A Last Day and a First Day

I had a relentlessly busy day at work yesterday, with no time at all to stop and think about how I felt as the last few hours of my BBC career ebbed away.  Over the weekend I was very sad, deflated and emotionally drained after all the fun of celebrating with so many friends and colleagues at Friday's retirement party.  The enormous cake which my team-mate Gayl baked in my honour was most definitely the highlight of the day for everyone on a routine day like yesterday.  It was shared around, but as I finally walked away from Broadcasting House at 11 p.m. last night there was still a small amount of it left which I had put in the office fridge.  I have no idea if it got eaten up because today was Day 1 of my new post-BBC life, and instead of commuting into central London, I drove around the top of it on the M25 (after the rush hour) to stay with Mum until after Easter.  She is slowly regaining her appetite and strength after the worst Meniere's attack she's ever had, and we spent the rest of today just resting in each other's company.  It's mostly been a sunny, if windy, day and although I still inevitably feel sadness at parting from all those lovely people, I also feel relief at finally bursting free from the straitjacket of full-time work.


 My blipfoto is of two books I was given by my team-mates at the party on Friday.  One is an autograph book, bearing the BBC crest and my name and the dates of my career embossed in gold.  Inside are written many messages from people I have worked with over the years.  Countless memories of broadcasting adventures come to mind as I leaf through the book and remember each person who wrote in it.  My team-mate Sue made sure there were lots of contributors to it, and she was also responsible for organising the fantastic framed tape spool.  The other book is a series of glossy "stills" from a video which my team-mate Vic made with the assistance of her husband Stu and the rest of our little team,.  It's loosely based on the TV series "Charlie's Angels", which was being broadcast for the first time when I started working at the BBC in the late 70's.  Our team of Studio Managers features as the Angels, and our manager Tony does the voiceover as the Angels' boss sending us out on our mission and in the process describing my career and personality traits.  The video was shown at my party, to much laughter from the guests.  There's a DVD copy of it in a pocket at the front of the book for me to keep.  With such creative and thoughtful colleagues, is it any wonder that it's hard to leave them behind?  A very special team indeed, and I miss them all already.