Dad - Leaving Day (Almost)

This will be quick and it will be the last report from Scotland - I hope, anyway.

I finished up work on Friday for 2 months, yippee! Some of us went for a Chinese meal at lunch time and I was not allowed to pay for my meal. Thank you, I appreciated that. I also got a phone call from my boss, who said he would sponsor me if I wore the Markon logo. So I've doctored a couple of HiVis vests to wear over my cycling top. Thank you Markon.

I was tidying up the garden on Saturday afternoon when I got a phone call from the film maker, Javier. It was about 3:30 pm and he was at the Avon Bridge hotel in Hamilton. Ev and I went down after hastily calling my son, Michael, to also attend. Javier's English is about as good as my Spanish. Luckily Michael was available to translate. There will be some interesting conversations between me and Javier on the trip - you know: politics; religion; philosophy, etc! Anyway, we had a good meeting. He has a problem because his driver broke his ribs just before they were due to leave for Scotland so he was on his own. He has a large estate car loaded to the gunnels with high tech equipment (Andrew, you would be in your element) Michael went out with him on Sunday morning to film the sights of Hamilton (we don't need any jokes about that, Scott!). Then they came up to the house where we were having a "Going Away" party. Thankfully the weather was great and we all managed to drink too much in the garden, rather than in the house. Javier was very good, he mingled in a relaxed way filming groups of people and chatting. We will see how it all turns out.

He says he has the month free. He is returning on the same ferry as me and I understand that he'll generally follow me, go in front and wait for me, etc. I'm glad to say he has told me to totally ignore him, he will do his own thing. We will see how it goes. He is certainly a very affable guy, so I think it should work out.

This morning, I am going for a haircut - a number 1 - He is coming to film that! Then he is coming to film me packing the panniers and cleaning and oiling the bike. At 4 pm Michael is meeting him at the Avonbridge hotel and he will drive for him to allow him to film me on the move, supposedly en route. He is having to do that because he has no driver and will not be able to film from the moving vehicle by himself. He showed me the small camera, which he will attach to the bike some days (mair weight!) preferably on wet miserable suffering days - he wants to see pain - it makes for a better movie. No doubt I'll be able to accommodate him with a few crashes and I'm sure that there will be days when I'm greetin ma eyes oot. He also has a headset for me to wear with a "hands free" mike so that I can keep in touch on such days. However, I think that most of the time I will not know that he is there.

Thanks to all the family, friends and neighbours who came to the house yesterday. What a great day I had. I have to admit that I was not looking forward to it but I really loved it. Thanks Ev for organising it. Thank you too for all the good wishes and small presents. Most of the presents were bottles of wine - great. However, I was particularly pleased with the wee prayer cards that I got from my mum and from Yvonne. I'll attach them to my bike and I will become an invulnerable super hero (hopefully with Lance Armstrong legs!).

I didn't sleep very well last night. Maybe too much booze, but, I think, more likely, I'm getting keyed up for the off. Remember when the exams were coming up you reached a point where you just wanted them to start, regardless of the result? Well I think I'm at that stage.

Hopefully, the next time you hear from me I'll be somewhere in darkest Europe. In the meantime don't all be working too hard.

Hasta luego,

Mike.