Cat on the wall

Since retirement, I have been conducting an ongoing battle with next door's cat, Fudge. My husband and kids love him to bits, but as I am a dog lover and not terribly fond of cats, I am not comfortable with the way he has made our home his own domain. In my opinion, he has become rather too accustomed to spending time in our house since our neighbours acquired a dog. This was fine while I was out at work all day, but now that I am home, he had become a pest!

This is not a photo of Fudge, but very like him!

He sits outside our back door for a large part of the day, so if I want to go out into the garden to empty the bin or peg out washing, he is poised to run into the house as soon as I open the back door. This has led me to barricade myself in unless I am certain that he isn't on the step, and I always peer through the window to check before opening up.

Yesterday, I came home from shopping and as I parked the car on the drive and started to carry the bags of shopping from the boot into our porch, he jumped over the wall from next door and took up position in the porch ready to make his way in as soon as I opened the front door. Determined that he wasn't coming in, I put all the shopping in the porch and went back into the car and sat there to wait for him to give up and go home. This took about 10 to 15 minutes, and as soon as the coast was clear, I made a run for it, jumped into the porch, shut the outside door and was able to carry my shopping in unimpeded. I have to say that I hadn't anticipated that a cat, which doesn't even belong to us, could be such a nuisance.

This week had been a very sociable one; I've been to a retirement event for an ex-colleague, which was great fun and an opportunity to meet lots of friends and colleagues; I stayed at my sister's house one night with my daughter and the three of us went out with my niece for a sociable evening; I also had two lunches with colleagues, one of whom has been a brilliant mentor and friend over the years and one who I initially met as a colleague in my institution, but who then moved to a neighbouring organisation, and who has remained a personal friend and professional contact for almost 20 years.

Tomorrow night we have booked to see Bridge of Spies with Tom Hanks and Mark Rylance, which is a film which has been on my list of "must sees" for a while and which I am very much looking forward to.

Who knows where the time goes?

Since I made it public that I intended to retire back in the Spring of 2015, the saying that's been quoted back to me on a regular basis is the one about being so busy in retirement that there's no time left to go to work. As I near the end of the fourth week of retirement, and the first month, there does seem to be a lot of truth in that. I calculated before retirement that on the basis of a 9 till 5 working day and an hour travelling time each way, then there would be an additional 50 hours a week available to me to do whatever I feel like doing; well I'm not sure where that time goes. I seem to be happily busy and occupied in all kinds of activities, but the days seem so short and I find myself staying up late each night to pack in a few more things.

At the beginning of January, I started a day book with lists of "to do" items for each day and each week and I took real pleasure in getting through the list and ticking off as things got done. This has slipped as the days have gone by, and as I stop worrying that someone is going to tap me on the shoulder and tell me that unless I can demonstrate that I am being a productive retiree, I will have to return to work. I think I've decided that the time spent on the day book could be put to better use in actually doing something.

Speaking of doing, the marmalade got made and is a great success. I did have a go a couple of years ago but the set wasn't quite right and the marmalade crystallised and I had to chuck most of it in the bin. This batch is fine - set, chunky and tangy, and I'm sure that investing in a thermometer to ensure the correct setting point was reached was the secret; that and relying on good old Delia! I used her recipe from the Complete Cookery course which was, as usual with her, well explained and did the job. One of the jars is destined for my Scottish friend who so kindly gifted to me a few years ago her Mum's big, old preserving pan in memory of her lovely Mum, who was a good friend to me during my time in Dundee.

6 jars of Seville & Dundee sunshine

Burns night and curries

The highlight of the weekend was attending a Burns night celebration in a local village hall with our friends on Saturday evening.  The event was a fundraiser for a charity which supports young people with a physical disability to compete in sport at a high level. We attended this event two years ago and the 2016 event was yet again an evening of good traditional Scottish food, i.e. Cock a leekie soup, haggis, bashed neeps and tatties and sherry trifle; music, including a piper; the life and poems of Rabbie himself and traditional dancing, all enhanced by generous amounts of malt whiskey and wine.

As my husband cooked dinner on Friday night and Burns took care of us on Saturday I only cooked the Sunday dinner, a roast leg of lamb, so although I do love to cook (and eat, of course) it was a nice break. Today I decided to spice Monday dinner up by making some curries. I wanted to use the lamb roast leftovers so put together an aubergine, tomato and lamb curry and, to go with it, a chicken jalfrezi, with rice, naan bread, cucumber raita and chutneys. One of the things I realised today was that many of the spices in our cupboards have been there for quite some time, and even longer in some cases, so although most of them are still aromatic, they have certainly lost some of their zing. So I spent a bit of time today stocktaking the spice cupboard and going out to buy some fresh stuff, which I think made a real difference to the flavour of the food and the fantastic smells coming out of the pans while it was cooking.  It was satisfying to spend some time looking at what was there and determining what needed to be renewed. I also made use of the coconut oil I bought last week to pre-fry the ingredients. This oil has been having a good press lately despite the fact that it is high in saturated fats. However, its champions claim that it has many health benefits and its flavour and aroma certainly complemented the curries we ate tonight.

Setting the pace

I realised today that there's absolutely no point in getting stressed at supermarket checkouts because the people in front are slow in going through. In my normal shopping mode, when time has been tight,  I've treated it all in a very businesslike way, like how can I get through in the shortest time possible? So I've become accustomed to choosing a checkout where the people in the queue don't have trolleys groaning with shopping and if it's a supermarket I'm familiar with, choosing a checkout with an assistant who I know does the business smartly.  Today I thought I'd hit the jackpot, as the checkouts were all fairly quiet and I managed to find one with only one woman in front of me, with less than a dozen items in her basket. Well, she took ages, with the assistant and the customer having a long chat and then the woman forgetting her PIN number when she did get round to paying and getting in a fluster because none of the numbers she tried, reading them from a sheet of paper in her handbag, was the correct one. I'm ashamed to say that I showed my impatience, picking up my few items and moving to the next checkout along, clearly adding to the poor woman's confusion and distress. It served me right as well, because the woman at my second checkout then got in a mix-up with her shopping bags and it actually took me longer to get through that one than if I'd stuck with the original. It's not easy to break old and long established habits, and while it was natural and understandable to rush when I had stopped off on the way to an appointment or on my way to pick up the children from school, I really didn't need to rush today, and by chafing at the bit  I not only put pressure on the woman in front of me, but I stressed myself out too. So, that is something I will try to be mindful of and get out of the habit of unnecessary rushing. I know the day will come when I will be the customer in a muddle with my PIN, and will hope for more tolerance from others than I demonstrated today.

Talking of shopping, it's been interesting to walk past and then make use of some of the small independent shops in the town, rather than always gravitating to the supermarket. Despite the disappearance of so many specialist shops in town over the past 20 years, there are some good small local businesses that I want to support and get the benefit of. Walking past a small greengrocers yesterday, I noticed they were selling seville oranges, so bought enough to make a few jars of marmalade, a job for next week.

I really enjoyed going back to my workplace today to have lunch with three members of the team I used to work with; so good to catch up and share news with them. I was very interested in hearing all about new developments, changes etc, but already felt quite distanced from the actual work that used to be such a central part of my life, and realised how much less stressed I've been feeling since my retirement. It feels like it was the right decision to leave it behind for others to take it over, but I certainly do want to keep in touch with the people.

Striking a good life balance in retirement

Before I retired I was fortunate to have an opportunity to participate in a pre-retirement workshop, where with colleagues who were also about to retire, had recently retired already or were seriously considering the retirement option, we reflected on what retirement might mean for us individually. The programme included a session on planning for a good life balance in retirement, and being mindful of each of the following areas

• Physical
• Intellectual/mental 
• Emotional/spiritual
• Social.

I have been finding this useful over the past few weeks as I plan out my days and weeks to achieve a good balance across each of these areas. Thinking back over this past week, I would say that I've done well in the latter three categories, but the one glaring area of neglect is the physical. While I have been doing a lot more walking than I ever did when I was working, to the extent that my car must think I've lost the keys, I know that this on its own isn't enough, so I have been considering all options short of joining and going to a gym. I went to a gym for 3 hours a week for a couple of months several years ago and found it the most soul-destroying and tedious way to pass an hour - why sit on a static bike and waste all the energy generated by peddling like mad, or walk on a treadmill in a sweaty environment when you could get on a bike or walk/run out in the fresh air and enjoy some scenery? Ten minutes on a rowing machine made time stretch so that those ten minutes seemed like hours! So, making good use of technology, I have found on Youtube a 30 minute fitness session for the Elderly (sounds appropriate for someone who hasn't exercised for so long and is my age) comprising a warm-up, a 15 minute exercise session and a warm down. I am using bean tins as dumbbells, which my trainer says are a fine substitute. I have managed to keep with it for 3 days now, and it's well within my capability, which is reassuring, but it does reach the parts that just walking can't reach. I like that I can do it in the privacy of my own home and each day can stretch that bit further, bend that bit lower and do the activities a little faster. Once it gets too easy,  if I ever get there, then I can look for something more challenging. The key thing is to stick with it, so  by writing it here, I am making that commitment - sort of a late New Year's resolution! And there's the golf lessons my husband bought me as a Christmas present to pick up in the Spring, and possibly swimming and maybe a bike!

Update on our trip, we decided to ditch Munich from our itinerary because there is a huge construction trade fair going on at the time we planned to be there, and so finding accommodation is problematic.  We are therefore going to by-pass Munich and go on to Bamberg, which according to our lonely planet guide is, "delightful and authentic," and has a UNESCO-recognised old town. We've now booked accommodation as far as Bamberg and our next bookings will be for Berlin and Hamburg. 

Enjoyed dinner this evening with a good friend and ex-colleague, lovely to catch up. Also provided an opportunity to try out my new Slo-cooker bought last weekend to replace my 40 year old faithful. I left a Beef Carbonnade for my husband and it seems to have passed muster. Plenty left over as planned, so nice easy dinner for tomorrow!

Getting the hang of it

Today was the third Monday morning when I haven't needed to get up at 6.20am before anyone else in the house and it's lovely to turn over and go back to sleep or have 20 minutes with my book before starting the day's activities. I am making sure I have a reason to have a walk every morning, either to the shops in town or to the nearest Co-op. This is mainly to ensure I get some exercise, but I've also rediscovered the enjoyment of stopping to talk to neighbours and acquaintances. While I was working I admit that I did used to avoid people if I thought it would mean spending precious time having a chat when I had other things I could be doing, but I am now finding that it's enjoyable to spend 5 or 10 minutes just passing the time of day in light conversation, when I don't have to rush so much.

We moved to this place 25 years ago, just after I'd started the job from which I retired in December, which was 20 miles away, and this has meant that I have few local contacts, with many of my friends based near to where I worked. Over the past couple of weeks, however,m  I have been seeing familiar faces, mainly parents from the 5 different schools our children have attended during their school lives or from their sporting activities and I have made a point of speaking to them as well, aiming to position myself more firmly into the community. This has felt like a positive thing to do and I've been pleased by the friendly responses I've received.

The planning for the big trip continues, with rail reservations made for the first third of the journey, from Paris to Switzerland to Italy and we have booked accommodation for Paris, Lausanne, Florence, Rome and are awaiting confirmation for what looks like a good find for Verona.  We don't need to make rail reservations for Austria or Germany so our next accommodation searches will be for Salzburg, Munich, Berlin and Hamburg. We do need to book trains for the Scandinavian leg of the trip, but it's too far in advance so we won't be able to do that until next week.

On top of this adventure, we are going to Porto for a few days at the end of February and I have booked to go walking in Majorca for a week with my younger sister (the middle of three of us) in May, so there's lots to look forward to.

On Saturday evening we had an early celebration of my youngest sister's birthday, which is tomorrow, with a meal and a film called Radiator, with Gemma Jones and Richard Johnson. It was quite a dark film, but with some very funny moments, and was a marvellous portrait of the workings of a slightly strange family, set in the Lake District with beautiful photography of Ullswater and its environs. It's one of those films which you don't forget about but keep thinking back on and wondering about the characters and what happened to them afterwards.

Getting around

This week has absolutely flown by and it's been very enjoyable, but I am still a bit concerned that I don't seem to be getting through the house de-cluttering/mega-cleaning project with any speed or conviction. I've realised today that I am the proverbial kid in the sweetshop because there are so many interesting things to do, I'm chopping and changing from one thing to another with jobs started, but not far progressed.  I'm pulled between doing the dutiful household chores, which I'm enjoying so much more because I have  time for them; going out for walks; emailing and messaging friends and family; reading; mindfulness colouring book; looking up recipes and cooking them; etc. Hopefully this is just a phase in reaction to the freedom of choice now available and the novelty will wear off in time.

On the reading front, I managed to find a copy of the second book in the wonderful Jean-Claude Izzo's Marseilles Trilogy in English online on Monday and it arrived today! There are plenty of copies in German and Italian to be had, but it's not been easy to find an English edition. I have almost finished the first book, "Total Chaos," so will be able to move straight onto book 2.  I need to find "Solea," book 3 now.

On Tuesday our youngest went back to University so I travelled with him as far as London to help him onto the train with his bags and took the opportunity to visit the Alexander Calder exhibition at Tate Modern; loved his wire sculptures of circus performers and mobile art. Thank you to my friend who recommended it and I want to pass on that recommendation, as it's really fun. On till April. The walk back over the Millennium Bridge was invigorating; a muted winter sun and freeing cold with an amazing golden sky over the combination of spires and modern towers which makes London such a rich and diverse city.

Today has been a beautiful day; very cold but so bright and a blue sky, an ideal day for a walk but I'm waiting in as our Interrail tickets are due to be delivered any day and need to be signed for. We now have a route in mind, but we can't finalise the route or book accommodation until we have the tickets to be able to make advance reservations, which are required on a number of the trains.  Once we have done that we can start to choose hotels, hostels, apartments, whatever seems right and within our budget for each destination. So our draft route is as follows:

LONDON TO PARIS
PARIS TO LAUSANNE
LAUSANNE TO FLORENCE
FLORENCE TO ROME
ROME TO VERONA
VERONA TO SALZBURG
SALZBURG TO MUNICH
MUNICH TO BERLIN
BERLIN TO HAMBURG
HAMBURG TO COPENHAGEN
COPENHAGEN TO STOCKHOLM
STOCKHOLM TO SUNDSVALL (SWEDEN)
SUNDSVALL TO TRONDHEIM NORWAY)
TRONDHEIM (FLY HOME)

I am so looking forward to this; the planning and the anticipation are definitely part of the adventure.

Back online with lessons learned

After a fraught few days during which I was unable to access this blog, I am now back and catching up with everything that's been happening since the end of last week. Who knew retirement would be so hectic, certainly I wasn't prepared for how much dashing about I seem to be doing (or maybe that's just me avoiding a blank canvas?).

I have certainly learned a few lessons over the past few days about technology and some potential pitfalls if you don't manage your interactions properly! The old adage that you're never too old to learn has been very apt in my case, and I know I have so much to learn, and when it goes relatively smoothly, it's fun.

I was going to blog about Bowie after I first heard the news of his death on Monday, but it has all been said so I am going to restrict myself to quoting him as an example of what made him and his work so special and insightful:

"Planet Earth is blue and there's nothing I can do."  Wow!!

Over the weekend I found myself planning not just one trip, but two, and more details of those in my next post. We spread our maps and books across the table and spent a horrible rainy and windy Saturday afternoon working out journeys and destinations for our April European trip, which with a few glasses of fizz, put a big smile on my face!

End of first week

Work at 9.30, horrified at how I could sleep so late, oblivious to my husband getting up, putting on the light, having a shower and I slept through it all.  Jumped out of bed, delighted that I've lost 2lbs after a less calorific week mainly through the exclusion of wine, plus less time sitting at a desk

Put a casserole in the oven on slow-cook before running off to eye test. Need some new glasses so paid a £30 deposit for the £96 it is going to cost. Which, at the end of week one, brings me to that embarrassing topic of money. We English hate mentioning money, something a bit vulgar about it, but I have spent an absolute mint this week and it's clear that I'm going to have to curb my spending. Obviously, I have significantly less income coming in, on the other hand, I have more time to see and make use of all these wonderful bargains and opportunities, so something has to give. I've booked a cookery school, an exhibition at Tate Modern and committed to a number of social events - hey ho!

On the subject of economy, I am loving Lidl - really cheap and good quality food. It's less than 10 minutes from our house so very accessible. Who wouldn't love a large free range chicken for less than £6 and really low cost veg. This is going to be my first stop for food shopping and will hopefully help to finance the trips out.

The casserole went down well; braising steak in red wine with carrots, field mushrooms, onions and garlic with thyme, bay leaves and all spice berries. Potatoes Anna as accompaniment, which I hadn't tried before, but will do again:

King Edward potatoes (a couple of medium potatoes per person) sliced very thinly, I use the potato peeler to shave slices off the top
Butter
Salt & pepper

Well grease a frying pan/skillet that can go into the oven with butter
Layer the potatoes, overlapping to make a potato cake, dotting each layer with butter and seasoning with salt & pepper
Cover the pan tightly with buttered foil
Leave on a medium to low heat for 15 mins till the cake is starting to brown from the bottom
Put into oven at gas 5/375 F/190 C for half an hour uncovered. Leave a little longer/turn up the oven to brown the top if too pale. Turn out onto a warm plate and slice into portions for everyone.

One of my bargains at Lidl today was a pot of 3 hyacinth bulbs for less than £2. I love the colours and smell of these lovely flowers and I have some that are coming along well in the gorgeous pottery pig that my so thoughtful kids gave me as a retirement present. They are coming along beautifully and sitting proudly on the bay window sill, promising Spring. I brought them into the kitchen for some water and here they are:

I will take a break from blogging over the weekend, but back for week 2. I think retirement agrees with me!

Day Four

The main feature of today is that I finished a task that I've been working on all week and wanted to complete; now it's done, I feel like I've got control over my time and I'm raring to go.

I had decided that regular walking would be built in to my retired life as my work was highly desk-based and I am naturally an active person given the opportunity. I managed to fit a walk in on Monday but not on Tuesday or Wednesday so was pleased to walk into town today, taking a longer, indirect route to increase the benefits, and picked up some shopping as well as booking an appointment for an eye test. I have got in for tomorrow morning so that's new as the restricted times I could offer when working meant I usually had to book about a month ahead.

The big leap forward, however, is that my husband and I have made a start on looking at the rail map of Europe and making some initial suggestions about possible routes and stopping places. Helsinki is where I think I might possibly like to end our trip, and I've already checked that we could get a cheap flight home on the date we'd need it. However, when we found out that the average temperature in Helsinki in April is 4 degrees that's a bit daunting, those icy Baltic winds!

We had a look at some clips on YouTube and the most striking message from these was that Helsinki appears to be full of people who qualify for 18-30 holidays; so where are the kids and the middle aged and older people? We spotted two street musicians who could have been in their 80's, but they were part of the scenery rather than participants. Makes me think there is a niche here to share travel experiences aimed specifically at the more mature traveller - sort of a rough guide for old farts. I expect they already exist and will do a bit of  searching to find out what they have to say about Helsinki, as well as a list of other European cities which might be on our long list.

Day Three

Twelfth Night today so have put away the tree and decorations for another year. This is something which always makes me slightly melancholy, thinking about about next year and hoping that we'll all be around to see another tree and hang up the family collection of baubles and tree decorations next Christmas. Sounds depressing, but a year feels like a long time away and nothing can be taken for granted. The secret is to focus on all the opportunities and events planned between now and next December, including a new Spring and hopefully a warm and dry summer to enjoy. That will make a big difference to how I experience my first year in retirement.

For next Christmas I will have no excuse not to be better prepared than I was for this past year, with lots of time available to plan, pre-prepare food, shop for imaginative presents. Although it might be sensible not to raise expectations to an unrealistically high level, as a friend emailed to me today, "under-promise and over-deliver.'

Today brought a lot of contact with ex-colleagues who have also become great friends, and lunches and dinners are being put into diaries.

Tomorrow the great house tidying/cleaning project needs to start to happen, as I was waiting to get rid of the Christmas stuff first. The boxes need to go into the loft, so that will be a start! As this will involve a lot of carrying and stair climbing, I should get to bed to keep up energy levels.

Day Two

Well, woke later this morning but pulled myself out of bed by 8.30, quick breakfast followed by a soak in the bath, when I so rarely had time for more than a quick shower when I was working, so that was a plus. Spent morning on routine and mundane admin and housework tasks, and afternoon involved a trip to a nearby market town including a frothy cappucino in a posh cafe and purchasing some fabulous veg for soup-making. The day passed by in a flash, and I only touched the surface of the list of things I had planned to do. So, it may be I am setting myself over-ambitious targets as a hangover from working and need to lower expectations,  I did manage to cram a lot into the evening, including the soup-making, a phonecall with my Mum, watching the first episode of Deutschland 83 which we'd recorded from Sunday and booking myself onto a half day cookery course on pasta making in February, following the purchase of a voucher yesterday from Lastminute.com.

Lots on tomorrow, including a trip out to a bee farm and taking down the Christmas tree and decorations, so won't be a slow day!

Day one

Up at 8am this morning - resisted the urge to stay in bed to read the excellent novel I started yesterday (more of that later) as feel the need to be doing stuff, using this new source of time and opportunity as constructively as possible.

So I ended up having a pretty hectic day, a million miles away from the imagined idyll of gentle pottering, a bottomless coffee pot and feet up! Still it was a good day, during which I frequently compared the pleasure of being able to make my own decisions about what and when as opposed to the powerlessness experienced in the face of deadlines, meetings and the demands of projects.

Highlights of the day: taking the time to prepare a shepherd's pie for the family dinner;  walking for fun in the middle of the day; taking a bagfull of unwanted books and clothes to the Heart Foundation shop and leaving with two of the small number of Peter Robinson novels I haven't read yet; visiting the local library for the first time in over 3 years and reserving The Lost Sailors by Jean-Paul Izzo, but unfortunately no luck in finding Chourmo or Solea; watching the first episode of the new series of The Young Montalbano.

Around all of this I managed to fit in what felt like a lot of routine, but necessary, household chores, but in my own good time!

Plenty more to fill tomorrow and lots more tomorrows!

Getting started

My name is Anne, I am 61 years old and I have just retired after a working life of almost 40 years. Tomorrow is the day I would normally be returning to work after the long Christmas/New Year break so today I am feeling excited, yes definitely excited, yet also slightly unsettled, as I contemplate the new opportunities ahead and how it will feel when I get up tomorrow morning and it really sinks in that I am actually not going to the job I've been doing since 1990.

A few people have suggested that I should start a blog to record and share my experiences, so here I go. Must try not to become an ageing Bridget Jones! But will share anything interesting, unexpected or surprising. This is likely to include books, films, theatre, recipes, travel and anything else I want to record or reflect on.