Retirement

It happens to most of us one day. You get to an age where you are retired. It happened to me two years earlier than my country intends, but I had been working most of my life, just a few years in between at home when the kids were small, and I am now at home permanently.

It is surprising the questions I have been asked, mostly the same sort of thing, mainly what are you going to do now. I have now been sitting at home for almost two weeks, and am still without an answer to the question. I just do things, but it is a funny feeling at the moment to know you do not Have to do anything, just do what you want to. In working life there are duties to be dealt with. According to what the work is, but there is always someone somewhere that is depending on what you are doing to get something out of you. This "damocles sword" is no longer hanging over your head.

So what am I doing. I have quite a normal regular day. To my surprise I have found that I arise in the morning at a sensible time, not too late and not too early. Even going to bed is not problem, and I sleep very well. I suppose I could stay up half the night, but no, even then I keep to a more or less regular sleeping time. As this retirement thing is new to me I have all sorts of things during the day to spend time on that I did not have over the last years. I am even doing housework again and quite enjoying it. I don't feel that I have to get it done in the morning but just when I feel like it. Sometimes in the middle of the afternoon, and perhaps in the morning. I have started cooking lunch again. I have a bookshelf full of cookery books and now and again dive into them to see what to cook for lunch.

Going shopping is now quite an adventure. My other half often comes with me. It is really nice to be able to take time getting things. Today I went on my own shopping. I met a one time work colleague of mine, retired for some years now, and she was most interested to know how I am coping. I told her up to now quite well and she made the suggestion we could meet for a coffee now and again. I thought this a very good idea. Just as I was leaving the supermarket, I met another retired work colleague. She did not know that I was now retired, and congratulated me. Were the congratulations to say that I had survived, or for the long year achievement of working I had behind me? Not sure about that one.

I met my neighbour this morning. She now has a wonderful little boy, about six months old, and she said we must go into town one day together. It seems the social side of things is gradually picking up.

Of course, I now have more time for "blogging". I used to write such things in the evening some time. It is now 5 o'clock in the afternoon and I thought I would do something constructive at the computer.

By the way I hope you like the flowers at the top of the blog. I took the picture yesterday afternoon when I took a walk into town and back. Actually I have a train, the journey taking only a few minutes, but decided walking would be "better" for me - twenty minutes each way. I think it was the only actual walk I did this week - have made a note to do more walking.

As I said to my other half, at last I can really enjoy the long snowy cold Winters we have. Trees and gardens covered in snow, views of snow covered mountains and everything so wonderfully white which I used to hate. I had to drive to work in these conditions and that was not fun. Now I can sit at home and decide to go shopping when the weather is better, perhaps buy food for a few days and just take photos of the wonderful Swiss Winters. Who cares, just feel perhaps a little bit sorry for those that have to go to work in it.

So enough of my ramblings for now. It is all so new and fresh at the moment. Perhaps in a few months I will be bored, read all the books I have, run out of things to blog and write about and suffering from the heat waves of our Swiss Summers. Who knows, so at the moment I am taking things as they come. Here I am on one of my last days in the office.