TML Travel Group - The Moneypenny Files

Prelude to Week Commencing 25 May 2026 “The Quiet Before the Turning Point” SUNDAY — The Founder Returns North HQ is dark today, as it should be on a Bank Holiday weekend. Even the inbox seems to be observing the silence. I am off enjoying the long weekend Moneypenny‑style — which is to say: tea, sunshine, a book I will almost certainly not finish, and the quiet satisfaction of knowing the office will reopen on Tuesday with everything exactly where I left it. David, meanwhile, has returned from his castle adventures in Sussex and Kent , sun‑kissed and slightly exhausted after a day at Hever Castle in 31°C heat on Saturday. A glorious place, he reports — though even the Tudor gardens struggled to compete with the unstoppable energy of Oscar, Carrie’s two‑and‑a‑half‑year‑old, who treated the grounds as his personal kingdom. Carrie — whom David first met in 2007 when she was Deputy Editor of Group Travel Organiser Magazine in Hastings — has been a constant thread in his life ever since...

THE MONEYPENNY FILES —  Monday 11th May at TML HQ Filed by Moneypenny, Keeper of the Realm & Defender of the Desk Field Notes, 09:12hrs. The weekend appears to have been a territorial dispute between Oban and West Kirby — both vying for the founder’s attention like two coastal divas with excellent lighting. Oban made its usual play: serene waters, early‑morning glow, a touch of drama. But West Kirby countered with the Wilson Sailing Trophy , a full technicolour spectacle of sails, speed, and competitive enthusiasm. And, in a twist that surprised absolutely no one, the Wirral coastline won. It always does. It fuels the founder’s creativity like nothing else. Which is how, by Sunday evening, Scenic Scotland Select V1 was not only completed… …it was live . And V2 (the Oshine edition) is already under construction. Field Notes, 07:48hrs (Monday). Before leaving on business until Thursday, the founder made a series of “quick refinements” to the website. I know this because I arri...

MONDAY — A Bank Holiday in Quiet Orbit The office has been closed today, with both the founder and Moneypenny taking a rare moment of quiet after last week’s mammoth Aberdeenshire mission. No alarms, no itineraries, no countryside logistics — just a bank holiday Monday settling softly over TML HQ, carrying the warm afterglow of a trip that delivered far more than expected. It has been a day of reflection for the founder, replaying conversations, revisiting moments, and letting the dust settle on a week that moved at full tilt from start to finish. A gentle pause, a well‑earned breather, and the calm after the countryside rush. TUESDAY — Through Moneypenny’s Eyes The bank holiday calm dissolved the moment Tuesday arrived. The founder was out of the door early, once again away on business, moving with that familiar combination of purpose and velocity that leaves HQ in a state of gentle disarray. I watched him go — metaphorically, of course — and within minutes the evidence of his departu...

MONDAY — The Afterglow, The Artefacts, and The South‑East Situation Filed by Moneypenny, who has spent the day sharing oxygen, office space, and several strategic sighs with the founder The founder returned from Oban on Saturday evening with the unmistakable afterglow of someone who has spent a week in Scotland doing exactly what he was designed for. I am simply presenting the facts. By Monday morning, he arrived in the office with the kind of energy that makes the Situation Room screens flicker and the stationery drawer brace for impact. We are sharing workspace today. I can confirm the following: He is brimming with ideas He is operating at a velocity normally reserved for weather fronts And his Irn‑Bru consumption last week has now reached such levels that AG Barr issued a T212 update at lunchtime I am not saying the two are connected. THE POST‑OBAN AFTERGLOW (AND ITS CONSEQUENCES) There is a particular clarity the founder carries after time in Scotland — a steadiness sharpened by ...