Officially retired now. Have updated my LinkedIn profile today, so it must be true.
This is the first week when pretty much everyone else is back at work after the extended Festive season, and so this retirement lark feels real now. So far, so good. I am neither bored nor panicked (yet).
My time has been spent on the things I like the most – walking and booking travel! The walking has involved consistently exceeding my 12000 daily steps, and also included some time each day in Richmond Park which is luckily close by. I want to avoid becoming a slave to excessive routine, but some structure to the day will emerge no doubt. One small thing has been to watch French television news ( France 24 https://www.france24.com/fr/direct ) for 10-15 minutes on weekdays in an attempt to re-establish my previous level of proficiency with the language. Two birds with one stone really, as it also alerts me to global headlines rather than reading the links to The Sun which seem to pop up on my phone. French newscasters and reporters seem to flirt a great deal more with each other than the BBC (the very thought of Huw Edwards and Laura Kuenssberg having a flirtatious exchange makes me queasy).
Booking travel is mostly in anticipation of my BIG TRIP, but also a couple of overnights this month. I have never been a home-body and I love to spend time away. This always mystified my mother – who used to spend half of our holidays wishing for them to end so she could go back home.
I have fixed up to meet with several friends over the next few weeks and have already found and attended a singing group which will occupy me on Monday mornings.
One aspect I had not particularly thought about was the improvement to weekends that retirement brings. When I was working full-time, the weekends were really the only times I had in which to do anything that was non-work-related. So they were not always very relaxing and I usually felt some time-pressure, even when enjoying whatever I was doing. Now, I can actually sit with a book – something I suspect I will struggle with for a while during the week.
Good start!