A Retirement Blog by Caree Risover

I do feel that my blog entries of late have given themselves over to an indulgent opportunity for a little ranting. The strange thing is that retirement is like a second adolescence in so many ways: I can go to bed late and get up late; I can do what I want to do, rather than be at the bidding of others, and live in a totally selfish bubble if I so choose; my responsibilities are negligible; I can eat at odd hours; there is no reason for commitment to any engagement unless of my choosing; I can make spur of the moment decisions on how to spend my time, be it by curling up to spend a day reading a book or by taking advantage of the sun in the sky to go for a walk; I can spend hours thinking about the meaning of life, talking with friends or even just looking at my phone, should I so want. Recently however I have also discovered that it is a time for reclaiming the passion of youth; the fight for right and beliefs. I hear many elderly people moaning about election coverage, a...

On Friday we made the decision to head to the city rather than fry ourselves on deck. So we headed from Troon Marina to the centre of Glasgow as the sun burnt down upon us and temperatures reached Mediterranean levels. Although we braved the heat to take in the Cathedral, Necropolis, and the Provand's Lordship it was only inside the art galleries (of which Glasgow has a multitude) that we found relief from the baking temperatures. It has to be said that Glasgow likes its art gritty and the ends of so many buildings are now daubed with street art murals that we found fascinating like this one at the University of Strathclyde: In the aftermath of the appalling bombing at Manchester arena only a few days before, we thought the Polygraph Exhibition at the Gallery of Modern Art particularly pertinent. It is centred around a two channel video by the German film maker and visual artist, Hito Steyerl, in which she explores the death of her friend in Turkey. Dissecting ...

It is often said that a week is a long time in politics. Two weeks or, to be totally exact, since I last posted about the election on 6th May , is even longer. The intervening period seems like an eternity and we are now a little clearer on the varous parties' policies, some of which actually sound progressive and others, like the potential for the reintroduction of fox hunting and the return of grammar schools, positively Victorian. On Brexit which is supposed to  be the main issue for the election, we appear to have established that the Conservatives with their Brexit means Brexit approach would sacrifice free trade in return for an unlikely ability to reduce immigration to tens of thousands. Labour on the other hand would negotiate to keep us in the free market with EU immigration essentially controlling itself through market forces. The LibDems however whilst not rejecting outright the outcome of the referendum result last year, believe that Brexit does not nece...

Were I to write my autobiography  based on the last two weeks I doubt if there could be a more fitting title than "The Woman Who Lived in a Cupboard." Yesterday, after all the practice at home , I volunteered to help Save the Children by tidying up a walk-in cupboard. Moreover, I went back today to finish the job. Obviously this action in itself didn't save many (I mean any) children but it does mean that the lovely volunteers at their local Charity Shop can now get into the cupboard to store day to day items ready to fill empty spaces on shelves and hopefully raise significant sums to help support the Charity's work. Never did I envisage that, of all the skills I may be able to develop in retirement, an ability to move boxes and stack shelves, producing order out of chaos, would be one of the most useful.  It's supposed to be a life of creativity and adventure that I'm seeking, albeit without the clutter. However, after spending so much tim...

Nesting instinct, Spring and cardboard boxes; they all came together today. Is it the level of the sun in the sky or the birds hopping around building nests and feeding their young? I'm not sure, but it is always at this time of the year that I get an uncontrollable urge to clear out cupboards. I confess that when I was working, it didn't get much further than a fleeting feeling but the early years of retirement are a time to tackle all that messy storage and I'm proud to say that I have actually attacked all of my cupboards at some point since retirement, making a better job in some than others. It would be nice to think that having tidied them once, they might stay that way especially after being previously neglected for a decade or more. Sadly, no. Once that Spring feeling dissipates, the rest of the year is spent filling them up as random items get squeezed in anywhere. It had reached the point that just opening the door of the cupboard under the stairs ...

W hilst we were in Italy the Prime Minister decided to call a General Election after 6 months spent assuring everybody that she would do no such thing, and ruining any remaining credibility on her part in the process. Maybe it's a case of keeping up with the Joneses or in this case the Merkels and Hollandes,  as France and Germany both go to the polls this year too. Alternatively, as suggested in many quarters, is it to deflect the potential for losing her majority in the House of Commons after files have been passed to the Crown Prosecution Service amid allegations that up to 20 Conservative MPs breached rules regarding local spending limits in the 2015 election? Theresa May herself would like us to believe that it's so that the British people can give her a forceful mandate to argue the case for Brexit in negotiations with the EU. Bunkum; as she well knows, the Greeks tried this tactic when endeavouring to secure a monetary bailout and little good it did them. In...

I'm not sure what it is about sculpture that ignites my fire but I really get excited by many of the beautiful pieces that adorn our museums and open places, especially when they fit into and amplify their surroundings. If there is one thing I have learnt since retiring, it is that there is no time to waste analysing why I might like something and, when I do, the response is simply to explore it and enjoy the moment (on the basis of course that my taste is impeccable and therefore always lawful). Indeed in retirement I have been able to see so many wonderful examples of sculpture that it would be difficult to recount them all.   In particular large outdoor installations that add to the atmosphere of the environment have left an abiding impression including the special exhibition of Henry Moore's work and then that of Kaws at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, not to mention the Blood Swept Lands and Seas part of which was there also, after first seeing it at t...