The Big Day!

So the big Day has finally arrived. Well, not big really; the lead-up has been rather more significant - slow and painstaking. Not that the day was an anti-climax, more the opportunity to effect decisions long-since made.

Arriving at the office early, I set about tranferring mails & files I needed to my e-mail address, followed by the cleansing ritual of deleting every other e-mail and file I'd taken so much care over the past year to neatly categorise and organise . By the time I'd finished, there was virtually no trace on my computer that I'd ever used it. What a freeing experience - purging my link with the Company in the course of half an hour at the computer.

Next was sending the "transfer" e-mail. As a consequence of the rapidly diminishing workload and similarly deflated level of care, the handover of responsibility had been non-existent. "I guess I should read over the meeting minutes you've been sending out", noted my rather unconcerned colleague. So the process was initiated and finalised with a e-mail to the usual distribution, briefly excusing myself and nominating my hapless colleague as recipient for future communication.

This was followed the "final good-bye" note. Brief, to the point, and devoid of dreary sentiment, I provided my contact details and wished all a merry Christmas. That done, I headed downstairs for a round of final farewells. Conveniently my visit coincided with the departmental year-end cake feast, so goodbyes were tempered with generous slices of double-chocolate cake.

Upstairs next for a brief demob session with HR, followed by a round of farwells with our rather diminished department. Then, finally, escorted to the exit and swiped out, a brief farewell from HR, then out into the carpark and on my way home.

The first sensation was a sense of relief that it was finally All Over. I was no longer part of the troubled organisation, no longer employed, did not have to return in January. My overwheming feeling was a sense of freedom and release.

A Warm Fire on a Chilly Evening

The eldest is lying diagonally across our over-size couch with Small cat nestled against the back of his thighs. Large Fluffy cat, a brown and black incarnation of Garfield, cuddles up against his stomach. I'm squeezed in near corner aganst the large rounded armrest, warming myself against the chill of a drizzly late afternoon, while my Spouse is stretched out on the coir mat soaking up the radiance in front of the fire.

The rotten deck that once graced the north side of the house has been carefully deconstructed, part loaded into the walk-in skip (along with carpets from the old quarter of the house) with the remainder power-sawed into convenient heater-sized strips. Now, numerous tubs of neatly packed firewood rest outside ready for chilly evenings like this. Reduce, reuse recycle! 

It's a Christmas-Light Street

Even before the house auction commenced, we were told by the parents of our Youngest's friend (who lives a few houses up) that the street had a lively community spirit and that it enthusiastically participated in Christmas light displays that were the envy of the district. So even before we'd cast a bid for the house we were feeling the pressure!

Now, a few months later in the thick of Christmas preparations, we're enjoying that spirit of community along with an excitement about Christmas we haven't experienced in years. The creative neighbours have produced a remarkable stock of beautiful cartoon characters up for grabs by street residents, who display them in their front gardens adorned with fairy lights. This is an absolute kids paradise, generating lively discussion amongst the youngsters on who's getting which characters this year, followed by afternoons of fun-filled activity choreographing  the characters and lighting displays. Our front garden is now filled with penguins, icicles, trains and myriad twinkling lights.

The street, having a built a reputation for it's delightful Christmas displays, is visited every evening by a handfull of cars slowly easing their way up and down the road, stopping every now and then to savour the more colourful displays for a little longer. The occasional couple also make a detour on their evening walk to visit or street to enjoy the innocent delight of lights sparkling  on front lawns in the cool calm of the evening.

Moving the Family as Something of an Adventure

We decided to move the family as something of an adventure, a fresh start to follow a new opportunity. We'd always looked at the move as a long-term change; with the kids at school and the eldest heading for high school, too much change is not a good thing.

So, in a nice neighbourhood of our newly-adopted city, we found a good school for the kids, moved into a rental place and set about looking for a home.

The strictest requirement for the new house was it had to be within walking distance of school. This need was firmly expressed by our youngest, who had embraced this new-found independence and freedom with a relish. the house also needed to be close to trains for access to the city, and not too far for me to drive to work. And not too far from the soon-to-be high school for the eldest. And big enough to accommodate visiting relatives at a squeeze, with enough trees and garden for the cats. Also cheap enough that we could actually afford it.

So began months of house hunting and religious interrogation of realestate.com by my wife. Saturday mornings were governed by a list of good prospects, and a whirlwind tour of neighbourhoods according to a strict schedule. Needless to say the kids usually protested; “How many houses do we have to look at?” And my wife’s fervour often got the better of me as well; “Are you coming to have a look at this one or not…”

Eventually we found “our house” - the kids could walk to school, we could walk to the trains, and the eldest was a just short bus ride to high school. And the youngest had friends from school who lived there. There was of course the small issue of actually making it ours though. The open inspections had attracted substantial interest, not least from our family who traipsed through the house on at least four occasions. The day of the auction we were hopeful but nervous about getting the home within our buying limit. As it turned out, we were really the only people who wanted it. The first bidder fell out after a few minutes, and the second more serious bidder abandoned the auction once his limit had been reached, leaving us the highest bidder.

This however, was not the end of the story, but instead the start of a protracted negotiating process. The sellers’ attachment to the house plus a steadfast belief in its value, despite a falling market, led to them demand far in excess of our bid which in itself had been substantially over list. So over the course of the month there were calls to the agent, counter offers submitted followed by more phone calls and negotiations?.Eventually, almost a month after attending the auction, we were the new owners of the house.

How Being Made Redundant can be a Good Thing

So now, more on how getting made redundant can actually be a good thing...

The option offered by the Company was to move Back. Hoped-for scenarious of some departmental remnants continuing on here were unfortunately out of the question. Considering as I've mentioned before the situation with the house, the kids and not to mention the cats (more about them later), moving Back wasn't an option we would consider at all. Also, returning would cause more complications with our  relocation package.

All considered, the redundancy package resolved several awkward issues impacting on our future, and brought immediate reassurance to the family in maintaining our new-found status-quo.

Getting Fired...

Today I got fired. Sort of, as I'll explain. Certainly it was a surreal  and unexpected and experience, but actually a good thing, bringing resolution and certainty.

It started with the Director asking me to meet with him and HR that afternoon. Now I don't know about you, but I have a deep-rooted suspicion of HR, and having them represented at a meeting is always bad - it's just degrees of badness that differ in my experience. Anyway, after a morning of butterflies and anxious thoughts I walked into the conference room to find not one but two HR officers in attendance with the aformentioned Director... Things just went from bad to Hyper-Serious in approximately one milisecond. A brief round of introductions later then things turned to business.

The sinking feeling I'd been nursing rapidly developed to one of bewilderment as the Director began to read from a prepared statement. He looked up occasionally, casting reassuring glances at the wall behind me. Mentions were made of of poor business conditions, changed circumstance and other sundry comments which no longer registering in my increasingly startled brain. For their part, the silent HR's seated opposite provided sage agreeance to the scripted content. Gradually my jaw dropped as began to dawn on me that I was in the midst of the process of being terminated. I was being fired!

Now to be more accurate about the whole thing, I was actually in the process of being made redundant. To clarify for the novice, this is largely the same as being fired except HR hasn't succeeded in finding evidence to incriminate you of a dismissable offence, although they 've probably tried...