Things are a bit mixed at the Council right now, so I thought I’d post a work update.
Now that I’ve booked my outstanding annual leave, my last day working for the Council is on 26 July. My last day at my desk doing an effective day’s work will be 20 July – not long to go!The 26th July will be a strange day. The only thing in my calendar is to chair a meeting about apprenticeships, although one of my colleagues might take over as she knows I will have my mind on other things. We are arranging a little ‘do’ so I can thank my colleagues and contractors for all their support since January 2016. Strange to think this will be my last as an employee!
When I started at the Council in January 2016, my father had unexpectedly passed away a few days before, so my manager kindly allowed me to have compassionate leave – this was not the best way of starting a new job. That was a difficult time and although I remember it well, it does seem a long time ago.
Most of the time I am feeling very excited about retiring. An exception was yesterday when I spotted a job which looked quite interesting and would have been a sideways move (my brain can’t handle promotion these days!). Then this morning I was in a pretty big meeting and I heard a little more about that area of work and it did sound interesting; all about economic growth, the Oxford-Cambridge Corridor and so on, all good stuff. Furthermore, I believe the job is only being advertised internally so not sure how much competition there could be.
Another exception is not having enough money to do all the things we want to do. We should be okay providing we’re careful but obviously I have taken quite a hit on my pension through going so early.
As I am most of the way through my three month notice period, there have been a few subtle changes. My work load is lighter, just finishing off a couple of projects and getting things in good order to handover, so less stressful generally. I know that’s because I’m winding down, I don’t think I could sustain things as they were without falling apart.
Another exception was waking up early this morning. I think it was about 3:30am and just starting to get light. Work was on my mind and I was worried about something; can’t remember what it was now. Nevertheless it was a reminder I don’t always handle stress so well these days and one of the reasons why I want to step back from this kind of level in public sector work.
A lot of colleagues have said how fortunate I am in being able to take this step and are curious to know what I’m going to be doing. My general answer is this (and modified a little each time, depending on who I’m with):
- Being a volunteer washer-up and barista in our church coffee shop
- Getting really, really fit again. Running, cycling and stretching
- Catching up with some gardening. There’s one area of our back garden which is to be finished off with decking and a new fruit tree. My Mother-in-Law’s garden needs looking after more
- There is some DIY to catch up on, both at our home and my Mother-in-Law’s house
- Trying to develop a more servant hearted approach to life; life has been a wonderful experience to date and I am blessed beyond what I deserve
- I’d like to explore doing some other voluntary work. In the past I have been a Trustee for a charity and have been a school Governor, so perhaps something like that and preferably in the Dunstable area. I would quite like to look at something in the Justice area, an area which I have spent most of my career in
- Taking up art. Drawing people is what I have in mind. In 1978 I failed my art O’Level with being ungraded – TOTALLY UNGRADED! A year later I got a grade A at A’Level through sheer hard work. I haven’t drawn anything since with any real seriousness so I want to pick that pencil up again. Perhaps I could join an art group?
- I have some travelling in mind but this might need some careful, diplomacy at home (See Home to Istanbul post)
- Blogging more, naturally! I love the thought of seeing where things lead, seeing what doors open and the fascinating interactions which come from having a (hopefully) growing readership.