...because of the welcome meal last night.

Quite a select crowd. The six of us at the level H and I are at, plus our boss, plus K from inter-library loans. I hadn't quite gathered that the invitation hadn't gone to all library staff. When I'd mentioned the meal - every ready to stick my foot in it - to some of the folk from the issue desk, they'd looked at me rather blankly. Turns out there is a little more segregation between teams than might have at first glance appeared to be the case. H and I both agreed that had we had any say in the matter, we'd have no doubt done it differently!

H was the only one who'd worked out that there was no point in me going home at the end of the day only to have to set off immediately to get back in time. But with a couple of hours to kill on a non too promising evening weatherwise, she very kindly invited me to walk the huge commute she has which is all of 7 minutes to sit and read/watch the news while she prepared to go out.

Drinks before hand in a jam-packed pub after we'd rounded up B (who gave me my tour on interview day and also lives locally) and then onto a very pleasant curry house near the city's theatre. All very friendly, all very much as you might expect. If there had been any fears that it all might feel a bit uncomfortable, they were soon dispelled.

In the event it was a lovely evening out and taxi/train/taxi home worked out reasonably well as well. I even just managed to avoid the rain.