A Few Ramblings…
Forty-six year old Christian happily negotiating the world with a wife and three daughters
The Last Day – 30th March 2012
Today marks the end of my employment with Reach, something which began way back in November 1995, ahead of an upcoming move to Vodafone.
I had to complete a report before coming into work for the final time and arriving soon after 11am. I was greeted by the sight of my already messy desk looking even less tidy than usual!
Tidy desk for the final day
The day began well, with the receipt of a number of cupcakes from good friend Suzie.
http://twitter.com/EmmaLouVeljovic/status/185684932755070976
Later, I had my final ‘circuit’ around Woking with Sam and Tiff before heading back to continue working.
The afternoon celebrations were marked in the Boardroom with a presentation of various gifts both for my boss, Ben and for myself.
Crowds gathering in the Boardroom
Farewell to Ben
Colin with a big screen
Part of the presentation
Thanking Colin for his presentation
Making my leaving speech
Finishing the speech with a rousing rendition of 'Bring me sunshine'
The big finish!
One of my presents was a toy elephant!?
You can read a copy of my speech here.
After my speech and the unveiling of various gifts it was time to get back to work ahead of my biggest surprise of the day.
I was ushered into one of the meeting rooms where small array of chairs had been set up in front of a projector and screen.
Sam Underhill appeared to be the Master of Ceremonies and he explained that he had put together a video to mark my passing. After a couple of minor teething issues, it was on with the show. You can watch it in all its glory below:
I’m immensely grateful to all those who took the time and trouble to take part in such a unique present and particularly to Stuart and Sam who risked life and limb for me.
After work, I invited a few close chums out to join me for a meal at a nearby Little Chef. I made the mistake of giving Stuart a lift and his directions left something to be desired. Fortunately they were better than Colin’s – he managed to drive straight past the Little Chef the first time!
While we were waiting for him to arrive, we took a few photos outside by the Little Chef sign and beside a smelly bin!
One man and a sign
With Stuart and Tiff
Some of the gang kind enough to join me for dinner
Eventually the stragglers turned up and we hastened inside and made ourselves an L-shaped table in a corner of the restaurant.
Being a lifelong fan of Little Chef, I was keen to show my friends that they had indeed turned the corner and were on the road to recovery.
Colin
Tiff, Laura, Emma and Laura
Sam and Tiff
Alan
Graham
Laura and Ben
Rob
Stuart
Best mates
Unfortunately, and perhaps I was setting my expectations too high, the experience wasn’t all that I’d hoped for. Little things including the heat of the restaurant, the waiter not realising that they did a rosé wine, the over-familiarity of the staff (‘what can I get you, mate?’) and the fact that there was only a handful of people in the restaurant and at least two of the desserts were unavailable, all combined to tarnish the evening a little. I still believe that Little Chef are a great company – someone just needs to remind the staff of that!
Minor gripes aside, the food was delicious!
I had one final present – a book full of greetings and photos. Thanks guys!
My final present - a book of photos and messages
Arrival of fish and chips
Delicious fish and chips
Enjoying a small tipple
Before we left, we asked one of a staff to take a group photo. This was the best of his three efforts!
Farewell all and thanks for the memories...
I’ll remember my last day at Reach as being manic – so manic that I ran out of time to even clear my desk!
I’ve left behind some very good mates and I’m so grateful for all their friendship over my sixteen years with the company. They’ve made every day enjoyable and who could ask for more than that?
March walk to Cookham Dean – 25th March 2012
We made the most of the warm and sunny weather to enjoy our March walk to Cookham Dean and back – Rebekah and I even managed to persuade the rest of the family to tag along as well!
Heading off on the walk
Emily and Sarah
Heading up the track
Three girls
Three girls
Primroses in Cookham Dean churchyard
Emily
Holly with some daffodils
More daffodils
Daffodil
Running down the hill
Looking at the view
Rebekah with some tulips
Magnolia in Mum's garden
Magnolia
A sunny Saturday at the seaside – 24th March 2012
Today had been planned for some weeks that we would go down to Bournemouth and meet up with Freddie and Jen and their two girls for the day. What we hadn’t been able to plan was the weather for the day!
The day dawned somewhat hazy with the promise of sunshine breaking through.
We were up too early for a Saturday morning and managed to be organised with breakfast etc to be able to leave in good time.
With a quick top-up of oil and water for the Blue Beauty, we were away by about 8.05am.
Following a drive down to Bournemouth which was marked by a lack of traffic congestion, the overtaking of a snow plough and with Rebekah tallying up various lorries spotted en route, we arrived in the sunshine by around 9.40am.
Freddie turned up a few minutes later and we all headed down to the beach.
Heading for the beach
Looking down the beach
Bournemouth pier
Regular visitors to Bournemouth will be aware of the seasonal nature of the toilets by the pier. In the summer, there is a large area opened up with numerous facilities available. During the winter months, this is blocked off and visitors have far fewer options available to them. Despite the expected crowds this weekend, it seems that Bournemouth was still firmly ensconced in winter mode leading to long queues – particularly for the ladies!
We made our way down to look at the giant deckchair, in place over the weekend, which was built by artist Stuart Murdoch and stands some 8 metres high! It seemed to be doing the desired job of drawing in the crowds!
Large chair on the beach
Holly and Rebekah by the giant chair
Giant deckchair and Bournemouth pier
The beach was relatively quiet during the morning, but soon got busier around lunchtime and Sarah had to queue for some twenty minutes in order to procure our lunch from Harry Ramsdens!
Rebekah and Holly
All the family on the beach
Holly and Rebekah by the sea
Emily
Zara with Rebekah and Holly
Sausage and chips from Harry Ramsdens
After lunch we headed into town to look around some of the shops before returning to the Winter Gardens for a long-promised ice cream in the sunshine.
Crowds in the Winter Gardens
The one consolation of Bournemouth being in ‘winter mode’ was that the pier was open without charging and we took full advantage of this unexpected largesse. The girls enjoyed playing on the various rides at the end of the pier before we headed back into town to visit their favourite sweet shop.
March crowds on Bournemouth beach
Rebekah on the helter-skelter
Holly emerging
Sunshine and haze on the beach
Looking out to sea
Rebekah, Holly and Leah on the pier
With another hour to run on the car-park and the weather keen to remind us that despite the sunshine, it was only March, we ventured to the cafe in the basement of House of Fraser. Given the lateness of the hour (5pm), it was a little surprising to find that they were still dispensing hot drinks.
I opted for a hot chocolate while Sarah chose a tea. A jug of water with glasses was a great idea and proved ideal for all the kids – as well as saving money!
We settled down on comfortable sofas in an almost deserted restaurant to reflect on the success of the day before making our way wearily back to the cars.
Hot chocolate at House of Fraser
It had been a great day in the sunshine, a chance to catch up again with good friends and for the girls to enjoy playing together. Hopefully we’ll get a chance to do it again soon.
End of the line – 21 March 2012
As I come up to the end of my time working for Reach, Rudders kindly organised an evening bowling followed by a visit to McDonalds afterwards.
The Blue Beauty has been suffering from an intermittent starting problem and I was pleased to be able to nurse it in to the office and therefore ensure my attendance at the festivities this evening.
It was also good to welcome back Alan Stone for the evening, following his departure back in September.
As 6pm approached, ten of us made our way down to the local bowling lanes for an entertaining evening’s bowling.
Sam organised the collecting of our free drinks and we headed down to lanes 1 and 2, where he typed in the bowlers names in. I ended up on Lane 2 with Sam, Tiff, Colin and Alan. Lane 1 contained Graham, Francois, Laura P, Laura S and Jonny.
Bowling cronies
The condition of Woking’s bowling lanes isn’t the best and both lanes suffered various mechanical issues during the evening.
We ended up by having two games of bowling and decided that the top 5 bowlers from the first game would combine on one lane with the remaining 5 on the other. This meant that Sam and Tiff were replaced on the high-scoring lane by Graham and Jonny after Alan had top-scored with 148 points.
The second game progressed well with all the key players slipping up at various points. The drama continued right up to the death as we were forced to transfer onto a neighbouring lane with just two bowlers still to completed their turns.
I ended up winning game two with a score of 128, just pipping Alan and Colin to the post.
We moved off to McDonalds, minus Mr Acton, and enjoyed enjoyable food and company.
The evening was so successful that we plan to repeat it in six months time with a date pencilled in already for 19th September 2012!
A Few Ramblings... 