Beginnings And Endings

Well, it had to happen- and it has. Today is my last day in the office. My tenure as Director of Transmission Gallery officially expires as of 5pm today. (Anyone caught heaving a sigh of relief will be put to the sword at dawn). And so The Good Ship Transmission continues her voyage, sailing into uncharted waters, mapping foreign shores and bringing back exotic works of art without my good self at the helm. And it’s probably for the best- the poop-deck will be much tidier for a start and the threat of being inadvertently steered around art’s equivalent of the Cape Of Good Hope has been forever neutralised.

Well, mop those tears from your glass eyes when I say that I will miss the gallery. And it is worth noting that this is probably the last time I will refer to it as ‘the gallery’- it has simply turned back into Transmission again.

‘Hah, see that Transmission’…

Highlights

Many and varied. Like Nick coming upstairs and announcing that he had just cut through a live wire. And sure enough the Stanley blade had a fairly impressive hole burned right through it. (Somehow or other Nick remained intact and unshocked).

Lowlights

The annual flood of course.

Spotlights

240V/200W.

And so my last day bears the hallmark of so many days spent in the office. Slightly hung-over. This particular alcohol induced malaise is on account of it having been Trish’s birthday yesterday. Or more accurately, on account of me having drunk a lot of alcohol because it was Trish’s birthday yesterday. It was also Katie West’s birthday; so the birthday girls and pals and boyfriends (Nick providing the only male support) went for an Italian meal, drank some wine (and some Zambucha) and then headed down to The (New) Buff Club where a number of familiar faces were in attendance. The music was lounge-style jazz, the drinks were reasonably priced, the conversation was sparkling and I had an excellent evening. Trish had a great time and so it seems did Katie who made the occasional attempt to dance on her seat, help play keyboard with the band or do something that looked like rolling on the floor. The evening ended on a street corner with Messrs. MacQuarrie, Anderson and Kerr providing some last minute drunken entertainment before the long walk to the long queue for the taxi home.

I also went to see Toby on Thursday evening with a small group of friends. His family are really amazing- his dad offered us pizza and wine and his mum thanked us for coming round and told us that we would be welcome any time. Toby seemed pleased to see friendly faces and spoke very openly and evenly about what had happened and how he was feeling. It’s so difficult to imagine how hard it must be for him just now but he is showing truly remarkable spirit. I’ll go and see him again in the next few days.