During my final hour this afternoon in the London office I have commuted to for the last two years, I handed in my security swipe card, my laptop, and shook hands with the IT manager.
Instead of casually holding my pass to the door, I had to ask the reception staff to let me exit the building. No longer a contractor at the company. A nobody.
It felt strange - walking towards the station for the final time - heading into the London underground. I sat on the train and took a little more notice than usual of those surrounding me. The mix of cultures and races struck me - Asian, Indian, South American, German, Russian and English people all sharing a train carriage far below the streets of London. It’s easy to forget just how multicultural our society is in comparison to many other countries.
Nothing annoyed me today. Not even the career girl that tried repeatedly to trip me with her trolley bag thing. I became fascinated with the clip-clopping of her shoes on the tiled floors instead, and wondered quite how she managed to move her feet quickly enough to keep such a rhythm.
Following an uneventful trundle home aboard the mainline trains, I walked the final minutes in the cold winter air towards home with Thomas Dolby in my ears. The last line of “Slough” by John Betjeman came to mind…
The earth exhales…