Retirement

6 Months On (Part I)

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I retired from work six months ago. In some ways time has gone quickly but in other ways, not. Sometimes I wonder how I have frittered the time since I retired away on so little. In other ways, and on other days (like today), walking through those revolving doors on Canary Wharf for the last time feels like ages away and that life since has been very rich.

View From My Work Desk Earlier This Year

View From My Work Desk Earlier This Year

So what have I learned? Here are the first five things that come to mind.

Work Didn’t and Doesn’t Define Me. I didn’t expect to miss work – its pressures, the meetings, the schedules/routines, the achievements/failures and the PowerPoint – and I don’t. I might do something resembling work in the future but its currently way down the agenda to even think about that.

Leaving the Building

Still From A Video I Took As I Went Through The Office Revolving Doors For The Final Time

There Is Plenty To Do In Retirement. I used to work 50-55 hours a week plus there was the 12 hours a week travelling to and from work. Retirement has freed up a lot of time. Filling the released time hasn’t been difficult. A lot more walking, more reading the newspaper to catch up with world events, more TV box sets, much more reading, more gardening and a bit more cooking has expanded into the space. And that is before the holidays, the time spent on this blog, and my scrappy attempts at learning Italian (not unfortunately something I can include on this things learnt list!).

There Is Still Need For Structure. A few months into retirement, I realised I needed to drive myself a bit more to get things done. I needed to supplement the bucket list of broad things to do with retirement with a list of almost daily items ‘to do’. I like routines and my new one, dotted with one off tasks, works for me.

Holidays Are More Relaxing Now. Long Suffering Wife (LSW) continues to work part time so holidays still need to be scheduled around that. However, holidays can be longer now I have retired. That, in itself, increases the relaxation of going away. On our almost four-week Australia trip, there was no tension of clearing the desk in the build-up and no concern about returning to a backlog of work email and issues. Also, I’m happier about having trips away from our home in Gloucestershire rather than holidaying there now that I‘m no longer spending the majority of my time in London. LSW and I only did the Australia trip aboard in the last six months but we are planning more for 2018.

I Miss London, But Not As Much As I Expected. The loss of immediate access to London night life – music, restaurants and cinema especially – was a worry to me as I retired. This concern has proved to be largely unfounded in practice. LSW has been especially supportive in trying out local music venues with me and the new Marshall Rooms in Stroud is promising. The quality (the ambience especially) of local medium-priced restaurants is poor relative to the best of the constant and hectic turnover of new strivers in London. However, we are learning to love the local pub(s) and saving our food money for our occasional trips to London – like the one earlier this week which was excellent. While there are independent cinemas locally, rural film watching was always going to struggle to compete with living over Barbican Cinemas 2 and 3! I’m filling the gap satisfactorily with European box sets. It’s not so bad…

I realised as I was writing this that the lessons learned above are just a few of them. They may not even be the main ones. So I’ll think again and augment this list shortly….

Getting Moving Again

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The anti-climax since the trip to Australia via stops in Singapore and Hong Kong remains palpable. I miss the almost daily imperative of having to get from one location to another and to ‘tick off’ the sights. I just haven’t got fully back up to speed in getting to grips with the more mundane things in my retirement routine yet.

I am starting to get the to-do lists moving again but what has struck me in the last two weeks has been how fortunate I was to be able to retire in summer when the weather was much less of a constraint (and excuse) than it is becoming now. Also, a brief spell of illness last week reminded me of how lucky I have been to have been fit and well through the last 5-6 months.

In reality, I have no excuse not to get on with as much of my plans and to-dos as possible. I must, for example, restart my Italian for Absolute Beginners. I’m hoping I haven’t forgotten all I learnt in the first three units of the course!

I have been keeping up attendance at local music events. In the last week or so LSW and I have paid a couple more Sunday afternoon visits to a local bar (The Vault) which hosts a series of singers and small bands each week. We also made it to a venue we hadn’t tried before, the nearby Ruskin Mill College, and saw The Nordic Fiddlers Bloc. These are a triumvirate of fiddlers from The Shetlands, Sweden and Norway. They sustained a full evening of quality fiddling with a remarkable variety of styles and considerable talent. It was intimate, foot tapping and fun and I’ve signed up for more events of this type.

Ruskin Mill College - Nordic Fiddlers

Nordic Fiddlers Bloc Explaining Fiddles At Ruskin Mill College

Next week, LSW and I are in London for a couple of days. That should help shake me out of my relative torpor.

Post-Holiday Lull

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It’s been about ten days since LSW and I returned from our trip to Singapore, Australia and Hong Kong. The logistics of our holiday were such that we changed location 17 times in 27 days. There was almost always something significant planned for the next day – either a move to the next place or a bit of interesting tourism or both. The holiday flights and accommodation were pre-booked and so there was no option but to get on with it. Fortunately the plans all worked out perfectly (until the train returning us home from London was delayed – typical!) and the holiday turned out to be tremendously exciting and enjoyable.

Since our return, it has taken a while for me to get used to the lack of imperative to do anything. It has almost felt like retiring for a second time.

It was such a joy not to have had a mountain of work email and meetings to attend following the holiday. But the absence of any tasks, meetings or instructions set out for me on my return felt almost as strange as it had done when I first retired from work in July.

That is not to say that I haven’t done quite a lot since returning. I got back just in time to see Forest Green Rovers win and have seen them play twice more since. LSW and I have increased our understanding of our community by attending meetings on the local town’s climate change action plan and the local council’s housing strategic review. We have sampled the local pub’s Curry Night (very yummy) and I attended the village Men’s Night (and acquired my first hangover in months).

LSW and I also went to the newly opened The Marshall Rooms and saw an interesting and impressive band called Syd Arthur. The venue has a long history – apparently the Beatles played there in the 60s – but has required a complete refurbishment. It is part owned by Keith Allen who lives locally and is famous for his roles as Sheriff of Nottingham in the film of Robin Hood and in Game of Thrones. It’s great that he is investing his success back into the local community.

Syd Arthur at The Marshall rooms

Syd Arthur at The Marshall Rooms

Slowly, my routines are falling back into place as they were before our holiday. The daily walks into Nailsworth are autumnal now of course, but still very pleasant. The availability and digestion of the Guardian in hard copy and completion of the Quick Crossword with LSW has resumed its place in my day.

Above Nailsworth

Layer of Wood Smoke Over Nailsworth

Also, Christmas is coming. That will bring a new diversion and dimension as our sons return to us. I’m looking forward to that but also think that LSW and I will have to start planning another trip soon!

New Routines

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August is coming to an end and, two months into retirement, I can look back on a relaxed and enjoyable month. I occasionally wonder about how things are progressing at work but don’t miss the patterns of everyday work at all. Instead, I’ve settled, very quickly, into a different pace of life and new routines.

I get up about an hour later than I used to. That is something I want to ‘improve upon’ since, by most criteria, its rather wasted time lying in bed doing no more than Candy Crush and Facebook/Instagram catch up.

Then on week-days, its breakfast of coffee, fruit and yogurt followed by a walk into Nailsworth, the local town, for a few groceries and the newspaper. At the weekend I have maintained the pre-retirement treat of bread and jam or toast and Marmite (yum, yum!). On Sunday’s the walk to town is typically delayed until after lunch when LSW and I drift to the bar mentioned in the previous post.

The walk to Nailsworth (of 25 minutes each way) is a highlight for me. It’s so different from the noisy, crowded commute into work in London. There are a number of alternate routes but my favourite is through the grounds of a local college that teaches practical skills to pupils who are disabled or have learning difficulties. The grounds – a former trout farm, lakes and woodland – are traversed by footpaths the college allows the public to use. It is wonderful to see the horticulture, creativity and craft of the pupils and to watch the seasons develop through the year and be reflected in the colours and wildlife.

Ruskin Mill Walk, Near Nailsworth
Ruskin Mill Trout Farm
Creativity at Ruskin Mill

Once I get back home, activities are driven by my to-do list and the weather. The new structure of to-do lists I introduced a couple of weeks ago is working pretty well. The only issue is that I keep putting on the daily list just those things that I want to do and none of the boring stuff I should do!

I read a chunk of the newspaper before lunch (almost always salad, much as it was pre-retirement). I might also fit in some ‘learning Italian’ if LSW isn’t around to hear my embarrassingly faltering attempts.

Afternoon and evening activities fall into a less consistent pattern than those before lunch. They are peppered by experiences that add variety to the basic, new routines that have emerged. More about some of these post-retirement experiences later…..

Music, Music, Music

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Very nearly 10 years ago today I went to a gig at Kings College London to see a Scottish miserabilist singer called Malcolm Middleton. It was the first gig I had been to for a very long time but it was terrific and it re-kindled my excitement for live music.

Since then I have been to see over 300 gigs in London (I know because I’m the sort of bloke who keeps records of these things). Indeed I have seen Malcolm Middleton another 4 times since that wonderful evening 10 years ago.

I love the music itself (usually), the intimacy of the smaller venues and the anonymity. I’ve turned up after work in a suit to several of these gigs and no-one cares about that, or my grey hair, or that I am usually 2-3 times older than the fellow audience members.

Now I am retired I have more time to attend music events. However, I have been concerned that, having had to move out of London, I won’t find the opportunities to do so and will miss the variety and quality on offer in London.

In the last week or so, I have started to explore local venues with LSW and I’m much encouraged.

There is certainly variety. LSW and I have been to a local village festival featuring bands adept at 70’s and 80’s cover versions. That was great fun, though the pub car park we were standing in got a bit cold after a while – it’s an English summer after all!

France Lynch MusicFest

France Lynch MusicFest

We then went to a fundraiser in aid of a local church roof repair with experienced opera singers, young musicians just starting out and, believe it or not, the Stroud Ukelele Band. Fun for a good cause….

Concert For Pitchcombe Church

Concert For Pitchcombe Church

Then, after a few quality checks on Spotify, LSW was persuaded to come with me to see Sam Brookes at The Prince Albert pub a few miles from our home. Co-incidentally, he was on a bill for a gig I went to in London over 4 years ago. He was very good and I am sure I will be a regular attendee at this venue, alongside its very mixed audience where, as you will see int he picture, I will no longer be the oldest.

Sam Brookes at The Prince Albert

Sam Brookes at the Prince Albert

 

 

 

Finally I am already now a regular Sunday afternoon attendee at The Vault which is just a pleasant 30 minute walk away from us. Here the well named ‘Super Chilled Sundays’ comprise of a beer or two, perusal of the Sunday paper sports pages and magazines, completion of the Guardian Quick Crossword with LSW, and local musicians doing their stuff to create a comfortable ambience. It’s all very relaxing and a wonderful change from having to pack up and leave for London on a Sunday afternoon as I had to do until retirement.

The Honeymoon Trio at The Vault

The Honeymoon Trio at The Vault

 

My musical investigations will continue deeper into our local town of Stroud – I have high hopes for a new venue opening there – and into Bristol. Plans are being made and tickets being bought for both. There will be more on my revised musical journey in due course.

Music, Reading and Box Set Catch-up

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I’m not a musician (at all!) but I have always loved listening contemporary music. For the last decade, I have particularly enjoyed watching live performances, usually in small, intimate venues in London.

I have also always enjoyed reading. During my working life, I have got on best with fiction that can be read in 5 to 10 minute doses just before sleep (do people really read books at a sitting as they claim in some book reviews?)

Additionally, in terms of cultural pursuits, I have always enjoyed going to the cinema and watching TV drama.

Now work is out of the way, I can spend more time on all of these cultural activities.

Reading is something that I have already stepped up. My new year’s resolution of reading more than 16 books in 2018 now seems achievable, despite a slow start to the year pre-retirement. I’m enjoying that pleasure of finishing a good book increasingly frequently. The only problem is that the habit of falling to sleep after a few pages, which used to be fine having gone to bed, is now creating what might charitably be called successive siestas.

Despite those soporific moments, I have recently finished A Whole Life by Robert Seethaler, The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry and The Gustav Sonata by Rose Tremain; I would recommend them all. I can’t imagine when I last completed three books in 6 weeks (though admittedly the former was only 150 pages and felt a bit of a lovely cheat).

Having moved from living above Cinema 2 and 3 at the Barbican to a village near Stroud, the options for watching current and relatively high brow film have drastically reduced. LSW and I did see Dunkirk at the Stroud multiplex last week which was fine. However, the cinema there generally only manages kids films and blockbusters.

I’m told there are local independent cinemas I should visit and there are occasional live broadcasts of West End Opera and plays at the multiplex. I will try out all of that in due course but my immediate retreat from arty cinema has been to catch-up on TV drama series.

I particularly like the new wave of continental crime thrillers – will they still be available after Brexit? Most recently, I have been watching I Know Who You Are (Spanish), Black Widow (Dutch), Dicte (Danish) and The Passenger (French) and it was only my predilection for delayed gratification that prevented me ploughing through all of these at an unhealthy rate. With the facilities afforded by catch-up TV, there is an almost unlimited supply of gripping drama.

I miss the London music scene but I am starting to explore the local live music options. More on this next post….

Buongiorno!

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I have started to put a bit more structure into my days.

Previously, at work, most days were run around a cycle of regular meetings. Lots of more ad hoc meetings were inserted between these and, when possible, time was blocked out to catch up on the avalanche of mail or to develop some presentation or other. Time didn’t always exactly fly by but it rarely felt my own; there was always some pressure to fit in one more meeting or to respond to a deadline or request.

Now there are lots of things I could do. Indeed, there are lots of things I want to do. But, in most cases, the time pressure isn’t there; ‘tomorrow’ will do. As ever, where there are important deadlines (for example, choosing my Fantasy Football Team for the new season by this Friday!) the tasks are tending to drift to the last minute. Some things never change perhaps!

So, to add a bit of drive and structure, I have exercised my penchant for lists by extending my retirement ‘bucket list’ into a more sophisticated set of lists of things to do – today, this week and medium term. Each day, I am moving the weekly items into the daily list and then challenging myself to complete at least the majority.

Some daily items are semi-permanent. From this week, I have included Learning Italian amongst these items. This is in preparation for a potentially extended visit to Italy next year. I plan to spend 45 minutes a day working my way through an Italian for Absolute Beginners book and CD. In practice, this might only be on days when LSW is out of the house and so out of earshot of my embarrassingly slow progress. Given my paltry linguistic skills, learning basic Italian is the toughest thing on my retirement ‘bucket list’ and, having stumbled my way to page 5, I am as daunted as ever. But it’s on the daily list so I’m giving it a go!

By the way, for the minority who may be interested in how Forest Green Rovers got on at the weekend in their first League 2 game: we drew. It was an exciting, entertaining game in front of well over 3,000 fans. What seems clear already is that not only is the quality of the football superior in this higher league, but also that the refereeing is significantly better. So far so good although after a draw and then a loss last night, we could do with a win sometime soon.

Meanwhile: arrivederci!

FGR's First English Football League Game

Australia – We Are Coming!

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One month into retirement and it’s generally been an unremarkable week as I have rested my dodgy knee.

However, we have had news from Australia from our Youngest Son (YS) that his application for a visa extension has been granted. He will be staying down under for at least another year. That new certainty has allowed Long Suffering Wife (LSW) and I to book a holiday there during which we will be able to see him (and his girlfriend, who is the one actually doing the job Australia needs) in his new found paradise.

What is great of course is that we can go for longer than would have been the case had I not been retired. We still have to fit the holiday around LSW’s part time work commitments but we will have almost all of October to skip through Singapore and Hong Kong and spend time around Brisbane and Melbourne.

We have friends and relatives in Singapore, and YS has been based in Brisbane for over a year now, so we are going to be well guided there. However, any ideas for ‘must-do’ things in Hong Kong and Melbourne would be welcome.

The only down-side is that I will miss several Forest Green Rovers games while I’m away. The build up to our first season in the Football League proper has been impressive. The sustainability and green agenda espoused by the Chairman, allied to the fact that the club represents the smallest settlement in the country, has attracted a lot of media interest (for example: The Guardian: Forest Green Rovers in League 2 and slots on Sky, ESPN and even Al Jazeera TV.

Last season’s playoff win at Wembley was so emotional but tomorrow we will find out if the team are likely to back up the recent hype with quality performances on the pitch in League 2! Of course there is trepidation about what the new season might bring. We could win or lose our first game 4-0 – there are just no benchmarks yet. Either way, the build-up is tense and exciting. I can barely wait!

Victory at Wembley 2017

Victory at Wembley 2017

Vital Health!

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This week has reminded me of the vital importance of one’s health. Despite some excesses in youth, and a continuing predilection for some of the things labelled in the press and by medical knowledge as ‘bad for us’, I enjoy good health.

One of the reasons for retiring when I did was that I wanted to enjoy retirement while my health allowed me to do the things I have had to ration in the past due to work – activities such as gardening, travelling and walking in rural and mountain idylls.  It has therefore been frustrating to have spent the last week nursing a painful and swollen knee.

However, a pause in physical activity has allowed me to contemplate some of the more difficult and less exciting and long postponed items on my list of things to do: proper tidying my study, thinning and cleaning up our now vast paper filing systems, backing up my laptop, and even thinking about the approach I should adopt to learning Italian.  Also, I have been able to step up reading.

I am lucky enough to have some lovely places to read in both inside and outside the house – even with my knee up and with an ice pack perched on it!  I have just finished The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry and am now well into a lovely, slim volume called A Whole Life by Robert Seethaler – I recommend both.  But it’s great to combine the reading with idle observation of birds and bees from my position in the garden (see below), and with planning for resumption of normal activities.

Bees Loving It

Flexible ‘Holiday’ Weekends

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Wife and I have just come back from a weekend in Suffolk visiting very old friends (I mean people who have been friends for a long time!) who retired last year.  We had a ‘great time in Eye and Southwold and surrounding countryside.  There’s a lot of sky, the landscape has a very different feel from our part of Gloucestershire, and that was refreshing.  Also, during our visit to the arcade of automata machines designed by Tim Hunkin on Southwold Pier (Southwold Pier Automata), and over dinner, I laughed more than I had for ages.

Our friends shared their experiences of retirement with us. Clearly it takes time to find a new equilibrium and balance of duty sharing.  They are still finding theirs and Long Suffering Wife (LSW) and I are just starting our journey on this. I can already see that I am going to have to do more driving – which I hate and have been able to largely avoid in recent years – and more housework.

The other thing that became clear at the weekend is how retirement has created flexibility in travel timing and so, the ability to avoid the worst traffic.  We visited our friends at the weekend because they are managing a major building programme at the moment and unfortunately we couldn’t leave earlier than we did on Friday because of LSWs community shop commitment.  But we missed the height of the rush hour and could travel back on Monday morning rather than have to rush to get back for the normal working Monday rise and shine.  That was a real, valuable, new treat.

I definitely overdid the boozing, cheese and ice cream (now I’m feeling on permanent holiday, ice cream feels a more normal luxury).  Also, I evidently overdid the walking – or maybe it was the excessive, unpracticed use of the accelerator pedal in the car after so many months of not driving – since I am now laid up with a swollen knee; a small price to pay for a great first long weekend away in retirement.