Just a note

 

I was amazed when I worked in the UK to find that lots of my friends and colleagues didn’t have a car or a driver’s licence. As an Australian, I found that hard to believe. Even when I worked in the middle of London, I couldn’t imagine being without my wheels. In fact, when I went to Northern Ireland as my first overseas post, my first stop was to buy a car – before I even when house hunting. I don’t usually remember such things but I bought my little Renault from Seamus Rafferty – a name seared in my memory as it was so quintessentially Irish. That car gathered quite a few miles in both Ireland and England.

One of my colleagues in London was a young lady with tiny twin baby girls. I used to pick her up any morning that we were both going into the office. A few years later, when I had returned home, she sent me an email saying that her girls were now in Nursery School. She added a bit of news and then a couple of sentences which warmed my heart. I copied out the email and put it into my CV as a true, unsolicited reference. It said:

You are still greatly missed by some of the team. Every now and again one meets a very skilled, diplomatic, kind and considerate manager who makes working life more interesting and stimulating and creates a highly supportive environment, and you are one of those people. You are a rare breed and I am glad I had the opportunity to work with you. I won’t bore you with the ins and outs of work. There is perhaps less of a team spirit these days, less joy and the room is crowded ……..

Another example stands out for me as it encompassed the most important things in my life, family, friends and travel. In 2020 when we were all locked down with the Covid pandemic, I complained to a friend that it was going to be a horrible year. I was still going through chemotherapy with radiotherapy still to come, we couldn’t travel beyond state borders, and social events were severely restricted. A little later, she presented me with a quilt she had sewn and suggested I use the reverse side to collect autographs and messages from the people in my life that year. As I travelled (only in Queensland) that year, I asked my fellow travellers and family and friends that I visited on the way to write messages and mention where we had met. Some friends went far beyond the name and date and left messages from the heart.  It now lies across the end of my bed and I often pick it up and read bits of it. It always gives me a buzz. (Some of you, my faithful friends and family, may see your messages here - and still appreciated.)