Had I not been so tired, anxiety over what had happened might have kept me awake, but in fact I slept deeply and hated having to get up early to help with the breakfasts. A week or a fortnight in Sitges or Mykonos would have done me good. Casual sex with another tourist or a local man wanting a good time would have refreshed me and made me feel less sexually frustrated. Perhaps those few days, which now seemed an age ago, with Georges at the Hotel des Amis were the best that life would ever offer me by way of a relationship. If only other people were as straightforward and good natured as he and his mother had been. Maybe holiday affairs were a sort of fertile terrain between the frost-hardened wilderness of casual sex and the treacherous precipices of long term relationships.
A chance for a break did come, albeit in a rather unpleasant way, and only for a weekend. At one of the meetings about the Dunblane project that the Scottish hotel manager attended we discussed itineraries for coach trips, some of which were to include lunch near Inverness. He said that the waitresses at a particular restaurant were 'fine Highland girls in traditional dress' and were sure to cheer up the menfolk.
'Well, not all of the menfolk,' I remarked humorously.
'Oh now,' he said loudly, 'I've been forewarned about you; some of us would prefer not to hear about certain kinds of behaviour, thank you very much.'
One of Vincent's consultants said, 'Mark's a good colleague, we all know he's gay, do you have some kind of problem with that?'
'Excuse me, it isn't me who has the problem. I think you'll find your US client, who is footing your bill, would be none too pleased to hear an avowed homosexual is working on their project. Organisations that provide family holidays for middle America support traditional conservative values, and quite rightly so in my opinion.'
With difficulty we returned to the business of the meeting, but the incident reminded me of all the past consternation and confusion over 'coming out' at Lindler & Haliburton. Even here, with colleagues who were gay friendly, prejudice had infiltrated. Whatever my problems at Goodmans Hotel, having my own business had saved me from being plagued by discrimination.
I mentioned his outburst to Vincent later in the day. 'He's completely wrong about the client. Our contract with them has an equal opportunities clause which covers sexual orientation. The subject was specifically raised by them in discussions, and they asked for assurances that our policy matched theirs. He is the one who is out of line, not you. You're not going be put off by him, are you? Do you want me to speak to him?'