A Retirement Blog by Caree Risover

The past few days I've been going grey. The height of fashion some might say or just a sign of the times. The green shade was so last century; it's time for a complete revamp. I'm not of course talking hair colour but rather walls. Grey, it seems is the new magnolia, fast overtaking all those washed out green and beige (greige) shades and harsh whites as the current neutral backdrop for the home. Now that the days are lengthening and the sun sitting higher in the sky, somewhat predictably in the annual cycle of retirement, I am again overtaken by the nesting instinct and a  need to decorate and declutter.  Scandi minimalism; I'll get there one day.   

Oh dear, apologies one and all, I have been inadvertently absent from this site for longer than I had intended. The truth is I have set myself a new challenge. I had thought that retirement would bring endless time and opportunity to work through my stockpile of books after decades during which reading was pretty much confined to leisurely holidays in the sun supplemented by occasional interludes before bedtime. The reality has been very different and with trips abroad now devoted to travel rather than relaxation, the opportunity for a sunbed and a ready supply of novels next to it has eluded me. As a result I shocked myself in my second year of retirement by reading only half the number of books I had generally been accustomed to completing and have been trying to reverse the decline ever since. Now I love immersing myself in fiction; lock me away on a Saturday afternoon with a copy of Tess of the D'Urbevilles and I'll emerge with tear stained cheeks, totally dra