Our office in Thurso has now moved from 3 Princes Street to 1 Sir John’s Square. What a difference!
We have been in the old office since 2008 when there was a betting shop downstairs. That is, turf accountants downstairs, Chartered Accountants upstairs. Since they moved out in 2009, the downstairs has been empty and since the windows were broken, the shop front has been boarded up.
We always had plans to expand downstairs, but it never quite seemed to happen. So, we moved instead. Not only have we moved but there are a couple of new faces, Alana, and Becky. You’ll just have to come along and pay Ben and his team a visit. We still have a few things to do, but as of last Friday, we are firmly established in our new (Thurso) home. All of our other offices are still where they were.
Everything except BT came together nicely. We brought in movers, even though we were only moving about 300 metres. RM Computing, who look after all our IT equipment turned up and got the router and all our internet connections sorted out. New desks arrived and were put together by James Dow Office Supplies from Inverness and Chris from Highland Copiers in Inverness was on hand to move our printer/copier and get it running smoothly in its new home. Even the Thurso traffic warden turned up to ask why we were parking on the yellow lines.
BT had done their usual and a week earlier installed the socket for the internet on the wrong floor and nowhere near the cabinet where the office network cables were just waiting for the router. They then failed to turn up at the time they gave us for correcting he error and so our magicians from RM Computing got us up and running despite BT.
I, of course, managed to stay out of the way for at least half of the move as I had been in our Inverness office where we had been interviewing the night before. I arrived about midday and Helen had it all in hand. She allocated a few menial tasks to me through the afternoon, just so I did not feel left out.
My own journey north had not been without its own stresses. Earlier in the week I had realised that my MOT needed to get done in a hurry. As I was due to go down to Inverness, I contacted Sandy Mackenzie at Goodtread of Alness. Now, although they are probably the oldest and largest independent tyre company in the Highlands, they also do more than just tyres, and the service is very personal. So, Sandy made all the arrangements. I dropped off my car on the way to Inverness on Wednesday collecting a courtesy car so that I could complete my journey. I picked up my own car at the back of 9 on Thursday morning, MOT done, and headed for Thurso.
Not sure what I would have done if it had failed. Mind you, I almost had an actual disaster on the way. I got to Golspie and the ice cream shop had not yet opened. I know the shop is called Capaldi’s of Brora but the shop is in Golspie and I break the journey between Inverness and Thurso every time to get my ice cream fix. It was closed. I had no choice but to continue my journey, ice-creamless. However, all was not lost as their shop in Brora was open. I have never been in that shop before, but the ice cream tasted just as good.
So, one way or another I have had an eventful few days. Still, looking at the new office after everyone else had gone on Thursday night, I think it was worth it.
If you want to carry on this discussion but you are not sure where to find us, go to our website where you will also find some interesting reading – www.thelongpartnership.co.uk.
Alan E Long
The Long Partnership
07770 738770
