A Trip Away - Epilogue

It’s been almost a year since Pete, Luc, Adam and your trusted narrator visited the genial hills of The Scottish Highlands. Some things have changed and some things have remained the same.

Pete has recently purchased a small castle in Surrey and is looking at renovating it into an Evil Lair/High end bistro. He has just returned from Malta, where he had wrestled a shark in a corral reef. He’s currently very happy.

Luc has gone back to Cape Verde to work with hyper-intelligent squirrels on a cure for the common cold. He currently hasn’t found one.

As for Adam, he now roams the world motivated by a solitary desire for revenge. He was last spotted in Mexico taking part in a bare knuckle boxing competition with a Hispanic Kangaroo. The result of that fight is not yet known.

As for me? I split my time between being a hair donor for Wayne Rooney and playing Buckaroo professionally. I’m currently undefeated in 27 matches and am due to be the first man to play BUCKER7217, the world’s first super intelligent computer designed for Buckaroo playing purposes. We shall face each other at The Philadelphia Spectrum in the New Year; get your tickets now while you can!

Of course, I may be fibbing slightly in regards to certain parts of the story there. In fact I’m telling some outright whoppers, so I’ll come clean. It’s actually going to be at the Boston Gardens and not the Spectrum!

Ha, Ha, Ha, BOOM BOOM!

In all seriousness though, things haven’t been too bad since we returned from our trip away. For a start, Adam has gone and got engaged! He gets married next year and he’s asked me to the best man, which I am both very honoured and terrified by.

I can’t keep shaking the worry that making me the best man for a wedding could very much end up like the episode of Father Ted where Dougal is allowed to do a funeral. That being said, I couldn’t be more thrilled for the opportunity and will do my utmost to ensure that Adam is chained to a boat to France in his undies on the magical day (That is what a best man is supposed to do right?)

Pete is still living with his girlfriend Beth in London and Luc is still with Leanne in Reddish. Luc, Leanne and Adam are currently part of Happy Monday’s tribute band “The Happy Mondaze” and are currently acquiring critical acclaim for their performances. I would recommend checking them out.

I do wish to thank Pete for his constant badgering of me to continue with the writing of the trip to Scotland. During winter and most of spring, I was seconded in Leek as opposed to working from Stockport, and that made the writing of this diary more arduous than it had been in the past. It was always at the back of my mind and it was just a case of finding the time to finish it, which I have now thankfully done.

Since the beginning of writing this blog, some much deserved success has also found its way to Inverness Caledonian Thistle as they won the 2015 Scottish Cup in May! I have written about it elsewhere on my blog, but it was a nail biting Final with Falkirk and Inverness managed to bring the cup home.

I’d like to think that my pilgrimage to their ground was the good luck charm they needed to win the trophy, but I can’t really claim that with any sincerity. The fact is that Caley have been playing well for the past few years now and had come within an eyelash of winning the Scottish League Cup in 2014. Their trophy win was much deserved and also against the odds when you consider they had to contend with Celtic in the Semi Finals. I’m delighted for them and hopefully they can now have a successful European campaign in the 2015/2016 Season.

But, have we any plans to venture away again some day? At the time of writing this, I can honestly say that we have discussed the matter but nothing concrete has been decided. Ultimately, it’s hard to juggle everyone’s schedules so that we can find the time to travel. I can say with 100% certainty though that I’d definitely be up for another jaunt.

Quite a few destinations have been discussed, including Anglesey and Normandy. One thing is for sure; if we do decide to go away again I’ll be taking a notebook and having a bash at writing a blog about it.

The only thing to decide is what to call it?

“A Trip Away Part II”?

“A Trip Away, The Return of Jaffar”?

“A Trip Away: Revolutions”?

“A Trip Away, The Lost World”?

“A Trip Away, Judgment Day”?

Or

“A Trip Away Episode II: Attack of the Clones”?

Why don’t you share your best sequel title in the comments below? Or alternatively, you can send suggestions on a stamp addressed envelope to an address which I won’t give you (Not letting you nutters know where I live. I may be an idiot, but I’m no fool)

Regardless of whether we go again or not, I really enjoyed writing about it and I hope you’ve all enjoyed reading it. I want to thank Pete, Luc and Adam for their company and I want to thank the fine people of Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC for not only opening up the club shop especially for me, but also for re-tweeting the picture of me outside the ground. They’re a great bunch there and I wish the club continued success.

I also want to thank the people in the Tourist Information Centre in Inverness for their help, Stan Fraser for his ship building prowess, the lovely staff in the restaurant by the river and many, many others who made the trip such a pleasant one.

And most of all, thank you for reading, you sexy bastards you!