The time has come ...

... to celebrate.

The countdown of the past few days has been leading to today, which is one of those significant birthdays and, on the basis that "life begins and forty", I am 10 years old today.

If I am not allowed to apply that rule, then I have to confess to hitting a half-century and, while I'm not about to have a mid-life crisis (or I'm not aware of it at least), I am not exactly thrilled with this milestone. Ach, it's just a number!

On the plus side, and every bit as significant if not more so, is the fact that today I have retired as a police officer after serving 9556 days (26 years, one month and 29 days in new money). I have enjoyed most of that time and it has brought me a great deal of satisfaction but also frustration and stress. On reflection though, I am leaving the police service immensely proud of my contribution but am very much looking forward to regaining my life and control over it. I have also dispensed with the daily commute into London, a feature that will not be missed.

I don't have the luxury of a life of leisure and I will be starting a new job in September but, having had no summer holiday with my family last year due to the Olympics and Paralympics, this year I am off for the entire school holiday and start my new job the week that the schools go back around here.

So, with a bit more time and a lot less stress, hopefully this will be the start of my resumption of blip duties.


I've had a really good day today, spent in London with my wife Cath (who has been very thoughtful and generous in the gift department) and children Becky & Alex. We started by going to my work to hand in my warrant card, with a lot less ceremony than was involved to get it in the first place, and say goodbye to colleagues. We then did a bit of a non-standard tour of London, having lunch at Stratford in the shadow of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and getting the Docklands Light Railway to the river where we took the Emirates Airline Cable Car to the O2 Arena and then a River Bus back to Waterloo Pier and home for some birthday cake.