WEE WEE BIT EXCITED

It was a Saturday morning yet my boss Walter picked me up in his SUV at the airport. The first time I met him in person since I joined the company. A stocky man with a neat pepper & salt hairdo. Energetic & super friendly. 

He chatted animatedly in the ride back into Glasgow. I just wished I understood what he said. 

I've been around a bit but this was my first time to Scotland so I had an unfamiliar excitement this trip. I had images of Nessie eating haggis and men in kilts running across the Highlands playing their bagpipes.

At the hotel, Walter checked me in. There was to be a 2 hour wait but Walter was having none of it. I was embarrassed at the trouble I was causing him on a weekend but he casually pushed me aside like a child getting in the way of adult business. 

He pull out all the stops. Even to "My Singaporean guest just flew halfway around the world...and he's more than a wee bit tired" 

He got me the room, plus an iron to boot (I press all my clothes first thing I land) 

Throughout my time working with Walter, he was like that. Amazingly able to persuade water out of stone. He never forced, he made you see it could be done. 

He handed me my room key then said to meet him at the lobby café in a few minutes for a quick chat after I deposited my bags. 

He wasn't at the cafe when I came down. He was at the entrance and said "Let's go.." with a wave of his hand. 

I was beginning to understand him when he used small words & short sentences. 

We drove to the nearby bus station and he almost threw me up the city bus. Go see Glasgow city as well some of Scotland before the meetings starts on Monday he instructed, then he got into his Lexus & sped off. 

I never did any touristy stuff on my business travels. I even had my dinners in the hotel room. It reached a point I recalled the country I was then in by checking room service dining menus. No 5 - Green Curry (Hong Kong), No 22 - Beef Burgers (Canada), No 42 – Fish & Chips (Toyko)..

But this was Scotland, so I was game. 

I got up the hop on double deck and scaled to the roof. It was a bright chilly day as I passed through the streets of Glasgow seeing pubs, pubs and many pubs….

The ride ended soon enough depositing me back at the station, an easy 15 minute stroll back to the hotel, just in time for dinner. 

Now, where's that room service menu...

#ʙᴇɴᴛᴇʜ #ReflectionsWithCoffᴇᴇ