A big thank you for an incredible leaving present

I left Sage in August after five years there. One of the first things I did was begin instilling a culture of accessibility, which meant I built relationships with lots of great people.

My last day was an 11-hour shift; partly to make sure I had crossed all the ts and dotted the is, but also because of the number of people who wanted to say cheerio.

A close colleague, Hannah, had arranged an open video call with people from all the offices, and it was so nice to see so many familiar faces. She had also arranged a whip-round!

The collection was in its hundreds and I’m very grateful to everyone who contributed. The e-card that came alongside it was full of really lovely messages, which have taken to having a reading whenever I’m having a bit of a hard day.

I made sure to say thank you to everyone who had signed the card, and to let them know what I had planned with the money. My idea was to top it up slightly and get myself something I’ve wanted for over a decade but could never imagine myself buying: the LEGO Millennium Falcon.

I’m a huge Star Wars fan and the Millennium Falcon has always been my favourite ship (closely contested by Boba Fett’s space ship). I had the model when I was a boy, and when the enormous LEGO set was released it was very exciting! But I knew given price, it wasn’t something I could seriously consider spending money on, with so many higher priorities that come along with having a young family. But this was the perfect opportunity to buy something truly indulgent…

One person had replied to my thank-you message with this, which summed it up beautifully:

That’s so cool that you’re going to buy the Lego Millennium Falcon kit! I hoped you’d buy something fun just for you when I threw in. It’s often rare that parents get to do that. I hope you’ll post some pics of it once you’ve got it done!

So added a wee bit to the pot and bought the set in time for my birthday, opened it on the day, and set to work with my youngest, who loves LEGO too. We built about half of it together, which was a lot of fun, and I did the other half on my own while he was at school, which was a great way to unwind. It took just under a week to finish and it looks incredible!

So thanks once again to Hannah for organising, and to everyone who threw a few quid in the pot. You’ve made this big kid very happy.