discreet about eating my roll.

With a strong tailwind behind us we arrived back at Gatwick 20 minutes ahead of schedule, although the approach and the landing were rather bumpy. We parted company as my colleague headed off to collect his car, whilst I boarded a train back to Tonbridge. Our visit to Dundee proved successful, as our products received plenty of really positive feedback from our customer’s sales teams. The event was rounded off with a fancy dress dinner and party, so here is the photo of me, in costume, that I promised.

The theme this year, was to choose a character based on the first letter of one’s first name. So, for me, “P” for Paul, became “P” for professor, and a slightly mad professor at that! I already had part of the costume in the form of my lab coat from work, so all that was required for that “mad professor” look was the wig with the long, white  wavy hair that I purchased from Amazon. A bowtie completed the Albert Einstein look, so here I am, waiting to pick up my Nobel Prize!