As I was walking on Finchley Road on Thursday morning, I saw these guys installing a big floral arch over the doorway at McDonald's. I guess someone was having some sort of celebration there? I've seen these arches installed over the doorways of homes for weddings and things like that, but I've never seen one at a fast-food restaurant! It was gone by the next day.
Yesterday was all about doing more to prepare for the handoff at work. I went through my entire Google Drive -- 14 years of accumulated work documents -- and moved anything even remotely valuable over to my boss's Google account for safekeeping. I also went through my desk and passed off a couple of things to her that should be preserved -- but of course most work documents are "virtual" these days as opposed to pieces of paper, so there wasn't that much.
I also culled that thick folder of thank-you notes and brought home the ones I decided to keep, along with the originals of all my work photos. Some of you wondered about the group photos in my retirement video -- why they were all so similar from year to year. We took them at school picture time using the school's photographer, and sometimes they were included in yearbooks, but mostly they were just for us. As you can see we tried to have a "theme" each year, somehow related to what was going on in the library or the school. For example, the one in which we all dressed as artists was taken the year our new Arts Building opened.
By the way, we created a second version of the retirement video, including one more group photo I found -- of all of us in masks during the pandemic -- and my boss put a little note on each slide noting that it's for my retirement so that anyone who looks up and sees the show in the middle won't wonder what it's for. Don't feel like you have to watch it. It's otherwise exactly the same as the first one.
I think I might actually start reading a book today. I've made a sufficient enough dent in my New Yorkers that I feel like they're once again at a manageable level, though I'm not by any means caught up. I've been meaning to read "Flashlight" by Susan Choi so I think I'll give that a go.
It would be nice to see a picture of you embracing BBW before you depart. I imagine that she has got a furry face, fangs and wears a military uniform from the nineteen thirties so maybe she is a little shy about being photographed.
ReplyDeleteYour today photo looks like the beginning of a joke "How many men does it take......."
ReplyDeleteI like the different cat stickers you feature. Someone is having fun with them.
ReplyDeleteOoh ... a wedding reception at McDonald's. How unique 😄
ReplyDeleteI like that photo of you with the little kids in the beginning of the video. Little kids are like puppies!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed watching the video again. I read that last paragraph as you thinking you might start writing a book today. The flowered arch looks incongruous outside the Golden Arches.
ReplyDeleteLOL -- I edited the post to clarify that I meant READING a book, not writing one. :) This is why everyone needs an editor!
DeleteI wonder what the heck kind of celebration people have a McD's? Even a kid's birthday deserves a little more thought?
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the sorting out and handing off.
ReplyDeleteHmmm. I can't imagine who would have their celebration at McDonald's except a kid and that kind of arch for a kid seems weird. Well, something different. I remember that handing off sort-through. Amazing the stuff we find in those files! I like the mask photo -- and I'm very fond of the stickers!
ReplyDeleteGosh, it's been years and years and years since I've been in a McDonald's. Maybe two of the people that work at that McDonald's got married and had their reception there.
ReplyDeleteI remember making a large binder of instructions when I left my last job. I wonder if my replacement used it at all?!
I can think of a lot of places to have a celebration with a flower arch over McDonald's. But what everfloats your boat. The days are ticking off!
ReplyDeleteReading a book? Oh. I really thought you were embarking on writing one. Oh well. Do successors ever refer to the lovingly assembled departure materials? I wonder.
ReplyDeleteYes, I edited to make clear that I meant READING. :) I'm not sure I have a book in me to write. My successor may never use the materials but that's up to her. And honestly, it wouldn't offend me if she didn't! She has the right to do things her own way with her own systems.
DeleteMcDonald's is an interesting choice for a celebration.
ReplyDeleteYou will soon have more time to catch up on your reading. Retirement time is getting closer.
Now that's a first...a wedding and/or reception at the Golden Arches.
ReplyDeleteIt will make a new low-cost venue for the big event and a revenue stream for McDonalds.
The video enhancements work well.
I can remember my son picking McDonald's for his birthday supper a few times (in his single digits), but I can't imagine it being a place for a celebration that requires a floral arch!
ReplyDeleteAn Indian that we wanted to get food from on Friday was closed as it was preparing for the end of Ramadan celebrations - perhaps that is what this McDonalds was doing?
ReplyDeleteYou could be right, the flowers being red and yellow, the colours used for Diwali.
DeleteI watched the video again so I could see the masks, which were very cool!
ReplyDeleteYou're celebrating retirement from a long way out. You are enjoying this time as you should. Now I'm wondering if the blog continues?
ReplyDelete... kids do seem to enjoy birthday celebrations at McDonald's :)
ReplyDeleteAll the best Jan
I don't remember the last time I was in a McDonalds. My grandsons' friends are all into Trampoline and play centers for birthday parties. Oldest grandson wants a snake party at his house with real snakes. His mother isn't very happy about that prospect.
ReplyDeleteOf course I watched the "New and Improved" version, the masks are book themed! Well, that's what they looked like to me.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the flower arch was for a birthday party?