Today was my last shift at Northumbria University after two and a half years with an amazing team of people in the library. There have been so many people I have gotten to know here, both staff and students. It really was with great sadness that I had to admit there was just not a way to make this job role work within the migrations changes the previous UK government implimented at the end of 2023. Of course, it's not that anyone wanted me to go, either, but bureaucracy is bureaucracy, and the Brits still do that really well, so despite some heroic efforts from my managers, it was just not meant to be.
I have to admit I was dreading some of the good-byes tonight, but I am grateful for the lovely gifts so many people have offered to help me remember this place and my time here. I really, really wanted England to be my home, to be our home, even with its flaws and foibles. The US is, frankly, a mess right now, but we'll go back and try to make some little corner of that mess a safer place, a better place for as many people as we can. It's been a hard day for both TJ and me. Tomorrow we begin final prep for departure, and new adventures. Even when trying to keep a more positive outlook, change is hard.
To all my friends in the UK, because I hate goodbyes, I will simply say 'So long, and thanks for all the fish'.