September 2020 – Margaret Moon

Work

No morning tea please

September 22, 2020by Margaret13 Comments

After making the big decision to retire, I had to formally submit my resignation through our online HR portal. This triggered what is known as a “termination process” also known as “offboarding”.

The language made me feel quite ill and a little bit anxious. I’ve been working at the organisation for 14 years, so to end my career in this impersonal way felt a bit sad and confirmed my view that working for a large government department turns you into little more than a number, fodder for the machine.

I emailed my manager to let him know that I was submitting the form and he emailed me back the offboarding checklist. This is to ensure that you settle all your accounts and hand back any equipment that’s been issued over the years. He also rang to say that he would miss me, which was nice. I specifically requested that there be no fuss as I just wanted to walk away quietly.

I’ve always hated those corporate morning teas that are usually held when someone leaves. I dislike the people who only turn up for the free sponge cake and the ubiquitous cheese and crackers. I hate those speeches where the top brass talks mainly about themselves or tells embarrassing stories about the poor person who is leaving.

I hate the bit where the person says that they won’t miss the work, but they’ll miss the people. I know that for most people this is true, but I will genuinely miss the work and the people.

I will miss laughing with my team-mates, helping people solve problems, and moaning about senior staff who send you long rambling emails but don’t ever say what they actually want you to do.

I’ll miss people shouting across the room to ask me how to spell accommodation and other tricky words.

When I went in yesterday to return my laptop and security pass, I was still a bit surprised at how upset I was. There were only about four people in the office and the place was a wasteland of blank screens and empty chairs. I handed over my computer and the admin person said weakly, “we should have bought a cake”.

I wandered off down the corridor and came across a lovely colleague that I’ve known for years. She could see that I was upset so she gave me a hug (verboten). She told me that I would be missed and that I’d had a big impact on the organisation.

It was nice after all.

Television

Emma Peel: feminist icon

September 11, 2020by Margaret7 Comments

I was sad to hear that the British actress, Diana Rigg, had passed away at the age of 82. Trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Rigg was most famous for her role as the female lead in the TV show, The Avengers, which ran from 1965 to 1968. In the show she was strong and fearless, solving crimes with her partner John Steed, who sported a bowler hat and carried a cane. Very British.

I loved that show and I desperately wanted an Emma Peel doll, so it was something of a miracle when I received one for my 10^th birthday. I suppose I was a little old for playing with dolls, but I thought she was the ant’s pants.

Like the actress, the doll had long reddish hair and came wearing tight black leather trousers and knee-length black boots. She came with three different outfits, all black, as well as a shiny gun! This makes me laugh now. I can’t imagine a doll coming with her own gun these days, but in the show, Emma could shoot the cork out of a bottle of champagne at twenty paces and was also skilled at fencing, karate and judo. She was whip smart and able to outwit even the most diabolical criminals. She never lost her cool.

She could do anything and I wanted to be just like her. Maybe not so sporty, but smart and sassy. I loved her independence and secretly thought that a life of fighting crime would suit me very well.

In the show Emma Peel worked for the British Secret Service, which is interesting because the marriage bar – legislation that prohibited married women from joining the civil service – was only lifted in 1946 for the Home Civil Service, and not until 1973 for the Foreign Service. In Australia, the marriage bar wasn’t lifted until 1966, so for the audience it would have seemed very audacious for Emma to have been working in such a powerful role, let alone as a sexy spy.

Emma had a husband, but he conveniently went missing in the Amazonian jungle after his plane crashed. She also drove a white convertible (a Lotus) which only added to her appeal.

Diana Rigg was also well known for her role as Olenna Tyrell in Game of Thrones and was also a Bond girl, playing opposite George Lazenby in Her Majesty’s Secret Service, but she will always be Emma Peel to me.

Just life

Sisterhood

September 2, 2020September 1, 2020by Margaret17 Comments

When my mother died four years ago, I felt like I’d lost a good friend as well as a mother. She was my greatest supporter, along with my husband and kids. I used to think that this was par for the course and just part of being a mother, but I’ve since realised that not everyone has this experience. I think everyone needs a cheerleader in their lives, someone to listen to you, even when you are being unreasonable, someone to tell you to keep going when things aren’t going well.

When I was in my late fifties, my mum sent me a stanza from a poem enclosed in a birthday card. The poem about being an adventurer in the world and was scribbled out on a scrap of paper in her usual fashion. She was forever recycling bits of paper and envelopes, sometimes you even got second-hand birthday and Christmas cards.

My mum was a very unsentimental person and would frequently give away birthday and Christmas gifts within moments of receiving them, sometimes while you were still in the room, so when she sent me that scrap of a poem, I loved it because I knew it meant that she understood that I was struggling with getting older and wondering what was left for me. She wanted me to know that everything would be okay and that there were plenty of adventures yet to come.

I still miss her very much, but since she’s been gone, I’ve developed a much closer relationship with my eldest sister who lives 2,000 kilometres away on the other side of Australia. I have two older sisters and a younger brother, and we all get along really well, but my eldest sister and I have gotten much closer in the last few years. She moved out of home when I was in my early teens and we have rarely lived in the same city in the past forty years, but these days we email or message one another several times a week. We share thoughts, dreams and frustrations. We talk about our mum, swap recipes, and complain about our sore backs and stiff shoulders. We frequently make unkind comments about “stupid people”. She badgers me about whether or not I’m writing (I asked her to) and always comments on my blog posts, even when they aren’t very remarkable.

I’m grateful for all my siblings, but it’s especially wonderful to have a sister who doesn’t judge you and is interested in the most mundane aspects of your life. It makes the loss of my mother easier to bear, and I’m so glad we’ve reconnected. Here’s to you Bev!

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