TUESDAY APRIL 14th 2015

TUESDAY APRIL 14th 2015

JUST ANOTHER (EXTRAORDINARY) DAY!

You've heard of the three ages of man: Youth, middle age, and you're looking wonderful." 

On this day the sun rose as usual, and I climbed out of my bed in my 3 bed-roomed semi-detached in an affluent suburb of Swansea.  I have not always lived in this house, but it is the longest I have lived in any one house in my life - 27 years.

Prior to my life in this house,  I had a colourful complex life that is documented in detail elsewhere:

Goto 

My Life Diaries

But Nevertheless - In Brief....

I was born in Nigeria, raised and schooled (somewhat eccentrically) in London. 

I worked in Industry.

I worked as a Barman. 

I worked as a Hospital Porter.

And then in 1980, at the age of 24 I went to train as a Nurse at Kings College Hospital in London. There I met my wife Janet. And then a 35 year story began. 

We worked in Kings and had our 1st son - Tom. 

New Nightingales - A Student Nurse's Diary 1980 - 1983

I specialised in Intensive Care Nursing. 

We moved to Wales, Carmarthen  and Morriston - ITU.

 A second son - Sam. 

And then in 1988 we moved to Swansea, and to the house that I woke up in this morning. 

Then there was another son - Robert. 

I got a job as a Nurse Tutor in the School of Nursing.

I did a Degree in Education at Cardiff University.

And then I did an MPhil.

And I managed and coordinated an MSc in Advanced Practice.

And then I did a PhD.

And then I became the Head of the Department of Nursing.

And then - My sons grew up - and I am now a Grandfather.

So - to the Point --- 

On Tuesday 14th April 2015 I dressed, grey trousers, shirt and tie. I took the Car from my house to Swansea University Campus - a short 20 minute drive. I parked, and took a short walk to the Glyndwr Building, 2nd Floor room 219. My office - usually flamboyant and garish, was oddly bare. 

I took my Sweetie Jar full of cheap boiled sweets, and I walked to corridors, and offered familiar names and faces a "Sweetie". There were the usual conversations and predictable gossip. 

There were classrooms burgeoning with young hopefuls. Tomorrows Nurses, Paramedics and Midwives - so full of optimism. There was the hustle, bustle and politics of a busy University. 

Then I locked my Office Door..... I walked down the corridor like I had a thousand times before - but this time - for the last time....

I turned and looked over my shoulder - and there stretched a vivid history. 

So many faces, so many events, disasters and triumphs. 

Thousands upon thousands of patients, students, teachers and colleagues looked back at me. 

From a time before computers, mobile phones, email, the internet, social media, Facebook, Twitter, Google - through to the present day - they all looked back at me through that long tunnel of memories that was my career, my life, they waved, smiled, and wished me well all in their own way. 

I waved back 
#DAVEWAVE

It was the start of the next Chapter.

I drove home to the house where I raised my family.

It was a lovely day. A strange day. A reflective day.

The Day

I RETIRED!

"Retirement is wonderful. It's doing nothing without worrying about getting caught at it."