The perils of the trade

I enjoy my job. I am extremely lucky and privileged to be able to work full time for a cause that I believe in and to be able to pay the bills because of that job.

It does on occasion have it's downside. You miss the business and highlights of the conference hall.

My view of Alex's conference speech again this year was on the TV screens that adorn the foyer of Perth Concert Hall. The main auditorium and several overspill venues were full to bursting.

This wasn't just any conference speech either, this was his last as First Minister. This morning Nicola Sturgeon took the reins as Party Leader and next Tuesday, Alex will resign as First Minister.

And my view was from the foyer:-/. And I didn't catch it all. Thank heavens we have YouTube. I'll need to watch it tomorrow with a wee glass of red. I might not get the atmosphere but I'll be creating my own memories.

Alex has served two terms as our Party leader and we are indeed indebted to him as a Party and a country for the service he has given.

At this juncture I have been thinking back over these years and the life stages I was at at different key dates.

I was a teenager in the audience with my Dad, just a short walk away from the Perth Concert Hall in Perth City Halls when the then National Secretary, John Swinney, announced the results of the first contest when Alex stood for National Convener as the Party Leader was known then. Dad and I were both delegates from our local branch.

I remember a decade later as a member of staff walking into our then HQ in North Charlotte Street and learning of his decision not to seek re-nomination. I was a few months married and had just learned that I was expecting Mr R and my first child, oor Es.

2004 saw Alex's re-election as Party Leader and the announcement in Our Dynamic Earth. I was then just a few weeks away from having our third child, the Rooster. Sean Connery, paid us a visit that day and there are awful photos of a heavy, pregnant me, with colleagues and Sean Connery of all people, at our McDonald Road HQ.

And, I remember the rawness of the 19th of September and watching the press conference from Bute House on the screens in the Board Room at Gordon Lamb House.

Thank you Alex for your leadership of my Party and our Country...I'm looking forward to your next move :-)