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Monday morning blues, then grey, then red!! My week was well planned, but unfortunately the execution of those plans on the first day faltered due to unforeseen circumstances. I rose early and at 8.40am I boarded a train from my local village train station for the 6 minute journey into Doncaster. On arrival I had a 15 minutes wait before my second leg of the journey would see me on a train to Leeds, before the final leg which would be the short journey from Leeds to Bradford.

The plan goes off the rails…

  I was to hold a three way meeting between myself, my client, and a representative of the Asian bank, United National. The bank was the perfect match for the lenders criteria and my client’s commercial funding requirement.   I was feeling a bit blue in the head, the sky above me was slate grey and a slight drizzle was in the air. I'd had a good weekend on the old grog, and needed to wake up a bit, then the train slowed to a halt about 100 yards short of the platform at Doncaster, and it was a full 5 minutes before the announcement was broadcast,"we are sorry for the delay, there's a points problem, we should be on our way shortly," I glanced at the old watch and I still had 15 minutes before the train to Leeds departed, so I wasn't unduly worried.   That proved to be false hope as the minutes flew past, strangely enough so did many other trains who didn't seem to be hit with our problems. I grimaced as I peered out of the window to see the Leeds train ghost past us, well that's that I thought. With modern technology at my fingertips I noted a train at 9.15am and that would see me only about 20 minutes late for my appointment in Bradford, but they would understand that.   Seeing red…   Sadly we sat there, and sat there, and sat there, until we heard the slow grind of our wheels setting back into motion. The time was 9.52am, we had been sat for just over an hour, and the next train to Leeds was at 10.14am which would see me arrive at my destination at 11.36am. This was no good to me as I had to be back for a further appointment in Doncaster at 2.00pm. I was seeing red, which was only compounded when the jobs worth at the station informed me that I couldn't claim back the £13.60p I'd paid, however he handed me a form to complete and try to reclaim it from head office. So it was a 20 minute wait for a train home where our Gert was awaiting my forlorn figure to emerge up the station ramp, and finally at about 10.30am I was sat back in my office, morning ruined, all down to some grumpy set of points.   A far brighter afternoon…another face to a name…   I soothed my frustration with a pot of Yorkshire tea, and a peck on the cheek from our lass. Then did a bit of admin work, and finally set off for my two o'clock appointment to meet Gareth Lewis from Cheval. Gareth and I have spoken many times over the years but never actually met, and we had an enjoyable hour, discussing bridging in general, my morning, and of course their own offering to the market. I enjoyed the meeting and another face to a name, and hopefully we’ll do a bit of business together.   Boosting the flow of finance…   It's always great to add a new lender to a brokers contacts, or in this case an old lender re-invented. Drawbridge, re-invented as Dragonfly Property Finance. I have read the press with interest and think with their array of products, which is now expanding more into the development finance arena as well, they are a lender that's really boosting the flow of finance. Any grumbles? Perhaps only the obvious, that being there are good development prospects up North you know. It's not all flat caps and whippets up North; well actually it is in Barnsley they've got Kestrels as well. But, on a serious note it's good to see Dragonfly so up for lending and expanding their portfolio.   Finally, the meeting in Bradford, despite my absence, went exceptionally well. The follow up from the lender said they would fully expect to get terms out this week, so that's good news. It's my first foray with United National, so let's hope for a good service and a quick completion.