Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2005-02-08 06:17:18 - Graham Ellis
I know I've had an early start when there's a bank of fog over the road as I drive through Beanacre and a fox dashes across just in front of me on the Chippenham bypass - so it was yesterday morning when I had a Python course to present in Manchester starting at 09:30 ... with an 08:15 arrival scheduled to allow me time to find the place, find my contact, and get all the equipment in and installed.
People are amazed how we can schedule ourselves like this - but we can, and it works "like clockwork" week in and week out. There's about half an hour of slack in my schedule in case of traffic problems, and I've been around enough to know the back roads if I have to use them. There's a spare computer or two so that in the unlikely event of a failure, I can still train ... and I could also add on an extra trainee on the day if required.
Indeed - good time was made to Manchester, with roads getting progressively busier and the inevitable queues on the M56 and through into the city. Met up with my contact, and it turns out she's from the same local town here that my ancestors / relatives were. Time for a coffee and a chinwag as I set the kit up and a chance to write tomorrow's "Horse Mouth" up to this point ((OOps I have given my game away)) as I wait for the trainees. Change for another quick coffee - I've sussed out where the machine is ...