Retiring but not shy….
Retirement is a blank sheet of paper. It is a chance to redesign your life into something new and different.
Patrick Foley
This week saw the end of my first year of retirement. It’s been quite a year.
I posted last week that it began with a fleeting visit to Wales. Following that detour, things turned to celebration, relaxation, and embarkation.
The celebration was Harry’s ‘Not tired of life’ Retirement London pub crawl. A meandering with friends between some of my drinking haunts from my first days in London. I’m surprised many of those establishments are still around after so many years. Indeed, I’m not sure the ‘Hole in the Wall’ opposite Waterloo has even changed the decor in all that time!
The relaxation came from a laid-back lunch with my wife in one of my favourite gastropubs, The White Hart, in a small village near us. The pub survived the lockdown, and it was good to relax again last week in a birthday celebration.
My embarkation was for my travels by train from home to Rome. I took my (ex)colleagues with me on that journey. Well, their best wishes anyway. All written in the book, ‘Travels through France and Italy’ by Tobias Smollett. I asked that it be inscribed as my ‘leaving card’. The usual such card would no doubt end up forgotten in a drawer. The book, however, now stands proudly in our bookcase for my perusal whenever I wish. As I journeyed, I read the book. Every few pages I came across a well-meaning or touching or even flattering comment. It proved a warming travelling companion.
My retirement then settled into a rhythm of volunteering, interspersed with other enjoyments. Sarah and I holidayed in Spain. I took advantage of the time I now had on my hands to visit galleries, cinema, theatre, talks, restaurants, and the like. There was also catching up with old friends and with family.
In fact, the first nine months of retirement was everything for which I could wish. No longer a slave to a clock, a diary or schedule. The passage of time not marked by meetings, reviews, reports. No need for early morning and late evening journeys in traffic. Although, I did miss watching the occasional spectacular sunrise or sometimes glimpsing the sight of a glorious sunset or breath-catching moonrise.
Then, as with all of us, the brakes were applied to my activities sharply by the stay at home instruction. Future activities disappeared from the calendar faster than snow in rain. A new, more passive routine emerged.
At least the sun shone a lot of the time. I walked every day (even in the days absent of sun). I drank less alcohol. I ate more simply and cheaply. I discovered Zoom. I wrote more. I read more. I listened to more podcasts. I caught up on fondly remembered old films. I engaged more on social media with interesting people. I watched NUFC win, and then lose, and then lose again. I joined a couple of FB groups. I travelled in my mind.
Oh, and I had a birthday. And yes, there was cake!
As I move into my second year of retirement and things continue to ease, the population of the calendar with ‘stuff’ will no doubt increase. 2021 already has a few things booked. Yet, I hope I can retain some of the lockdown (in)activity. To spend time being and not just doing. To have time “to stand and stare”.
A comment, written by one of my Project Managers, at the end of the book I mentioned earlier was, “… Remember that Retirement is not an Appendix but the start of a new book….”. A book that after the lockdown I plan to ‘write’ more slowly and with more care.
