黑洞社区

A breezy Edinburgh night. RLF鈥檚 quartet blow through the door as the Rolling Stones鈥� Time Is On My Side, starts up.

鈥淏ig鈥� Jamie orders a pint of heavy. David is 鈥渙n the wagon鈥� until the end of the month and orders a non-alcoholic beer.

鈥淟ast time Graeme was here he was pished,鈥� reveals David.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 why I grew a beard,鈥� laughs an unabashed Graeme.

It is the eve of the 300th anniversary of the Act of Union. 鈥淣ever mind the Act of Union,鈥� says Graeme. 鈥淲hat about this deal to merge with France in the 1950s? It was on the news today. Mind you, they kept saying England, not Britain, so maybe it didn鈥檛 include us.鈥�

鈥淚 thought we were going to talk about construction,鈥� says Jamie.

David picks up the baton: 鈥淭he Scottish market is pretty buoyant. PPP, in terms of consultancy and contractor workload, is by far the biggest market here.鈥�

Graeme takes a slurp of his pint: 鈥淚t鈥檚 been good, but whether it鈥檚 good in the long term is another matter.鈥�

RLF opened its Edinburgh office a year-and-a-half ago, adding to its established presence in Glasgow. 鈥淕lasgow and Edinburgh are very parochial,鈥� says David, looking wistfully at his colleagues鈥� beers. 鈥淭hey are just 45 minutes apart, but if you just had a base in one place you鈥檇 struggle to work in the other. You need a camp in both.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 worse in Edinburgh,鈥�

says Neal. 鈥淚t鈥檚 more of an old boys鈥� club.鈥�

David announces he has to catch his train and leaves.

Jamie reveals he鈥檚 a Rangers supporter. 鈥淵ou never told me that,鈥� says stunned Celtic man Neal.

鈥淚 didn鈥檛 want to upset you,鈥� replies Jamie.

鈥淚t鈥檚 funny what comes out of these kind of nights,鈥� Neal muses.

Big Jamie explains he hails from Strathpeffer in the Highlands. 鈥淒rink, shinty and sheep,鈥� laughs Neal. Nursing his pint, Jamie laments the lack of shinty players in the capital.

鈥淚ce hockey is even more of a minority sport,鈥� says Graeme as he empties his glass. 鈥淢y son and daughter play and can only practice on Friday night or at dawn on Saturday.鈥�

鈥淲hen鈥檚 the last train to Fife?鈥� asks Neal. 鈥�11,鈥� answers Graeme with confidence.

One for the road? 鈥淎ye alright.鈥�

鈥淎 chef on the other day made lasagne with cottage cheese instead of white sauce,鈥� says Graeme out of the blue.

That is the final word. Graeme, Neal and 黑洞社区鈥檚 correspondent amble out, stopping for a photo of John Knox on the Royal Mile.

鈥淭his really is the most beautiful city in Britain,鈥� someone says. Everyone agrees.