No More Work For Me!!

Well the day has finally arrived and I am now officially free! It was a bit of a strange day to tell you the truth. Obviously, it was fairly relaxed as it was more about tying up loose ends than actually doing much work as things had already been passed onto other people last week. I managed to get out of the office at about 4pm so was home pretty early for a change today.

It turned out that the collections floor had put together a collection for me and I got the princely sum of £27.95 from the collections staff. I used to work in the finance department of the company for a while and they had also clubbed together and had bought me a 350ml bottle of Jack Daniels – I love Jack Daniels! – and a digital watch with an inbuilt digital compass. I am sure that will come in use as I am bound to lose my bearings at least once along the way!

Having watched other people leave in the past I wondered how I would feel when it came to the crunch. Some people get emotional as the realisation sets in whilst others are not bothered in the slightest. I certainly didn’t get emotional – I am happy to be leaving and have left for bigger and better things. It was a little strange walking out knowing that I would not be going back there but I think the realisation will set in tomorrow morning when I don’t have to go there.

I have asked one of the lads I work with to arrange a night out this weekend as a sort of send off. It would be nice to get together with a few of the people from work to celebrate and, I guess, also share some fond memories. It will either be this Friday or Saturday that we will be going out but I will speak to the lad, Chris, tomorrow to sort it out.

I managed to find some time for a jog and a workout tonight as I was able to leave the office early. Nath came with me and Roman again – this time we only went for a two mile jog as I wanted to try and keep Roman’s exercise levels down a bit due to his recent limping. The only problem with total rest is that he starts to go stir crazy and I feel cruel on him if he doesn’t go out – he looks at me with those puppy dog eyes as if he is saying ‘please take me for a walk’!

I have decided to go to football training tomorrow night for the first time in ages. Even though I will not be playing Sunday league football next season as I will be on my way to Rome it will be nice to get together with the lads for a kick about as I have not seen most of them for quite some time.

I have the interview with the guy from the Chester Chronicle and the appointment at the vets for Roman tomorrow so it is sure to be a busy day for us. I am going to start trying to get hold of PR departments of national and multinational companies tomorrow in an effort to drum up some sponsorship interest. I will also be looking for companies that trade in things such as camping gear, hiking gear, etc in an effort to find someone willing to donate equipment to me.

I am sure that now I have finished work I will actually be busier than ever. I am determined to start learning Italian tomorrow and would like to do a minimum of two hours a day but it would be nice to find time to do more. It will help me immensely if I am able to speak reasonable Italian when I get there as Italian employers like to do interviews in Italian and I would look a little unprofessional if I was unable to speak Italian. Even if I only speak basic Italian it will look better to them as they will be able to see that I have made the effort so, hopefully, this will make it a little easier to find work.