Retiring

I started writing my Christmas cards last night. I wrote about six cards and then quickly ran out of enthusiasm. I need to apply myself though and get on with them, partly because I can also send out my change of address. It has also prompted me to contact various people who I think I have out of date addresses for, so it is fairly sociable doing it, in its own way. I have, however, had a complete mental blank on a couple of people’s surname, which must be a sign of old age.

Anyway, I phoned BT yesterday and have sorted out a new phone line with them. That was all relatively painless. I already have an account with BT because my parents’ phone is in my name, so they didn’t have to run a credit check on me and will set it up for me next Friday. They’ve given me a brand new phone number which is really easy to remember, but I’ll resist the urge to post the number here to show how easy it is.

I keep thinking of all the things I have to do and the people I have to contact. I haven’t had to arrange home contents insurance for such a long time that now I have absolutely no recollection of what a normal amount is to insure your property for and they want to know what sort of locks you have and so on and I don’t know the answers because it wasn’t something I paid much attention to when I last went to the flat. Also, because I have always ended up living in places where someone else has already been living there already, I haven’t had to sort out utilities since I was at university, so I am going to have to work out who to contact and how and what it is that I am meant to tell them. I also have to think of all the people I have to inform like my car insurance and credit card and so on. I feel as though I have quite a full head at the moment. Still, I’ll get there in the end and it will be worth it.

Tonight is the leaving do for my old head of unit. It is only since she has retired that I have realised quite how much of a bully she was and how utterly depressed it made me working for her. Now she’s retired I feel as though I have had a huge weight lifted from my shoulders and am just hopeful that my new head of unit is not as bad as her reputation suggests she is. Anyway, tonight I’ll go to the leaving do and wish my old head of unit farewell and there’ll be speeches saying how wonderful she was and we’ll all politely nod and she’ll go off into her retirement in blissful ignorance of how miserable she made so many people.