Nineteen working days to go folks.<\/p>\n
Had a wee bit of a wobble these past few days. Despite having done this ‘make oneself unemployed, leave behind friends and family and go travelling’ thing once or twice before (OK, twice), it still seems to get to me. I get nervous. Although we’re on the verge of what we hope to be another game-changer of an experience, it’s still difficult to cut (or least loosen) those ties. Not too difficult though, and the wobble was a short one.<\/p>\n
It’s only 19 working days to departure point. We plan to head off pretty much immediately after I stop work. I’m wondering if I could take a pair of jeans and a T shirt on my last day and get Ju to pick me up, with a cold beer for me to quaff in the car park while I mentally wave goodbye. Hmmm. A couple of years ago I’d pictured myself stood next to my suit, with it in a pile of flames on the car park floor while I pointed at and laughed, a deep evil snort, waving around a bottle of red wine, perhaps even summoning up a two-fingered salute to the world. No more though – the last couple of years at work have been pretty good to me – good teams, cracking managers, great opportunities which I’m very thankful for. Working as a contractor has also worked a treat – no performance reviews, company briefings, no expectation of lifelong loyalty, I just do a decent job and they pay me. Perfect.<\/p>\n
My replacement’s been recruited and we’re slowly working together to hand over the project I’ve been running for the past year. Simple, this ain’t. I’m just starting to realise how much esoteric knowledge I’ve built up. Ju and I discussed whether I should just agree to work these last few months to complete the project, but we agreed a target departure date of Sep 30th sat in a pub beer garden at some point last year, and Sep 30th it’s stayed. The new chap’s been managing projects for 20 years though, so will have no problem taking if off my open hands.<\/p>\n