The End of an Era

Well, that's it. I'm now officially a retired person. It is a very strange feeling, partly like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders and partly some anxiety about the future. I have been in school, university or working since I was 5 years old ( with the exception of two 5 months breaks for maternity leave) so this is very novel.
It's also strange cleaning out 20 years worth of accumulated rubbish from my office. I  had never thrown out all the old lectures/teaching sessions on overheads or slides, even though they had been superseded by Power Point and online learning. I had collected shelves worth of old research papers, teaching handouts, academic journals etc. It was very liberating to throw it all in the bin.

I had a lovely send off  with this wonderful cake, which unfortunately Mr Hare couldn't resist, so I haven't got any before photos.

 

The red ball in the middle is meant to be a pin cushion and it did have the most wonderfully crafted pins on it  which unfortunately got knocked off on the trip home. As you can see, it's absolutely brilliant! We did not eat it all ( it was huge!) so I took it back to work for everyone to have a share.

 

 

I also had a fantastic bunch of flowers, which again I forgot to photograph, so here they are a few days later:

 

 

 

 

They had kindly made a collection for me and I was given a huge wodge of cash. I have already spent most of it on quilty things! I ordered some fabric which has yet to arrive  but these goodies have arrived:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I will have a meal out with all my colleagues at a later date.

 

 I have been frantically trying to revalidate , so I could go and do VSO or other work abroad. The GMC in it's wisdom has declared all doctors have to revalidate every 5 years. This is an entirely paper ( well computer) exercise and will not stop any future Harold Shipmans. Unfortunately, my number came up in the first tranch so I have been jumping through all the necessary hoops. I had my final appraisal on my last day. All my patient reviews are in and I'm just waiting for the 360 degree multisource feedback from my colleagues. I had done a few for colleagues before I left and quite honestly anyone would have to be seriously bad not to get a good review.  Anyway, I hope that it will all be done in time. My revalidation date is mid May, so I should be alright.

 

All this paper work has left little time for sewing, but I hope to rectify that in the next few weeks.