T Plus 2

Well I am all but officially unemployed after my last working day for HCC on Friday. I have to say my leaving presentation was fab. Daniel, the boss, did me proud with a quite humbling and amusing presentation which included a slide show and some very nice statements from colleagues especially Martyn Wilson my old boss in HIAS and County Inspector for many years. Thank you Daniel for the effort. It was really appreciated. For those who may want to see his handiwork he has provided the presentation (.pptx) online here.


It was also nice to get a good bottle of wine, a pressie that I can spend at PCWorld/Currys and a card full of good wishes for the future. Also a dear colleague Sue baked and decorated a lovely cake. Over the years I have seen many a cake that Sue has baked but this one is of course special to me. The verses on it could not have been more appropriate. Thanks too Lucey for another bottle of good wine labelled CM no less.

After the presentation I gave an ill-prepared speech that did waffle on. At the end I gave my solution for all the World's ills. During my 27 years I have changed. At the start back in 1984 I was single (not a bad thing in itself), childless (but then do I know?), Dawkin-esque follower of Carl Sagan ('God is a complication so probably not there') and it has to be said none-too morale person who largely served self. But I stand here now happily (mostly) married, father of 3 boys (such a privilege to have them on loan for these past 20 years), forgiven follower of Jesus who is hopefully a little bit more moral ad wanting now to start to serve others more directly. How come? Well I have come to truly believe it is good relationships and not science that will save the world. My relationships with my wife, my sons, my colleagues, with teachers in schools and most importantly with Jesus Christ the Son of God being examples to me of this truth in my time in education in Hampshire. He has never let me down though sometimes I've had to wait like now. 'Come on God - what's next?'

Oddly I guess but I take comfort from one of my favourite bits of the bible.

⁸ “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher.
“Everything is meaningless!” ⁹ Not only was the Teacher wise, but he also imparted knowledge to the people. He pondered and searched out and set in order many proverbs. ¹⁰ The Teacher searched to find just the right words, and what he wrote was upright and true.

¹¹ The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails—given by one shepherd. ¹² Be warned, my son, of anything in addition to them.

Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body.

¹³ Now all has been heard;
here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the duty of all mankind.
¹⁴ For God will bring every deed into judgment,
including every hidden thing,
whether it is good or evil.

(Ecclesiastes 12:8-14, New International Version, ©2011)

It was at that point in my leaving speech that the tears did start to well up. However, I took Daniel's advice and ground my teeth so I could finish off without blubbering in front of the 30 or so people standing looking on. Thanks for turning up and patiently listening. One doen't get many chances to speak more openly about the things that matter to you with people at work. I recommend you take your chance when you get it. And thanks to all those who turned up that normally work at Winchester rather than Fareham (Karen, Lucey, Andrea, Jon A, Steve R etc). And to my wife Kathy, to Jon P and to Lindsey for coming in specially.

It was with a bit of relief for some I think that we all piled off to the pub then for lunch and a few pints. Wetherspoon's in Fareham (The Lord Arthur Lee) was the perfect venue in terms of reasonably priced food and a wide range of bitters at amazing prices. They currently have 'The World's biggest Real Ale and Cider Festival' promotion. See www.jdwrealale.co.uk. I ended up trying their triple taster offer of 3 x ⅓ pint of 3 different ales. 'Saints and Sinners' was 8/10 and 'Bloomin' Smokey' 9/10, don't recall the others. I ended up sticking with 'Saints and Sinners', partly because I found it amusing to order 'Saints' in Pompeyland. Again I have to say I was humbled by the number of people who came to see me off. We were there from 1:30 till 7:30PM. Thanks Jon and Lucey for your company for the full 6 hours. Giving up some leave to be with me in the pub was much appreciated. Thanks also to others that made a special effort to come along despite being at work still - Sue, Jan and Alistair from HIAS, Ian A + Charlie despite a hard days work in school and Ian G getting away from the Dell in Derby work for a few hours. And thanks to all those that couldn't make it but sent me kind words by email (Emma, Jon, Stella, Andy, Greg ...). And Carol you mean scouser, we will have to have that drink another time. I owe you loads. I will miss you.

I leave HCC realising that one does make more of an impact that one realises. I hope I may have left a good impression overall and that you won't forget me too soon. I will remember you all in my prayers and hope I will see you in the future.

Bye Hampshire and goodbye all you Wizkid teachers out there.

T-1 my last few hours at HCC

Well the time is almost upon me. This time tomorrow I will be unofficially unemployed for the first time in my life! I say unofficially because I guess I have until 31st March but with owed leave tomorrow is the last day at work.

Think of all the things I'm gonna learn; How to sign on; How to lie in on a weekday; How to plan your day with no-one else having a say (Hah Hah - I don't think so); How to budget drastically cos income IS less than outgoings; How to look for work, How to a avoid work... The list goes on.

I have cleared my desk already, deleted everything in 'My documents' in Hantsnet and on the PC local drive, cleared my Inbox, composed and switched on my 'Out of office' - forever - that was difficult to compose. I have even drafted the final email I will send out tomorrow. Unsubscribing my hants.gov.uk email address from all those educational mailing lists was surprisingly difficult. Quite emotional - especially ictprim and ictsec which have been stalwarts for giving and receiving advice over many years. All I need to do is make sure I have packed my cryptocard ready to hand over tomorrow along with my badge and phone.

The last two weeks have largely been dominated by handing over to the 5 or 6 people who have to deal with me not being there anymore. I do feel sorry for you guys. Trying to work out what tasks out of the nebulous mountain of stuff I have done over the last 4 years is not easy. Watching their faces as they try to grasp what I am on about as I describe my work was like watching greased up channel swimmers trying to grasp a bar of soap. It would be interesting to see what is still being done a year from now bit I doubt I will be around to find out

The boss, Daniel, tweeted, to quote:

Biggest presentation of my life on Friday. @olcinm leaving us for his next journey :-( got to do the legend justice!
Twitter for iPhone • 23/03/2011 06:35

Legend? Achilles and Eric Cantona are legends. Colin McQueen a legend? Naw! Still, I am looking forward to the presentation tomorrow. and am very touched by his efforts. Turns out he has been trawling SAP to find out about my employment record and it doesn't actually have much in it! I could have told him that. But let's see what he has found out. When I started back in 1984 there wasn't much in the way of IT to record events or data online. I guess they were using mainframes (aka Cloud Computing). The personal computer was just appearing. The first one I touched back in May 84 was a Sinclair Spectrum with those rubbery keys and the screechy FAX like noises stored on magnetic cassette tapes. Who remembers 'PEEK' and 'POKE'?

As to progress with the new life? None made, absolutely zilch. Not even a closed door. So this is really going to be a nail biting ride this time. I am taking that as a sign to take it easy for the first month.... Not really though. I have realised rather late that it would be a good idea to go up home to Newcastle to see my mum and brother. Eldest son resonsibilities and all that. Probably do some clearing out and decorating. Be good practice for what's needed back in Southampton.

Anyway I'm off for a curry now with most of the old ICT HIAS team, somewhere in Pompeyland. Better wear a blue hoodie. It's the end of an era for the National Strategy Consultants, of which I was one for 4 years. Times are a changing indeed.

T Minus 10

Well two weeks from now and I will be well into my 4th or 5th pint down at The Lord Arthur Lee Wetherspoon's in Fareham celebrating with colleagues my 'escape'. Quite a few said they will be there. I don't know if I should feel warm about that or whether it was just because I offered to buy anyone who turned up a drink!

The last few weeks have been quite hard at work really. I am starting to realise the enormity of it all. The handover document that had my simple task list has become 'Yellow Pages' according to one of the potential successors to my work. So suddenly my diary has become packed with handover meetings and blasting away at finishing off those little jobs I kept putting on the back burner. The new Wizkid support site has gone live, the support processes are tied down better. I'm struggling through the simplification of the Studywiz ePortfolio for Wizkid and wondering why I ever bothered setting up a trial of parent accounts because the schools involved haven't really done anything with it for one perfectly valid reason or another. If you ever want to develop a service change that involves schools piloting or testing, give yourself loads of time and communicate, communicate, communicate because you can bet your bottom dollar the school teachers won't. they're too busy and don't understand the depth of work you are beavering about on at the back end that really needs commitment and feedback on to avoid wasting time.

But what to do next? There was a great verse came up at church on Wednesday.

Isaiah 43

18 “Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
19 See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert
and streams in the wasteland.
20 The wild animals honor me,
the jackals and the owls,
because I provide water in the desert
and streams in the wasteland,
to give drink to my people, my chosen,
21 the people I formed for myself
that they may proclaim my praise.

A couple of circumstances and this verse have created thoughts. How about running a pub? Our local right next to our church has starting advertising a lease for sale. Kathy and I have got quite interested. Why not have Christians running a pub with the offer of advice, guidance and a prayer room at the back for the punters? All those guys burying their heads in pint after pint could access some real help. 'Pint and a Prayer!' for anyone? Of course there are difficulties to deal with. We couldn't have slot machines or gambling going on. But we would want to bring back loads of old pub games that don't seem to be available these days. Anyway we shall see. I'm putting it before The Man upstairs to see what He says.

Oddly I have spotted that there are loads of pubs up for sale. Some are freehold, some leasehold. Those that are leasehold may be 'tied' to a brewery or drinks company others are free. The business seems to be difficult for many right now. But then if God wants us to do it He will bless it in one way or another. That's what's great about being a believer. Hope and Peace. All really exciting. Horizons broaden when you get into a relationship with Jesus. Things are never the same again.

Totally separate to this (at least as far as I can tell!) I've also decided to do some volunteer work with a special school in April. Just another thing that has come up after meeting with several special school teachers over the last term or so. I'm particularly moved by kids in wheelchairs because of cerebral palsy. In the past I have helped out with a couple of children, one with severe physical problems and the other less so.

Oh and I am Looking forward to a week's break between the end of 'something old' and the start of 'something new'.

So T-10 and counting...