Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Elton david

So I’m in Hong Kong then. We made it virtually unscathed considering we are running away from our clients with one job still more than a few weeks away from being completed. Our other schemes are still at various stages but they are in a state where they can be handed over to others in due course. One of our clients insisted that we still work with them despite us being based in Hong Kong after I lied and said that “we’d won a huge contract in Asia“. Oh well. It’s their look out but we’ll take dat dough. I also had a nice call from my new boss a few hours before I left for Heathrow. He said the visa hasn’t been approved yet after about six weeks which is worrying considering it should only take four weeks. Oh well what‘s the worst that can happen? We’ve only closed our company, sold everything we own and told anyone within earshot that we are MOVING TO HONG KONG ACTUALLY. What can you do? Nothing, we would fly in the hope that it would be approved but it is a gamble because they could say no.

It’s a weird thing leaving the county forever. I was fine and full of gung-ho right up until my plane was on the runway. As the we began to move along the queue for take off I felt a pang and then another. When the tail lifted off the ground the strangest feeling of loss and regret came over me like a cloud. The old cliché goes that when you are about to die your life flashes before your eyes and now I can sympathise. Out poured my childhood, Basildon, Lakeside, Southend, pubs, the weather, newspapers, estate agents, road rage, council tax, violence, mum, dad, university, crap jobs The Daily Mail and Heartbeat all in a flash. Next to me I could see my wife was going through her own trip as we swept over Great Yarmouth and out towards the sea and central Asia. All I could do was weep at the finality of it all. Goodbye 33 years of England and hello to the unknown. What was I running away from and what I would find on the other side will only be answered in time.

As we cruised I could feel my heart pounding and I was on the verge of a panic attack which I duly numbed with copious amounts of Vodka thanks to BA. I have to say that the flight was one of the easiest I have ever flown on and despite the length of flight, 12 hours, it was all a joy to behold. I wanted to stay up there forever cocooned in my little shell above the earth with as much food and booze as we I could handle. The best bit about the flight was the fact it was half empty meaning everyone had a spare seat next to them which lent a certain air of group sex to the proceedings. I couldn’t have left England at a better time as it was the day after my birthday and all those that meant anything to me had sent a message or card. I love them all for it and I can now move on safe in the knowledge that when times get tough then I know who I can rely on. But it will never come to that I hope.

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