So. Farewell then....

After a grand total of 41 years, 5 months 23 days of working in the IT industry – and, in fact, for the same company – I’m about to call it quits. I’m just heading into the office for the very last time to hand in my company effects – PC, phone, ID card and so on – and , I’m half expecting that they’ll rip off my badges and buttons, break my sword, and drum me out of the fort (those of you of a certain age will get the reference).

I will then meet up with a sizeable band of work colleagues to mark the passing of this particular milestone by drinking myself to a standstill.

And then the adventure starts….

Aha!! (and not in an Alan Partridge way...)

I had one of those moments yesterday, when I realised what it was that was causing me to feel a little anxious and unsettled about giving up work. Obviously, I will miss the people I work with (well, some of them..!) and the intellectual, commercial, contractual and logistical challenges that arise more regularly than you would think possible in the boring old world of corporate IT outsourcing, but I now know the one thing that will really leave a hole.

Being in demand.

Yesterday, I got a request to join one of our senior consultants for a day's workshop up in Edinburgh with a prospective client. As the day in question was the day before my retirement, I very politely declined and, in a very professional manner, found someone who could do the gig in my place. However, what struck me was the fact that I got a small (but noticeable) buzz out of the fact that I was being asked to attend purely because of my knowledge and experience. It may come across as being rather egotistical (those who know me well may be entirely used to this!) but it's the "we want you to help us because you're good at this" that I think I will miss way more than I thought. It's taken me a long time to get to "elder statesman" status and that's a big thing to relinquish.

So - the task ahead is to find something else (other than the boring old world of corporate IT outsourcing) that I can be really good at.......

The Finish Line Is In Sight

It’s now 10 working days to the fateful day, and (at last!!), my workload is really tailing off. Major milestones that I have passed since my last blog:-

·         I have finished my last ever monthly sales and revenue forecast review session (by my reckoning, I have done over 400 of these in my working life)

·         I have written my last ever performance appraisal for one of the team who work for me (I can’t begin to guess how many of these I’ve written over the years)

·         My inbox has a total of 4 (count ‘em – 4!!) messages in it waiting to be dealt with

·         My diary for next week contains the grand total of 7 appointments (that was the average for a single morning previously)

·         I’ve just dumped a couple of my work suits – I skipped my usual “buy two extra suits at the start of each year” this time around, and have been eking out my current set of suits, hoping they will go the distance. I noticed that two of them are a little worse for wear, and, courtesy of extended usage, have some additional ventilation in the “gentlemen’s area” so they have been consigned to history. The remaining three should see out my final days.  

Come the end of next week, I will have also completed my last visit to my client in Huntingdon (being as I live in Broadstairs, that’s a journey I will be immensely pleased to never have to experience again!), and then it will a gentle run down of tidying up some administration, tying up a few loose ends, going through the pointless farrago of an exit interview (I’m retiring because I’m old and my pension is sort of where I need it to be – what more do you need to know?) and being on hand to deal with any last minute queries before I finally hand in my phone, company credit card, PC and ID card (oh, and my last expenses claim!). However, the one thing I am really, really looking forward to is telling LinkedIn to bugger off and leave me alone…..

The Final Countdown

I am now into the final month of full time paid employment (14 working days to go and counting) – pension papers have been submitted, annual rail season ticket has run out, my two major clients are now in the hands of my colleagues and I have stepped back from my front-line role and am acting more as an advisor.

Having just returned to work after a week’s leave (Lanzarote – very nice, thank you), the idea of not working is finally beginning to transform from a vaguely understood (and more than a little mistrusted) wraith-like notion to a more solid reality. The balance between trepidation and excitement is ever so slowly tipping in favour of the latter.

Consequently, I can start taking my panic head off and put on my “so what will I do when I retire” head. To that end, I have dipped my toe in the water of the great wide world of stuff I really would like to give a try, and have compiled the following list. I’ll make a note in my diary to check back in on this list in April 2017 and I’ll report back on how far I’ve got (if anywhere!).

·         Instrument making – this is a real long shot, but I would love to have a go at making my own guitars. Starting from my base of zero knowledge, it may take a long time to get there, but time is something I should have a lot more of (I’ve also got a very large patch at the bottom of the garden that never sees any light, so a big boy’s workshop may also be on the cards).

·         The local chess club – as a musician and a mathematician, I should be able to complete this triangle of related activities and play chess. I’ve never had the time to get anywhere near understanding how the game works, so now is my chance.

·         Bread making – Graham, my fellow musician and band member, makes astounding bread (I’ve already nicked one of his recipes). I used to make bread some time ago and really enjoyed it.

·         Home brewing – now that you can buy virtually a complete mini-brewery, and brew beer from scratch, this is looks like a great candidate for filling up some more of the space in that huge workshop at the bottom of the garden (see  “Instrument making” above….).

·         Films – myself and the GLW are big film buffs, and I have “I must get round to seeing” list as long as my arm. We have an abundance of good independent cinemas near us (The Carlton in Westgate; The Curzon in Canterbury; The Palace in Broadstairs) that will now receive the benefit of my hard earned pension cash.

·         Play better! – my mandolin playing is based on taking my guitar playing style and transposing it to mandolin (which isn’t really the way you should do it – I really should unlearn all my guitar stuff and start from scratch). Similarly for Dobro, which is even further down the scale of “stuff I do reasonably well”. I’ve signed up for a bunch of instruction courses (Peghead Nation – well worth checking out) and, although I’ve said it every year for about the past 7 years, this is the year that I really get my act together!

That’s probably enough to be getting on with (and that’s ignoring the various charities and voluntary stuff that I am involved in, and the fact that the house needs quite a bit of TLC) – let’s give it a year and see how I get on…….