For me it is hard to believe I have been retired for a week now. I keep thinking of this as a spot of annual leave before heading back to work on Monday. Having said that, it is sinking in a little more now and I thought it was time to reflect on the first week of retirement.
The above photograph shows Rachel and I with our dear friends Steve and Ruth. Rather than having a large scale party and invite everyone I know, I preferred having a more genteel afternoon tea. Doing this yesterday afternoon had me recollecting what I had been doing the previous Thursday – walking out of work for the final time. Rather than dwell on the negatives, I explained to Steve and Ruth how I’ve been looking to the future. While my salaried career might be over, I am looking forward to getting involved in all kinds of different things.
Our afternoon tea was exactly how it ought to be. Served by the same waitress throughout where we were encouraged to try as many of the different teas as we liked; these were all complimentary. Each of us was served with our own two-cup tea pot, strainer and fresh cup for each change of tea. My favourite was Anna Marie’s breakfast tea – nice and refreshing. Our food was very dainty. It included cakes, various nibbles, warm scones with jam, butter and cream. In the middle of this were the dandiest sandwiches with lovely fillings, all with their crusts cut off. Mine, as the only vegetarian in the group, included cheese and cucumber and this represented the ultimate in perfectly good taste.
Mt Snowdon with Hannah
Visiting Hannah in North Wales was something I’d been really looking forward to. It was a very special time. As Hannah was the outdoor centre’s night duty officer, she had to stay overnight in the main building, meaning I could have her room for the three nights I was there. It worked well.
On the Saturday we planned to hike up Mt Snowdon. This is something I’d done just once before and Hannah has been able to do several times, including a number of times this year. We went up the Pyg track and came down using the Miner’s track. This is a round trip of about 5 hours, allowing for plenty of time on the summit.
There were a couple of “features” which will stay in my mind for this climb. Firstly the weather. I had almost forgotten what feeling cold was like. After about 6 weeks of continuous sunshine and increasingly high temperatures at home, it came as a shock to the system when the ground level forecast was 20C and naturally much cooler further up the mountain. Add to that the windspeed with gusts of 50mph, it was certainly chilly to say the least. Just as well I have two jackets, some over-trousers and a cap. At the top I was almost shivering.
The second memorable feature were the hordes of other walkers. Once at the summit we even had to queue up to take the last few steps up a man-made mound to actually be the tallest person in Wales for a moment. All walkers at the top seemed well equipped. Further down the mountain some were dressed very inappropriately with jeans and tee shirts!
The scenery was absolutely stunning. Somewhat miraculously the clouds parted as we reached the summit and we could enjoy some lovely 360 degree views all around. The speed of those clouds up there was something else!
Back down from the mountain, we drove back to the outdoor centre in time for the evening meal. Afterwards we had another walk along the beach and I think we both slept well that night.
On Sunday it was fortunate that Hannah had the day off so we could attend church with each other. The church which she has nurtured some links to is Hope Church in Bangor, a gathering of under 100 folk so fairly small in number. I had been before and had liked the informality. This Sunday was a little different with the church being on a kind of touring holiday, so we all trekked over to Anglesey in our cars. We were guests of the even smaller Lighthouse Church which turned out to be a new church plant and currently has three families in, so “we” from Hope Church somewhat swelled the numbers. The welcome was warm hearted and generous, they were so pleased to have us all there.
Before the service started, I got talking to one of the Lighthouse members. Maxine said she’d come from Loughborough as part of the church plant and very much a step of faith for her and her family. We found ourselves comparing the benefits of having everything in life planned to the last little detail, as opposed to leaving room for some spontaneous opportunities. Over time she had found herself letting go of the need to get things planned to the tiniest way and simply trusting all would be fine. It was and continues to be so.
After church and during the afternoon, Hannah and I headed to the north Anglesey coast to a place called Benllech (I think) which seemed delightfully in a time warp. After our afternoon stroll along the beach, we sat down together to talk through some points of Hannah’s future career. She snuggled up and we talked until we were both feeling cold and damp in the drizzle. Hannah asked me if I could drive her car back to her base, which I did.
Christians Against Poverty
By arrangement I left North Wales in the small hours on Monday, to get back home in time to attend the first training session of the newly formed CAP group in Dunstable. We’re keen to be part of this, as volunteers. It can be life-changing for some who benefit in being freed from crippling debts. This is Christian faith in action in a positive, tangible way.
Other things
Deliberately I have kept most days fairly clear. This is all about unwinding, relaxing and starting to leave the Council behind. We have plenty more adjustments to make and I’m looking forward to us being able to tackle these. They’re not problems, but things which nevertheless need addressing. A few of these include:
My health – I’m still waiting for my HoLEP prostate operation. Having attended the hospital earlier this week for an ultrasound scan of my prostate, I was advised the waiting time from this point is 2-3 months. That is a bit distressing for me as I loathe having this catheter inside me. It seems to get blocked every few weeks and requires a visit from the District Nurse to kindly does it at home for me. The consultant who I saw helpfully picked up on my frustration and distress, so we’ll see how the timescales pan out. In the last few days I have had a copy of his letter sent to my own Doctor. The other thing is that, following my last appointment, received appointments for MRI and CT scans of my prostate and an appointment with the kidney specialist. Things seem to be moving at last!
Exercise – I’m having to find other ways of getting some exercise these days. Cycling is too painful. Running is too problematic with the catheter in place and indeed causes me to lose quite a bit of blood.
Our roles within the house – almost like getting married again!
Money – currently we’re living off my salary and this will stop on 7 August. After that we need to activate our cunning plan and this will involve another meeting with our financial advisors. This includes settling the cost of the work carried out this year for us.
We will need to regularly review our cashflow and any movements of money that we need to make. This will be important to us as we work through the financial strategy which our financial advisors have devised. A benefit of this is avoiding the need to pay income tax through making the most of our tax allowances and supplementing our income with drawing on our savings.
How we use our time – we mustn’t allow time to drift away. We need to have some purpose everyday.
Our house – we need to do a couple of things. Firstly we will have a grand clear out of the attic. Quite a lot of things can be eBay’d. Some decorating to do and some interesting prints need framing and on display.
And the list goes on…..