Further closure
13 May 2021Yesterday I both received my invitation for the Covid vaccine back in the UK and signed my letter of resignation for my company, the latter of which I handed in today. These together mark a major step towards closing off what for some time I have regarded as a past life that I need to lay to rest and move on from. An already eventful two days was still able to throw up another surprise and I think things will start to move very quickly towards being able to start a new life.
When things really ended
Ironically yesterday was also the anniversary of getting my deposit refunded, which is just about the only good thing I remember happening around that time. While I have minimal desire to look back at exactly what happened when it would have not been far off the point that going through lockdown in inadequate accommodation was starting to take its toll, and had I not got out there and then I dread what would have happened to me next. Today I walked past my old flat for the first time since I left it and it felt very clear that day back in March 2020 was when my life in this city really ended. That second quarter of 2020 is at least a contender for worst quarter in my entire life, and is certainly the worst within the last decade.Leaving the company
For some time I knew one way or another that moving back to the UK would basically mean leaving my current company, but I had intended to tie up other loose ends before the inevitable happened — maybe staying another 3–6 months so that I could make a clean break all at once and start everything anew much like I did in 2013. However opportunities don't come with such convenient timing, and one came up that at least allowed me to get some parts of my life sorted out. I knew that there was a conflict within the company about whether to allow remote working but I needed certainty, and even if they did end up allowing it part of me simply wanted a completely cleared deck. An irony in all this is that this is the first company I am leaving where either the company itself or the work is not a contributing factor in departing.Jabbing flight booked
For all its faults the last-chance-saloon way the UK government bet the farm on the Oxford-AstraZenica vaccine has basically paid off, and my working assumption for the past few months has been that I would be travelling there in order to get it. Like Israel the UK is opening up and with the OmniCalculator proving itself to be far more accurate than any government plan/hope/delusion, and based on when it thought I would reach the front of the queue I had already booked a flight to the UK. I kept track of when I would expect to get my first dose and the UK figures recorded are below; early April is when some shortages and second jabbings kicked in but for some time my guess was that the latter part of May was when I would get mine
| Date of calculation | Date of first dose | |
| 24 March | 14 April | July |
| 26 March | 16 March | 3 May |
| 29 March | 17 April | 7 May |
| 1 April | 17 April | 3 May |
| 6 April | 11 May | 17 June |
| 8 April | 8 June | 12 August |
| 13 April | 17 May | 22 June |
| 19 April | 15 May | 15 June |
| 26 April | 16 May | 13 June |
| 27 April | 18 May | 16 June |
| 30 April | 19 May | 28 June |
| 12 May | 28 May | 1 July |
In reality the earliest jabbing I was offered was 13th May but all the slots available at the moment are before my flight, but this does not detract from its impressive accuracy. All signs are that I would have to wait at least another month or two if I stay overseas, and that is assuming the government's latest “plans” are anything other than the hopelessly wishful thinking they have so far turned out to be.