FRIDAY 3rd March 2000; Goodbye to Sir David

I call a meeting to give some of my team a bit of a hard time; it's not their fault, but we are having problems with getting important printed items (like application forms for new accounts) out to the branches. Having closed Cheadle, our print supplier has picked up more responsibility, but all is not well and they are not meeting the required delivery schedules. I suspect I would be getting a hard time from senior management in the retail bank if they weren't otherwise distracted. Something I can thank RBS for! Agree some plans for (I hope) sorting it out.

A message appears on the Intranet from Sir David Rowland.

"I have enjoyed my time at NatWest enormously and following my departure today it will be up to you to build a truly successful future under the leadership of The Royal Bank of Scotland. Thank you for all your help, guidance and friendship. I wish you every success in the future."

I wonder how he really feels. I think, if it were me, the genuine desire to see people you have worked with and like do well must be tempered with a bit of the "let's see if they can do any better" feeling! I suspect many of our departing senior team will also have mixed feelings in terms of wishing RBS well; any resentment will be balanced by self-interest as they will probably still have RBS shares or options for some time to come.

It is another strange, depressing day. I'm not sure whether today or Monday is officially our last day as an independent company, but today feels like the end of something.