Ok, this is definitely the last post

I know I made a closing post, but Kim has rightly reminded me that I have one task that remains incomplete, and I agree wholeheartedly that I can't, in good conscience, let this blog descend into the dusty depths of web history without saying a few venomous words about my former employer.

Now, purely for reasons of keeping this semi-anonymous, I don't want to name his real name, or the company. Not because I care about him, or the company, but I don't want this being hoovered up in some google search, because:

A) He's lawyer-happy, and would probably sue me just to be painful.
B) It could reflect badly on my friends still working there.

However, I feel that we can still get away with calling him Aston Younger, and go from there.

Working for Aston was a unique experience. Now, when I say unique, I'm not using unique in terms of "Winning ten million dollars in the Lotto was a unique experience", rather, I'm thinking more along the lines of "The Black Death was a unique period in Europe's History" ie. It's unique, because it's never been any more hellish since then.

Perhaps I should provide some background.

Aston ran a company that dealt in Medical Insurance. As companies go, this sort of field of expertise, at least in terms of social standing & social responsibility, slots neatly in between companies that produce toys with lead in them, and the Gestapo. That being said, you can run a compassionate ship in these greasy and treacherous waters, it's just that Aston chose not too. You see, Aston was already a very wealthy man before he ever stuck his beak into medical insurance, which, while some would call that a positive, I call a definite negative.

For starters, what else does a man like Aston need, when he already has a big house in London, owns several polo ponies, has a trophy wife/girlfriend, exotic sports car? Well, I'm sure he can think of something, but the problem was that given that Aston has all these possessions, he really can't be stuffed taking any interest in the company. He has enough money to keep him on easy street for the rest of his (un)natural life and hence doesn't really give a rat's arse about how the company does.

That being said, don't even think that given this was the case, he opted to delegate responsibility to anyone. Oh no. He insisted on retaining personal control of the company in every respect, which made it damn difficult for us to get any decision from him, given he was only in the office for less than 50% of the week. And even when he was in the office, he'd be jabbering away on the phone or off doing lunch with some other equally pretentious and annoying person.

Working for Aston was a nightmare, simply because he had no idea how to manage. His idea of management was to saunter out from his office, like the Lord descending on high, to mingle with the commoners. He'd wander round the desk, smelling of cheap aftershave, and enquire as to whether we were winning or not. Given that I soon realised he really didn't give a shit how we were or what we were doing, provided it wasn't bad news, I'd just tell him good news all the time. Contented, he would then wander off into accounts where he'd remain closeted with his egyptian book fiddler for the rest of the day, emerging only to yell about how much money he'd made or lost since yesterday.

Meanwhile, the rest of us soldiered on, without any real idea or concept about where he was taking the company, until he deigned to tell us (usually about 3 weeks after we needed to know). By the end of my time there, I didn't give a rats about him or his problems, and as a result, I finished up, packed my bags, and fucked right off.

Put quite simply, the man was an arse. I for one, am not sorry to be rid of him.

I suppose I should make a closing post.

The more perceptive of you may have noticed that this blog came to a rather abrupt end, with me promising photos, and then not delivering. Well, what happened was that my camera was stolen on the last day of my time in Estonia, and all my photos went with it. This took the wind out of my sails somewhat, since I was a bit gutted to lose all the photos from the whole trip. Despite the fact that Greg gave me a CD with all his photos on it, it still disappointed me somewhat, and thus I never got round to updating the blog.

The remainder of my time in England (some 3 weeks) was spent in and around London - I caught up with everyone before I left, as well as a friend of mine, Ash, who had come over from Australia for a holiday.

But now, I'm back in Australia, and thoroughly convinced that I made the right decision to leave when I did. It was time to leave England, and I left without any regrets or things unfinished.

Flicking back through this blog it's interesting to see how it changed over time - it started out as a wide-eyed expose into international travel, and I followed the time in America with great interest - each and every day there with Dad was magical, and it will remain with me until the day I die as one of the greatest months of my entire life. There's the trip to Italy, my initial exposure to England, the pain of not being able to get a job, delight at starting work and the misery of the long winter in England, overworked, cold and underpaid. There's the trip back to Oz, the Gregory River canoe race, and then finally the time spent travelling in Europe, which was also a once in a lifetime experience.

I think that's the best part about this blog - the fact that it will serve as a reminder of the days that I spent abroad. For example, I couldn't remember every single day in America and the goings on of each day, but the blog instantly reminds me of what happened on a particular day, whether it was getting stuck behind a tractor, Dad demonstrating his ingenuity with the freezer, the crazy old man routine on the Californian freeways or the bedlam of driving into New York, to name but a few.

The 18 months I spent abroad was a fantastic time for me, and the blog serves as a fantastic reminder of it. That's the beauty of it. I don't suppose anyone will actually read this last entry, but just in case, I'd like to extend a few thank-you's.

I'd like to thank anyone and everyone who read this blog over the time I updated it - in particular those of you who commented.

To the guys at HCI - thanks for making London such a pleasant place to work. We had good days and bad days, but the good days definitely outweighed the bad, and it was a pleasure working with such great people.

To the crew at the Badger - thanks to you for continuing to put up with me even after I moved out. Christmas at the Badger was great fun, and the best way possible to pass what would have otherwise been a very lonely and boring week.

Particular thanks to Dan, Nick, Karl, Greg and Christian - you guys put up with me for the whole time in London, whether it was playing computer games, poker, drinking vodka in Poland or suffering an attack of depression on New Year's Eve.

Thanks to Wendy for being awake at 3am Aussie time due to her baby, and giving me someone to talk to on MSN during the week when I would otherwise be bored out of my skull at work. It was always good to catch up on news at home and the band.

Finally, thanks to Laurie, Dan, Glen, Nye, Ken and Gerald - you guys commented thoroughly on my blog, and made it the sort of blog that gets blocked by the German state web filter. I thank you.

And that's as good a note as any to end on.