44 Scotland Street: The slush pile

At the very time that Stuart was waiting outside that fateful promotion board door, Matthew was crossing Dundas Street to open up his gallery. It was already nine forty-five, the later opening hour being an inevitable concomitant of his having moved out of town to Nine Mile Burn. Matthew had explored the various ways of getting into work and had opted for what he described as the semi-green option. This involved a car journey into Fairmilehead, where he could park well beyond the limits of the controlled parking zone. Then he would wait to catch a bus that would take him all the way into the city centre, dropping him off a mere five minutes from Dundas Street. The entire journey took forty-five minutes, which meant that he had to leave the house at nine if he were to open the gallery before ten.