I'm not saying that I've left a trail of destruction in my wake as I've gone through life, but as we speak, the place where I ended my school career and the place I began my NHS career are both being razed to the ground.

This is the current scene, two hundred yards down the road...

The room on the left, which would be described by estate agents as open plan, light and airy, with good ventilation and panoramic views, is where I had my first successful interview for a job at the hospital. It was one week before we found out that Lisa was pregnant with Amelie, and the day she left me this note in the kitchen when she went to work...

To be honest, I remember more about Heath Ledger than that interview (although I remember the death of Kate Middleton very clearly) but I do recall one of the interviewers singing the Poddington Peas theme song.

Anyhoo, I'd expect the hospital to be erecting a blue plaque on Rosaz House in my honour, but instead they're tearing it down and building a six-million-pound Cancer Support Centre in conjunction with Macmillan. So I hope I won't have to visit the place again.

In the meantime, up in the wilds of Essex, they're knocking down my old school as well...


That big patch of rubble-strewn waste ground is where I sat my GCSEs and A-levels. It hasn't changed a bit. Although it had a roof in my day. And a couple of walls. The playground at the beginning is where I failed to play football, and the lilac block next to it is where I spent many a happy hour perfecting the Newton–Raphson method, and flicking cherry stones at my classmates. As for the picturesque line of trees leading north to the old school gate on the right, that's where I slipped and broke my ankle in 1988. Happy days.

Coincidentally, there was an article on the BBC News website yesterday about drone photography, so having seen the video above, I'm now thinking I need to get myself a helicopter. Or possibly strap a camera to a seagull.

Anyhoo, on the subject of things that are wrecked, falling down, and need a complete overhaul, I went out last night for a get-together with the Reception Class parents from Amelie's school, and frankly it's ruined me for the weekend. I only had one drink too. It's not the alcohol which got to me, it's the fact that I'm too old to stay out past 10pm. I'd rather be at home with a Werther's Original. I blame Lisa for not finding me twenty years earlier.