Friday was my last day at American Express. It was a good day but also a sad day, saying goodbye to so many wonderful people.
One of the things I wanted to do during my notice period was to do for one last time the things that I had enjoyed about London. One was eating dim sum; I’d never eaten dim sum until I started work in London, and I love it. So we had a farewell lunch at London Jade Garden, which was really very good indeed.
Following an afternoon’s gentle file deletion and handover, we headed out for the main event…
I had my ‘leaving do’ at my favourite bar, The Boisdale; a fantastic bar and restaurant with amazing food, live jazz, and a whisky list thicker than any wine list I’ve seen… superb.
Having had a bit of a roller coaster ride at Amex over the last three years, I was surprised, honoured, touched, and happy just how many of my friends and colleagues came to say goodbye. Even one friend who’d been on holiday that day came over and stayed until the very end.
Starting at 5 p.m. and leaving some time around 1am it was a long, fun, drunken, and very happy night; even Tommy Twopence made a guest appearance. I had some lovely, deep, emotional chats with my closest friends.
Which brings me to what I think was the impetus for this post: my friends.
Sitting here now, neither working at Amex nor for my new company, I feel strange; I feel as if I’ve lost or forgotten something. It took until just now, but I’ve realised that there is now a hole in my life the size and shape of my friends at Amex. There are so many great people I’ve left behind, but this time I am intent on keeping in touch – if you guys are reading this, don’t forget to invite me out next time.
So to my friends at Amex and in particular Amrita, Steph, Marie, Christine, Joel, Mel, Dean, Sian, Benjamin, Bruce, Francois, Jenni, Luis, Ivan, and so many more around the world…
THANK YOU and see you soon.