Freedom has never felt so great, especially if you have a job all lined up for you after your contract with your current employer expires. Unfortunately.. I've been unemployed for close to two weeks now. True that, I hadn't been the most active of jobseekers, instead choosing to spend these 14 days taking a break and trying out my hand at football management with FM2012 (which subsequently crashed after an update - something which I'd registered in the forums. Imagine 400 hours of work flushed down the drain).

In the month before I left service I'd mostly been on off and leave - leaving day-to-day duties to David who coped remarkably in my absence. I remarked to my fellow ORD-ing PAs that he looked a rather exceptional choice already. It helped too that we'd been able to connect with each other, and am glad that he could get along well with the SPDS people from my year. He's potentially going to be a better doyen of PR than me eventually I reckon and that can only mean well for the unit and for his own personal development.

On the 10th of December the unit held a cohesion at West Coast. It was a bowling tournament similar to last year's but without the lucky draw which dampened moods somewhat. Anyway, my batchmates and I were to be presented with 'that which'd been taken from us in the beginning' at the end of the function. Naturally, as all fairytales go, we were set a target of 100 pins before we could receive our Identification Cards and I promptly staggered to 99 (all out) with the whole unit watching (which kind of showed how lousy I was at it) -.-

In any event I appreciated the applause (loudest of all amongst my batchmates) when presented with the plaque and certificate of service by my boss. I was immensely touched by that gesture - it really gave me a closure to what'd easily been hands down the most incredible/remarkable 18 months of my life thus far. Thank you (:

Had a farewell lunch with the officers at the end of it all with my boss generously picking up the tab. I had the privilege to be able to work with such a magnanimous bunch of people and as stated in my farewell mail (which I am trying to retrieve from David), I hope that the unity displayed by the officer corp will infect the unit and remove its bad excesses. Parting wish of sorts then.

Shall share something I'd read from The Economist relating to euphemisms.

The British are probably the world champions of euphemism. The best of these are widely understood (at least among natives), creating a pleasant sense of complicity between the euphemist and his audience. British newspaper obituaries are a rich seam: nobody likes to speak ill of the dead, yet many enjoy a hint of the truth about the person who has �passed away�. A drunkard will be described as �convivial� or �cheery�. Unbearably garrulous is �sociable� or the dread �ebullient�; �lively wit� means a penchant for telling cruel and unfunny stories. �Austere� and �reserved� mean joyless and depressed. Someone with a foul temper �did not suffer fools gladly�. The priapic will have �enjoyed female company�; nymphomania is �notable vivacity�. Uncontrollable appetites of all sorts may earn the ultimate accolade: �He lived life to the full.�

Full article here

At least I did not manage to describe myself as a "depressed drunkard' in my testimonial, although some of my friends will kindly beg to differ

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