Leaving London - The Final Exit

So I have now finally left London. Friday August 29th was my last day at work. I had been warming down for weeks now and everything was very chilled out. Very little to do, almost to the point of frustration. All in all a lovely day and I was genuinely surprised by the effort everyone at Technicolor had gone to celebrating my send off. I actually got more leaving presents and cards and drinks bought after 1 year at technicolor than I did after 9 years at my previous work. I guess when you are leaving to do something totally different it kind of engages people in a different way. You're not going round the corner to a competitor to earn more money doing the same work. As a result I got Thai baht, champagne, Burbon and even a battle axe silver necklace and a leaving card written in Viking Rune symbols. All very thoughtful and touching and I was genuinely moved... But no tears.

 Roll around 5 o'clock and more Champagne, Prosecco and beers were brought out with loads of bar snacks and nibbles. It was a really lovely gesture and one i let myself enjoy. There was a thought going through my head the whole time "You don't drink.... You dont eat sausage rolls" but everything in moderation, even moderation... right? at 6 o'clock we bailed on work and went to the pub . A client and long time friend of mine, Liz Pearson, was waiting at the bar with a bottle of Bolinger on ice. She had a vodka and coke for herself and just said "The bottles for you"... Such an insanely generous thing to do. Once again reminding me of the weird and wonderful places love, support and generosity have come from throughout this whole exit strategy. We talked work and the future and it left me feeling really positive about coming back to London and the film game one day.

 9pm and i'm half drunk and on my way home with all my new gifts and work stuff under my arms. Time to start packing. I had totally under estimated how much stuff I own. I live a pretty spartan life and dont own any furniture but its crazy how much space it all takes up once it comes down off the shelves and goes into boxes. By 2am I was about 80% done and crashed out. 

Waking up early I finished off the last of the packing and caught my flat mate Claire before she went out for the day. We said our goodbyes and Sam (currently away on tour) and Claire had bought me a little gift, a book called 'The Way of the Peaceful Warrior' which they had enscribed. I lied and said I hadnt read the book, which I had about 10 years previous so hopefully they are not following this (although in my defense I have re-read the copy they gave me and finished it already). 

Packing completed I went and collected the massively over priced hire car i would be using for my one-way trip up north. It was a weirdly surreal final trip through central London. Having not driven a car regularily in about 8 years, nevermind central London made it very weird. Cruising north bound over London bridge I just wanted to sack off the packing and drive around London and take in the sights and visit people. 

Public transport in London is the only sensible option but driving is just so liberating. Nevertheless i headed to the soho flat and parked up. Flat was empty. 

It took me just over an hour to carry everything from my flat on the third floor down and into the hire car. That was one solumn hour. Squeezing your life into bin bags then lugging it to the backseat of a car followed by covering it all in duvets to protect it. By the time i was done I had a right sweat on and the back of the car looked like it had a giant white tumour growing in it. 

 Final check of the flat... then seperated my keys, and left the flat keys on the kitchen table. Leaving me with one single key for my dad's York house. You know your responsibilites are at an all time low when you only own one key and the key ring is kinda looking at you like "mate, you need to grow up!". 

 One final photo of the exterior of my building for instagram (hedspan) and then got in the car and set off.

 No fan fair. 

 No help. 

 No one waving me off. 

 That made me a little sad. 

 It's my own fault. I hadn't asked for any help. I had made the leaving period so protracted that I guess everyone thought they had seen me enough and said their farewells. Which in truth 95% of people I expected to make the effort had. It was just in that moment of driving off the city had felt exactly as cold blooded as when I first arrived 14 years ago.