The whole day was a moving experience for me and more than I could have hoped for. I was so pleased to survive the whole day as I'd been worried that I would not hold out. But my old body held out well. Tired but happy.
I want to say thank you here to all my colleagues who gave so generously towards my retirement gift. I was overwhelmed by your generosity. Thanks also to my colleagues in Wester Hailes DWP who not only raised £174 for Maggie's Cancer Centre, but also made such a generous gift to me personally. You have all touched my soul and I will never forget such kindness.
I also want to thank those who gave me individual gifts. I don't wish to embarrass you here by naming you but you know who you are. And that includes you Steve, who remembered how I introduced you to Neil Young and the night we went to see Live Rust, all those years ago.
I was so pleased to see so many old friends and colleagues from my years in the civil service. It was good of you all to turn up. There were so many of you, just too many to list here. I have memories of all of you and many escapades along the way. We did some work too.
You were and are all brilliant and the British public don't appreciate nearly enough what you all do to keep their system going. I wish we'd won more pay rises over the years but we didn't do too badly. Keep up the struggle and keep supporting our union. Sometimes it's all there is between us and chaos. I mean you just have to look at Ian Duncan Smith. Need I say more?
That's all for now folks. I'm happy to have been your colleague and friend these past forty years. And hope to see more of you retiring and joining me in some cafe over the next few years.
I'm off now to see the new Woody film, Blue Jasmine with my old friend Emer and to give her her birthday present, a few days late, but still.
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