In 'the good old days' when people spent their entire working life in one
company's factory, they would often retire after 30 years and be given a
carriage clock as pictured on the left. It seems to me that the abstract idea of
rewarding a lifetime's "service" is far greater than the actual physical reward.
Anyway ... back in
July1, I wrote that
there will probably be some form of 'party' in Tel Aviv towards the end of
August as well as a special celebration for the finance department to which
I belong. Fortunately, there was no 'party' in Tel Aviv - I write 'fortunately' as
there are several people based there who were primary causes of my wanting to
retire - but the special celebration for the finance department took place
yesterday in what is supposed to be a high ranking restaurant in Tel Aviv. I
was surprised by the functional decor of the restaurant - not what I expected
- and the number of diners - it was full - but the menu lived up to the
promise. This is a no-meat restaurant thus solving most of the problems with
kashrut.
But I don't want to write about the restaurant but rather about my 'carriage
clock'. Last Sunday, my manager (pictured with me) phoned me and asked me what
I like; she was obviously referring to my present. Maybe a subscription to the
opera or the theatre ... I demurred, and at first I didn't have any idea what
I would like. Then I reconsidered and suggested maybe an alto saxophone; my
hesitation was that this would cost between 2,000 and 2,200 NIS and would be
about twice the budget of any present that my manager might have been
considering. But after all, we are the finance department and I suspect that
the company contributed no small amount to the purchase; in the past, the
relevant employees have contributed maybe 50 NIS each.
Despite the cost, she took the idea and the next morning phoned me from a shop selling
musical instruments not far from our offices in Tel Aviv (I wasn't aware of
this shop). I spoke with the salesman a little, ensuring that the instrument
was 'normal' and that it would come with
thin reeds2. I heard no more, but whenever I would think about this, I wondered whether
there would be an inscription on the sax thanking me for 37 years of service.
To be realistic, there isn't really anywhere on the sax for such an
inscription; the only possible place would be on the bell. Also, I can return/replace the sax if there's a problem, so having an inscripted sax is not a good idea!
Thus I was pleasantly surprised to see that the inscription was on the
saxophone's case; as opposed to the case for my loaner saxophone which
is quite bulky and 'three dimensional' (i.e. there is a bulge on one side for
the bell), this case is nice and flat. A rough translation reads:
Dear No'am, 37 years of knowledge, genius, devotion, a big heart and
loyalty. You have left behind you a melody that will not be forgotten.
Continue to create, to play and to enjoy life. With love and respect, we
will miss you, the Global family.
Later on today I'll put the pieces together and have my first practice session
with the new saxophone.
Internal links
[1] 2121
[2] 2138
This day in blog history:
| Title | Tags | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 139 | Fotheringay 2 | Sandy Denny, Fotheringay | |
| 414 | Kindle | Kindle | |
| 640 | Tasks | Programming, Delphi | |
| 1265 | Acting like an MBA (a 'suit') | Personal, MBA | |
| 1677 | Time out | Personal, Song writing | |
| 1837 | Correlations and threads | Programming, Threads | |
| 2018 | The happiest day in Israel since 1948 | Israel |
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