Really settling into this retirement lark and loving every single day – each day is totally different. So I thought it might be worth letting you know about a few things currently going on as this is a kind of typical day, these days.
Routines
Last night neither of us slept well, which is very unusual. Normally I take 30 seconds to fall asleep and I stay like that for 7 or 8 hours. This time was different with me waking Rachel at 2:00am. Wow did I have to do this gently. I had woken up with a strange unfamiliar noise which had us both creeping around the house making sure everything was okay. Of course every thing was fine. Not sure what would have happened if we had come face to face with someone. We later heard on the local radio that a hotel, not far from us, had become the victim of an armed robbery so perhaps that might have explained the strange noise. Anyway, we were up a tad late this morning having overslept a little. We are on the edge of shifting our body clocks and I don’t like this – going to bed late and getting up late – just don’t like this!
It is only NOW, after two months of retirement that we are starting to settle down into a sort of routine, something which I have been in no hurry to achieve. I have enjoyed the honeymoon feeling which, although is fading away, is evolving into a lovely life. I am so pleased I have stepped back from working. My routines are not complete though. I’m still wanting something to exercise my brains! I have missed the boat, for now, on training to be a Magistrate. I had an offer of joining the board of a local not-for-profit organisation and I deferred that until things settle down. Otherwise things are settling down in terms of a regular outing somewhere (just the two of us), serving others, practical work at home and so on.
Patiently absorbing….(!)
Rachel had an appointment at a new dental practice, simply for a check up. As this was new and Rachel was feeling a tad apprehensive, I dutifully offered to go and provide a bit of moral support. I was invited to sit on a chair in the surgery room corner at the foot of the chair Rachel was in. I offered to hold her foot as clearly holding her hand was out of the question. Clearly Rachel was wanting to say “yes” but it would have been totally daft. So I made sure I coughed occasionally so Rachel knew I was still there while the new, young and terribly enthusiastic dentist did her stuff in poking around in her mouth.
You see when we got married (back in 1996) one of my vows was about patiently absorbing her emotions. Now you might think that’s a bit patronising, old fashioned and so on. In practice it is something I do and is the source of some humour between us such as “I might need some ‘patiently absorbing’ but let me just have a rant first”. Quaint, old fashioned it is; in practice it works, at least in our marriage.
Kitchen stuff
Our washing machine has been on the blink for a little time now and our friend Emily had diagnosed a faulty pump. I have never got on with this particular washing machine which must be all of 10 years old by now. Actually with the latest fault I had been thinking this would be a good opportunity to cut our losses and get a new one. Instead Emily’s report was a new pump was “only £70 including fitting” and apparently the deal was done. So yesterday, just after breakfast Emily was knocking on the door and in no time had the washing machine fixed. I think I am pleased…. same dodgy washing machine but I guess we have saved £600 or £700 on the cost of a new one.
While this was going on Rachel was trying to stay calm and do battle with an irritating NHS dose of bureaucracy; namely the seemingly simple task of rearranging a dental appointment for Hannah. As the first appointment was inconvenient a new appointment was agreed with the hospital. Then we had a letter saying that had been rearranged to another date which would be impossible for Hannah to attend. Rachel decided to call the hospital only to be told it was policy to allow only one opportunity to rearrange an appointment.
“But the appointment you sent was not what we agreed. She can’t make this and won’t even be in the country!”.
“Sorry, it’s our policy. We will have to discharge your daughter and do back to her own dentist again”
“How can we resolve this? Do we need to make a complaint as this is stupid?”
The NHS person, trying to wriggle out of such a situation which was totally bonkers, referred Rachel straight through to the Patient Liaison Service. They fixed it in 5 minutes. Thank goodness for that, someone with common sense.
Facebook shenanigans
Yesterday I posted on Facebook the photo above showing the outline sketch which I did in the Art Group. I duly explained that I didn’t get very far as
- I had forgotten my glasses
- I turned up late
- Spent too much time chatting, drinking tea and being sociable.
Suddenly I found myself being terribly teased by my wonderful Facebook friends for being so good at painting-by-numbers and how I must have mistaken my tea for the jar of water used for washing brushes. All this needed calming down. I should have known! So a simple “honestly you lot, behave!” has hopefully done the trick.
Knebworth House
Rachel and I thought we should use our soon-to-expire Royal Horticulture Society membership cards and visit the gardens at Knebworth House. We always like to try and get our money’s worth from these things but this year we have left it rather late. Undeterred we checked the website, all was fine and looking good. Even the weather is cooperating with wall-to-wall sunshine and we wondered what could possibly go wrong?
We got to Knebworth House alright, or at least to the locked entrance gate. I pressed the intercom button and was politely informed they were closed that day, no matter what the website said. We pulled the car over to have our picnic lunch. The usual things and included compost sandwiches with a bit of hard cholesterol (cheese).
Undeterred we thought what else could we do instead. Turned out we weren’t far from my favourite whole food shop (Fairhaven in Letchworth) so we headed there, followed by a speculative visit to our friends, the Williamsons. We haven’t seen them for a few years and this was too long. I admire them for their principled lifestyle; ethically minded and vegan.
So that’s how it’s shaping up
We are trying to get the right balance between having fun, leisure time, serving others, being sociable. We aren’t there yet. I am still wasting a lot of time chasing the NHS over health things but I am confident this will resolve itself in due course.
So you know, I seem to be in regular contact with:
- Urology department at the hospital
- Renal department at the hospital
- District Nurse service
- My GP surgery
- The Pharmacy
All this is new to me. Six months ago I didn’t even know I had an NHS number or a hospital number. Now I know them off by heart. Also I am now having to learn the system, how to reach the various secretaries in the hospital and gain their co-operation. It’s almost a full time job!