Music, Radio 4 and getting around

Two things I really enjoy in life are music and Radio 4, and I've just realised that since I've retired I've hardly listened to any music and not at all to Radio 4, apart from when I've been driving.

I wonder why this is and can only put it down to the fact that I seem to be constantly moving about, only sitting down in one place when I want to read, when I don't like background noise. A typical "at home" day finds me up and down the stairs, in and out to the garage to the freezer and the tumble drier, running around with the hoover and out to the shops. I met a long-retired friend last night and we were talking about this. She listens to Radio 4, but selectively, while her husband tends to put it on and leave it on, even when he is out of the room. One problem, we agreed, particularly with the radio, is that it can hinder the progress of tasks so, for example, if you are baking and using the electric mixer, it drowns out the programme and you miss part of the drama or news item you've got immersed in. Likewise when you want to start to hoover or the washing machine goes into heavy spin mode, the dilemma is whether to miss that part of the programme or to stop the task and/or move somewhere quieter. It all comes back to the feeling that everything needs to be done at top speed and high efficiency, even though in retirement there is no pressure to do so - old habits and attitudes are so ingrained! One way round this, of course, is to listen to radio programmes, including music programmes, on the wonderful BBC radio i-player, as you can stop and start at will, so making space for the interspersion of noisy activities, so that must be the way to go. I'm also surprised that I haven't actually needed the "company" but I haven't missed it, so there must be plenty of internal conversation going on in my head.

Today my car had to go in for MOT and it was a relief that it got through with a clean bill of health, just a lightbulb to be replaced, so the cost was thankfully kept to a minimum and the car came back cleaner and shinier than I left it with the garage. I am still much less reliant on my car since I retired, as I use it hardly at all for local journeys, taking advantage of my senior railcard and continuing to walk wherever possible. Of course, the car is still needed for long journeys or when transporting heavy shopping, going to the recycling centre, etc. I am hoping that by using it more sparingly though that I will be able to keep the maintenance, parking and fuel costs down. I certainly don't yet feel ready to do without a car altogether.

Prizes, Performance and Recompense

On Thursday I was invited to return to my workplace to attend the annual Learning and Development Awards celebratory event. It was wonderful to be back among the L&D team I worked with for so long and to celebrate with all those members of staff who were presented with certificates. I was enormously honoured and totally amazed to be recognised for my "Sustained Contribution to Learning and Development," and thank you so much to all those responsible for thinking of this and organising it. I was so impressed with the high quality of the event which so reflects the excellent and supportive work of the team, and reminded me of why I loved working with them.

On Friday night I accompanied my husband to a concert in London's Hackney Empire. I say accompanied him, as the band in question was definitely one of his favourites going way back, called The Residents, an avant garde band who certainly never hit the charts!

The journey there by train was pretty avant garde too, with delays due to "adverse weather conditions," and alterations to the information being provided on train times on a regular basis. A journey that should have taken an hour and fifteen minutes actually took over two hours but we got there with time to have dinner in an Italian restaurant at Highbury Corner and a drink at the Cock Tavern, a few doors down from the venue.

We were in for a genuine treat; the Hackney Empire is an amazing and authentic old music hall/theatre with beautiful stained glass, marble and gilded angels, and a ceiling dome which appears to reflect a sky of twinkling stars.

Hackney Empire 

Hackney Empire

I had been wondering what kind of audience to expect and I found a strange mixture of men of all ages, many wearing jaunty hats from trilbies and huge texan stetsons to tea-cosy style knitted hats to balaclavas with huge horns, which reflected the horned headgear of the band. There were also some of the most beautiful young and stylish women I have ever seen gathered together in one place, many with black geometrically cut hair and facial bone structures to die for. 

We arrived about thirty minutes before the band hit the stage to vivid blue lighting and a black and white geometric set.

My expectations had not been high but the concert was surprisingly engaging and entertaining. The band members' costumes were designed to conceal the identity of the artists, surely a forerunner of Daft Punk, with masks and dreadlocks, reminiscent of the Ood to those who follow Dr Who. Randy, the lead singer, was dressed in black and white checked underpants, reflecting the backdrop, a sparkly  white tailcoat and flippers - and not much else. The songs were short and punchy with sharp lyrics, interspersed with stories told by a skeleton head from the blue dome at the back of the set.

The band came back on stage in response to the warm applause for an encore and left the stage after 90 minutes, leaving a satisfied audience. I visited the Ladies before setting off for home and was told by the woman in front of me that she had cat-sitted for a neighbour and had been given the tickets as a thank you. The moral of the story for her was not to cat-sit again! I can't agree with her, as for me it was an interesting experience and great fun!

Getting home was not quite so much fun as, again, we were left waiting late at night at a major London station for 50 minutes before a train turned up, although the service is scheduled to be half-hourly. We were advised by the ticket inspector on the train to make a claim when we complained about the poor service and we will definitely do this. 

It was quite amusing that twice on the tube I was offered a seat by younger travellers, which indicates that I look older than I thought I did. However, despite the slight dint to my pride, I was happy to take up their kind offers and it was cheering to see that even in London, which is often given bad press, there are thoughtful and selfless travellers. This was slightly dinted by the arrival on the train of a family of Mum, Dad and a badly overweight son of about 12, whose constant whinging persuaded his Mum that she should push him into a seat as soon as one became free, regardless of the needs of anyone else in the carriage.

Winding down

Am back from the road trip, having covered 570 miles and three enjoyable visits in two days. Fortunately, there were very few hold-ups so I was able to stick to the planned schedule. I successfully delivered the boxes of assorted stuff to both my boys and our landing now looks strangely bare without them; some people would call it tidy. I enjoyed lunches with both of the boys, and with the girlfriend of one of them, and we had a good catch up on family news and discussed plans and possibilities for the Easter and summer holidays.

It was lovely to catch up with my friends in Lincolnshire, who I haven't seen for four years. It was lovely food and home comforts all the way including pancakes for Shrove Tuesday, and I have come away with a recipe for Seville Minted Chicken which we had for dinner and was delicious. It includes marmalade as an ingredient, so will be a way of making use of the jars of homemade marmalade in our cupboard.

My friends are both retired and it was interesting to hear how they spend their time; they have two dogs so exercising them is part of their daily routine all year round and before I left them this morning we all went to some nearby woods to give the dogs a run around in a safe, car-free environment. The trees were all in bud and with the lovely blue sky, there was a real feeling of the imminent arrival of Spring.

I will experience the contrast between the leisurely pub lunches and the woodland walk of the past two days with the working life I have so recently left behind me, when tomorrow I will return to the work environment to attend an annual staff development awards ceremony as a guest. This event celebrates the achievements of staff who have gained skills and professional qualifications, often balancing their studies with family responsibilities, as well as demanding jobs. This event is a high-profile event which involves a lot of careful preparation for the Learning and Development team, with changes made right up to the last minute. I already feel that I would struggle to be able to pick up the pace at which I was working as a member of that team and it will be interesting to view this event from a more detached perspective. In any case, I am looking forward to catching up both with my ex-colleagues and also with the staff from across the organisation who will be recognised for their achievements.

Road trip ahead

One lovely thing about being retired is that you can just hop in the car or onto public transport and set off anywhere you need or want to go. No need to plan ahead and book days off work, and tomorrow I am going on a short road trip to visit both my sons and some old friends, driving up to Yorkshire for lunch and down to Lincolnshire for the night. From there I will cross over to Leicestershire for lunch before heading home on Wednesday evening.

I will make the most of the opportunity to listen to cds, played loudly to suit my poor hearing, and keep in touch with the news via the radio. There is something very liberating about being in a car, enclosed in your private bubble, with a wide choice of music at your disposal to meet your mood. I have recently taken to buying cds in charity shops; they are usually £1 each and it's rare that I don't find something among the invariable Best of Julio Iglesias and Classics go Pop to tempt me. I usually buy music by bands that have been recommended or I've heard an isolated track on the radio and am interested in hearing more. I bought Doves at the weekend, so will give them a try tomorrow.

I finally managed to track down the third Jean-Claude Izzo novel, Solera, on e-Bay. To say I was excited by the find is an understatement, as at the time I was totally caught up in Chourmo, the second book in the trilogy and desperate to source the next episode. Well, it arrived within a few days of my order being placed, but it is in French! I am too disappointed to send it back, so may have to try, with my trusty Robert french dictionary by my side, to read it in the original, make as much sense of it as possible, until such time as I can find an english translation.

The book in my overnight bag for my trip is Us by David Nicholls. A friend very thoughtfully passed her copy to me given our upcoming grand tour of Europe, mirroring the tour planned by the couple in the story. I am just over halfway through and thoroughly enjoying it. I have definitely taken sides in the couple situation and can't wait to see how the story develops.

Signs of Spring

It has been an active and sociable few days. On Thursday I had lunch with an ex-colleague and it was brilliant to catch up with her; on Friday a very long-standing friend and I did a walk along a cycle route from the city to the coast, passing over the downs to get there. My friend’s Keep Fit app showed that we had walked 12k and even better news, had burnt over 600 calories, but of course these all got used up on a substantial and delicious crab sandwich and a small glass of sauvignon blanc. We were talking so much we almost missed the sight of some early primroses. I always love seeing these, so understated and delicate in contrast to the cultivated yellow primula which poke you in the eye, while the wild ones blend creamily into the landscape and can be so easily missed.

Today I’ve been going through cupboards and drawers with my daughter, who will shortly be leaving the area and moving into a furnished flat. There is so much “stuff” I’ve been hoarding to give our kids a start when they move out so it’s been good to box up some towels and crockery to pass on. I think back to how we had so little when we started and how we’ve built it up over the years, and now we are on the downward trajectory, decluttering and wanting to make the best possible use of what is there, rather than just binning it. I have a real problem with the modern attitude of the disposability of everything, because we are just leaving behind us so much rubbish and the problem of how to remove it,.

It’s interesting to think about what the weekend means when you’re retired. I remember talking to my parents in-law when they were both retired and I asked them what they were planning for the weekend. Their response was that there is no distinction between the weekdays and the weekend and they tended to go out more during the week while everyone else was at work or at school. Because my husband is still working the weekend is still significant for us, and I treat the weekdays as working days; working being cleaning, cooking, shopping, while the weekends are still for leisure and treats.

Get the balance right

Round 2 with Fudge the cat today.  I have obviously become too relaxed and off my guard. I needed to go out into the back garden this morning to empty the veg waste into the compost bin. I checked through the window first, no sign of cat, so I sidled through the door, shutting it behind me and went down to the bottom of the garden to the compost bin. Came back up a couple of minutes later and still no sign of him. Feeling pleased with myself that he must have found pastures new in which to camp, I opened the door to let myself in, noticed a plant pot that needed moving, picked it up and moved it and walked into the kitchen, almost falling over Fudge! I hadn’t noticed him around and let out a small shriek, at which he shot off from the kitchen into the hallway and disappeared. 

As I was about to go out for some shopping, to say I wasn’t exactly delighted by this intrusion is an understatement, as I couldn’t go out and leave him in our house but I had no idea of how to get him out without picking him up, which I don’t feel able to do. I have an inbuilt fear of cats that must arise from some early childhood experience with a cat; the name Whiskers comes to mind when I think back. I shouted out that he needed to leave as I was on the verge of going out, my language was slightly less polite in fact, and I looked around the house to locate him. He was installed on the front windowsill, jumping down onto the arm of the sofa when he saw me and looking affronted at being asked to leave. I took out my phone and took a photo of him and he instantly jumped down and made for the backdoor to be let out, so not only did he leave, but I may also have discovered an easy mechanism to remove him on future occasions when I need to if he is always so camera-shy.

I’ve had three days on the run this week of being at home all day, not counting the daily walk to the shops, and I can honestly say that I’ve experienced no difficulty in filling the time. Planning, preparing and cooking good food plays a significant role, as does cleaning and tidying the house, catching up with admin tasks and keeping in touch with people online. Tomorrow I am meeting a friend, an ex-colleague, for lunch and on Friday am meeting one of my oldest friends, retired last year, for a walk followed by lunch, so this week seems to model a good balance between socialising and being at home and operating in my own space. I feel like a routine of sorts is beginning to emerge on the “at home” days, which incorporates the physical exercises, the meals, household duties, walk to shops and some time for reading, and bang, the day’s gone! Next week will be rather different as I am going to visit my sons at their respective Universities to transport boxes of stuff they want and will combine this with an overnight with some friends who moved away from the area a few years ago and who I haven’t seen for 4 or 5 years, so I am looking forward to that.

I think some routine & predictability can be a good thing, but I like the idea that it can be loose and flexible and that every day/week will be different and include something surprising or unexpected.

These boots are made for walking

We have just completed all the travel and accommodation arrangements for our inter-rail trip, so all we have to do now is to sit back and wait to enjoy the actual trip itself! It’s a relief because in most of the places we are visiting there is such a vast choice of places to stay with a huge range of prices, and when you don’t know the place, it can all feel a bit hit and miss. We’ve tried to mix and match the standard of accommodation so that in some places we have gone for cheap and cheerful, while in others we’ve pushed the boat out a bit and booked somewhere with a bit more comfort and luxury. We’ve got one airb&b place in Italy, an apartment in Bamberg, a ship anchored in the harbour in Stockholm and our final stop is a hotel widely renowned for its breakfasts, the best in Norway apparently. The one thing we haven’t felt able to compromise on, given our maturity, is having en suite facilities.  Our kids, two of whom have inter-railed in recent years, were urging us to go for some of the cheaper hostels, which they’d found had met their needs perfectly; however, 50’s and 60’s aren’t the same as teens and 20’s so as none of the hostels offered en suites, we decided they weren’t for us at this time in our lives.

We have made sure that everywhere we stay is close to the railway stations we’ll be using as that will be when we’ll have our luggage to consider. Once we settle into our room, we can leave all the heavy gear and we are used to doing a lot of walking, minus the luggage, once we start to explore. We also haven’t yet decided whether to go for rucksacks and be real backpackers or to go for suitcases on wheels, which might be easier on our backs and offer a bit more room as we are going to need warm clothes in Scandinavia, while it will hopefully be warmer in Italy.

On the subject of walking, my car is feeling very neglected as I have made so little use of it since I retired. I have been using it once a week to do a supermarket shop and stock up on heavy and bulky goods, but I walk every other day to buy veg and fruit, and other small items, as a way of ensuring I’m getting the exercise and burning some calories. I have also made good use of the train taking advantage of my much loved Senior Railcard to go out of town; it means I can avoid the inevitable traffic jams which seem to be the norm at the moment, I can read and relax on the train and I can even have a glass of wine (or two) if the occasion presents itself. I filled up my car with petrol on the 2nd January and still have almost half a tank left. This is in contrast to the 3 or 4 times a month I had to fill up when I was working, driving a 40 mile round trip.I did take my car out on Saturday evening to see Bridge of Spies, and actually enjoyed the drive for the novelty value. The film was well-worth seeing, as well!