September 22, 2004
One way or the other
I bought a plane ticket back to Edinburgh today. It departs at 6:10pm on Christmas eve. And it's one way.
The first time I came down to London, I travelled by train, and bought a return ticket. If I remember rightly, the return trip had to be made within a month of the outward journey. Thus I made a point of returning home each month. But then one month passed and I didn't make it home. I don't recall the details why. I don't think I appreciated it's importance then. My return ticket duly expired., leading to a subtle but significant shift. Each time I travelled from that point onwards, each ticket I bought saw me starting from, and coming back to London at the end, not Edinburgh. I suppose that's when I should have realised I was going to be down here longer than I'd anticipated.
I could have gotten away with booking an earlier flight, since historically, most everyone departs the office early on Christmas Eve, or is simply told to go home around lunchtime. One that basis, I could have booked a flight several hours earlier and, to be honest, no-one would mind if I left a little early on that day of all days. But to make that assumption would be to take advantage of my employers - in my mind at least. I couldn't bring myself to do it, even if it leaves me sitting in an empty office for a few hours on Christmas Eve. Truth be told, though, I rather like the idea of waiting around after everyone else has gone home. It's how I'd like to leave: no fuss, no protracted goodbyes. Makes it so much easier to simply walk away.
I can hardly wait.
Thought iMark at September 22, 2004 11:28 PM | TrackBackOne of my hitherto private pleasures has been being the first one in the office on a new project... and the last one out. It's not quite Brian Hanrahan, but it works for me.
"I can't tell you exactly how many people worked on the series, but I counted them all in, and I counted them all back out again."
Enjoy it. Or leave prawns in your enemy's CD drive. Whichever.
Posted by: Jonathan at September 22, 2004 11:54 PMI've always been rather sad that I've never really left a (real[1]) job the proper way. I actually felt rather proud of what I had contributed to DDS, but the termination was really just a matter of no more phone calls. The same for the startup that stopped. And the other one. Hmm, interestingly enough, I suppose I can refer back to my whopping few months at PARC as my saving grace once again. We had a nice lunch and have a great photo to prove it :-)
Truth be told, though, no-one can ever hope to walk out of a job quite as well as JMS did... "K-chunk. Darkness. Boom." (As one of the few people reading this who I know is probably in a position to mimic or better such an exit, I ask Jonathan that he doesn't try ;-)
[1] Leaving the cinema's employ doesn't count. It was a crappy little job for college days and I was robbed of the pleasure of handing my immediate resignation letter to the deputy GM. We'd had a bit of a fued, you see, with his lording his "superior position and salary" over me for some time. I'd received confirmation of my employment as a consultant abroad complete with salary notice and had timed my date of resignation to coincide with his next shift. He called in sick. Ah well. The best laid plans of mice and petty minded grads.
Posted by: Kevin at September 23, 2004 06:21 AMIt's funny how travel can do that. I remember that was when I finally felt liberated from my parents (for better or worse). I had to buy my own tickets, and they always originated from and returned to California. It changed the meaning of the word "home".
Posted by: Mija at September 24, 2004 12:25 AM