So long, farewell ...

It's been my last full day in the office I've worked in for for a little over six years.  It was an odd way to bow out because not only will I leave but the office itself will be wholly gutted and re-built.  Ten days from now, when the team goes back in there'll be no trace of me.  I think that's probably a good thing.

Among other comments I made in an e.mail informing my colleagues of my departure I wrote these words.  I hope they mean something to the folk who are mentioned.

I shall miss the people I have come to know, respect and learn from during my time with Council.  It has been a privilege to meet so many deeply committed individuals who have contributed much (with great variety) as Council members.  It was a particular delight to support Andrew Buchanan through most of his period as Chair and I am greatly in his debt for the trust, respect and friendship he gave me throughout our working partnership.  His unswerving loyalty and advice were on occasions critically important to me in many ways that need not be re-hashed.  I am equally grateful to have worked alongside Emeritus Professor Ron McCallum, a colleague and now a friend whom I respect greatly.

As you may not be surprised to read, I want to say a very fond and heartfelt word or two of thanks to Amelia, Kristine and Marisa alongside whom I worked closely and well for periods that range from 2 to 5 years.  We have laughed a lot together in the office.  I have learned hugely from each of them and I will miss our daily contact very much.  It is very satisfying to do good work that you believe may make a difference to others, as I believe we have done.  But it is way beyond satisfying to be able to do so with work colleagues who make the thought of turning up to the office a pleasure, not a chore.  So thank you ladies. What will I do for corporate Toblerone or chilli basil noodles now?
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BBC Radio 4 World Book Day

So I was listening to one of my Radio 4 favourites, A Good Read.  The first book discussed by the panel's members was Carol Ann Duffy's marvelous The World's Wife.  As it had to, the discussion turned to the brilliant, poignant poem called Anne Hathaway.  It's one of my favourite poems, a sonnet of brilliant imagination

Anne Hathaway
by Carol Ann Duffy from The World's Wife

'Item I gyve unto my wife my second best bed ...'
(from Shakespeare's will)

The bed we loved in was a spinning world
of forests, castles, torchlight, clifftops, seas
where we would dive for pearls. My lover's words
were shooting stars which fell to earth as kisses
on these lips; my body now a softer rhyme
to his, now echo, assonance; his touch
a verb dancing in the centre of a noun.
Some nights, I dreamed he'd written me, the bed
a page beneath his writer's hands. Romance
and drama played by touch, by scent, by taste.
In the other bed, the best, our guests dozed on,
dribbling their prose. My living laughing love -
I hold him in the casket of my widow's head
as he held me upon that next best bed.
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How to run a university

There are times when academics drive me nuts!  Today is one of them.  A tutorial slot is cancelled on the first day of term and my entire timetable is pulled apart.  Not that my needs matter much.  Only a student after all.  Who cares what we think?

Nincompoops!