last day at work

Way back at least ten years ago I done a financial diary for three months plotting everything I spent and earned, this was an eye-opening experience! I started projecting how long I would need to work full time to become debt and mortgage free, the analysis showed that if I carried on living the way I was then I would be working shifts in a chemical factory until I was sixty five, this was if I stayed in the same job without taking on a second job to get the house paid for, I sure as hell didnt want a second job more work less play! big Dave McKinney calls his coveralls the suit of shame which is fair enough, his outlook is if you are wearing coveralls then you are doing a job, again he is right I have always had a job not a career, a worker for the man who has now worn the suit of shame for thirty five years, this is perfectly fine for some people of course, but I feel I have done my time, I don’t want to work all my life for a company, which due to my work hostory for me work is in the oil/gas-chemical industry, don’t get me wrong for a working class man this industry pays well, it pays a lot more money when working away from home, which I never wanted to do, I had promised myself that I wouldn’t work away from home until my son was old enough that he didn’t need me around, my boy was working full time when he was eighteen, this is now nearly eight year ago now, things had changed at the plant that I worked in at the time, for me then and for me now it was time for a change, an Italian that I once worked under called vito. Had once said to me that if you are in the same job longer than seven years then you will never change or develop, he was right, I wrote a cv at that time 2013 it was my first CV in twenty years! I applied for two jobs and got offered this one on Shetland, to me this job at that time was just too good an opportunity to not take, yes it was a big risk leaving a very safe reasonably well paid job close to home, to become a fly in fly out contractor on a yet to be built gas plant but I went for it, work can be an adventure also! my adventurous spirit had leapt at the risk, I have never regretted that choice and I consider myself lucky to have experienced the whole construction to commissioning then full on production of the gas plant,

in the begining I had this dream that if I worked away from home for five years it would be the financial equivalent of fifteen years at home, I could then pay of all my debts and be mortgage free in five years not fifteen, I could then live a life that I wouldn’t need to take a holiday from, that original plan of five years has now been extended by two and a half years, but that day has now arrived - I have now taken off the suit of shame for the last time, now my dream is realised I am free of the man and swiped out those security gates forever, the alarm clock is now switched off for work and like me will from now on it will be used for leisure purposes only, it’s now time to start living the life I wont need a holiday from, time for the slow daunder doon the road my working life behind me, or maybe I should say the years of working for the man complete! no longer a slave in bondage to bankers to pay for my shelter. I am now on the seven-day weekend as big geo would say

Is the timing, ever right? What is enough money? Yes, I could have worked a few more months, maybe even another year or two? if I really wanted to perhaps another ten years! Saving money for what? when would it have been enough money to pay for my freedom, that I suppose depends on what you need, I don’t need a lot, I do not have a lot of money especially when compared to many people I know, but I think I have saved enough to pay for at least a year or two as a cycle tourist, I don’t own any motorised transport this is also a saving or at least one (large) less outgoing, the time is right for me that time is now!

I was totally blown away on my final three hours on site on friday the sixteenth morning. firstly all the lads that had been nightshift had a gift for me! they had made me my very own trig point, this was absolutely amazing i was chuffed to bits this amazed and pleased me more than these friends will ever know, i think i can guess who was behind this little creative gift as there is a wee story behind this gift that i cannot make public,so if you rascals are reading this my heartfelt thanks i will miss you please keep in touch along with the bespoke big trig which was like a big bling medal, the boys also gave me a leaving card signed by lots of my work mates/friends/coleagues/buddys and an envelope with a considerable sum of cash, yet again my mind was blown by my workmates kindness and thoughtfullness, I have been blessed to know you all

The other thing about stopping working for an oil giant is that I wish to change who I am as a human being, I have done nothing but take from this planet and my species future generations, for me its time I stopped taking from the planet and at least try to give something back, I don’t think it would be possible for me to plant enough tree`s to ever be able to pay back the damage I have done in my fifty years, BUT; I now wish to be the change I want to see in the world, this is why I have pledged to be flight free, this is why I stopped eating all dairy products years ago, this is why I stopped eating beef and buying leather two years ago, this is why I have now pledged to stop eating mammals,

Woops sorry about that side issue this is a fun blog to read not a political rant. Cycling away from work to be forever free, is cause for a celebration of how lucky I am, the last paragraph makes it sound like I am unhappy about these things when I am not unhappy at all I am ecstatically happy, if you haven’t done it then trust me giving up meat and dairy can also be a fun adventure, cycling and public transport can also be way more fun than a car or flying, now i have no deadlines i can enjoy waiting on a bus/train/ferry

Strange how the vision and the reality works out, three years ago when I first thought, it was getting close enough to be able to start thinking of leaving my job on Shetland, I had a vision of me having a right good party on the bus -plane- train home, surrounded by my workmates all saying goodbye along the way as they left at their stops. this is what I had done with other colleagues that had left over the years great memories, on my leaving day i discovered that i was number 62 of operators that had been and went! the young team had talked of making an SGP operators top trump card set! I seriously burst out loud laughter when i heard this awsome idea, i may not want to seee my own trump card but would love to see the rest and have a game,

when covid came along and I started the trig point adventure, i realised there would be no train home party, then also my environmental conscience kicked in so my pledge to go flight free happened, Thats when I decided I would cycle away from work when my time was done no more flights i would cycle home, my leaving work vision then changed from the train party to one of me waving to the bus as it departed from the works car park, then I would put on my headphones with a play list of happy freedom songs locked and loaded, belting out into my ears as I cycled to Lerwick for a weekends partying before the ferry home.

Since then I have taken my bike on the bus to be dropped at Sumburgh to say goodbye to the lads for a few weeks, I’ve also cycled out the car park on a fully laden tour bike waving at the lads as their coach headed to the airport, whilst I cycled the opposite way to Unst for yet another few weeks cycle touring, to then yet again meet the lads back at work, as one of the boys said I had been having more final tours than the rolling stones and that I looked as old (cheeky sod) this time it’s a bit of an anti-climax, well physically anyway there was no fist pumping while cycling off full of energy and sounds in the lugs, I was walking out the gate for the last time then getting a lift from Cal in his car to Vidlin, for me to catch a ferry still chasing trig points in an attempt to finish that challenge before I left the island. But this time no return will be made to the gas plant

I had spent my final morning in a flurry of handshakes! handshakes? in these times of covid! what is the ruling? what is the guidlines? what is our culture? what should change if anything? i have no set answer for those questions yet some people have stopped shaking hands, which im ok with, BUT and its a huge BUT if a good friend puts out a hand for me to shake for potentially the last time that we will ever meet! then what? do i shake? for me yep i will i think its worth the risk for that final piece of human contact between brothers, its not like the black spot in the book treasure island, death will follow its a risk of death yes but i am not afraid to die i just dont want to cause anyone elses premature death so if they put out the hand i will take it as off my next blog i will be a full time adventurer a gentleman of the road Kenny - or is it perhaps his alter ego the great phylospher don kenjo alejandro lol