A Retirement Blog by Caree Risover

In the drop down menu for this blog there is a subject index revealing the list of topics that I have covered over what is now almost 5 years. The index is so much part of the furniture that I rarely look at it. Today, when I did, I was surprised to see that money, surely one of the most important features of any person's retirement, has hardly featured. Now I know that I am solely responsible for this blog's content but I am intrigued as to the reason for its apparent exclusion.  Just as in every other period of life, there is no such thing as a magic money tree in retirement. Consequently we do trot along to see a financial adviser when asked and even allow ourselves to discuss inflation and interest rates occasionally, but no it is not something I have blogged about. Is that because it's a boring subject? Probably not, going on the number of blogs out there proffering financial advice for retirement.  Instead I can only attribute it to a feat of growi...

There's been much speculation of late about the U.K. crashing out of the E.U. without a deal and the ensuing chaos that will inevitably follow. The various press reports have included stark warnings amongst other things about food shortages and whilst Dominic Raab, the Brexit Minister, may have sought to reassure everyone that ingredients for the BLT sandwich will still be readily available, the technical notices issued by the government today did little to assauge concerns. It seems that there are people who have begun to stockpile in readiness. Presumably if we all follow suit, shortages will become acute sooner whilst making a healthy profit for the supermarket. Not wanting to miss out on frenzied accumulation, I have spent the last week filling my freezer with beans from the garden and today stained my hands red as I bottled jar after jar of beetroot. Whether the Risover family can survive on a diet of beans and beetroot is questionable and my motivation was of cours...

The other day I was sharpening pencils. It's something that I do very rarely but with all those HBs in a little rack near my desk looking terribly blunt, it was time. In a dose of nerdiness (not I stress to protect against amnesia) I had even added the task to my To Do List. In any event, whilst I was turning the pencils to get the much needed points, I couldn't help but admire the simplicity of the sharpener, cast in shining metal with a replaceable blade, although whether you can actually buy replacement blades anywhere is of course another matter. Still the sharpener had a mark of solidity about it and best of all I could even understand how it works. Everything comes with a detailed instruction manual these days and the array of buttons and programmes can sometimes be overwhelming. Now I might write To Do Lists but I certainly don't have the time in retirement to read and understand the handbook for every appliance that I use. Don't misinterpret ...

Stuck at home recovering from a virus, I got bored. Consequently I ended up filling my time by renovating and updating this site's appearance. I hope you like it. The other event to relieve the monotony was the delivery of not one but two exciting packages. To be honest I was still half asleep when the first arrived by courier. As he fled off at sprinter-pace, I had no idea whether it was because my dressing gown and unbrushed hair were enough to frighten even the most hardy of van drivers or if it was because he had targets or deadlines to meet. I suppose I'll never know. In any event after he had left, I realised that I appeared to have accepted  a package containing a camera tripod. We were somewhat taken aback by that until Mister E checked the tape securing both ends of the box. Fortunately it was indeed from a helpful spare parts outlet with which he'd placed an order.  You can't imagine the excitement that followed in unpacking a new panh...

Sometimes I think retirement is turning me into a hypochondriac. When I recorded in this blog my first illness after being sniffle-free for the first fifteen months of retirement, I never  for a moment thought that it would be the first of many viruses that I would succumb to. Where on Earth do they come from? The latest one started with an invasion of my throat, but after a week I finally thought I'd conquered it and enjoyed a lovely day out in Knaresborough . Then, boom, it struck again; this time on both right and left flanks i.e. both throat and ears. Honestly a girl (and a senior one at that) can only take so much and the latest drone attack on my nasal cavities (it's not a cold, there's no sniffing) has me on the verge of surrender. "Don't visit me," my mother, bouncing with her own good health, said on the phone, "Oh, and I'm not coming to see you either. Viruses act in unpredictable ways." Wisdom indeed, or has she be...

Mention afternoon tea to me and I can't help visualising white fluffy ears and hats with 10s/6d price tags on them. The presence of a teapot on a table immediately conjures up what was the shocking image for me as a child of the Hatter and March Hare 'trying to put the Dormouse into' it. Maybe it's the fear that I won't be allowed to sit down and enjoy the comforts of good baking; ' "No room! No room!" they cried out when they saw (her) coming.' Somewhere along the way the gift of a copy of 'Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland' when I was young together with an adult life spent in a neighbouring village to Croft on Tees where Lewis Carroll moved with his family when he was 11 years old, has clearly had an effect upon me. With a daughter who attended the school still connected to the church at which the author's father was the Rector, it's perhaps little wonder that the book continues to have an impact. These days of co...

There seems to be a continuous debate online as to the terminology to apply to our generation. "Seniors" is a popular description and certainly better than "senior citizens" or "the blue rinse brigade." "Boomers" is widely used and clearly preferable to "the over-sixties" or even "pensioners" and don't get me started on "old-age pensioners": yikes! As you've probably noticed I tend to use "retirees" on this blog but that's probably a reflection of my legal upbringing where there's a tradition of  adding "ee" or "or" onto the end of all kinds of words (think "mortgage" or "grant"), rather than a sensible vocabulary choice. Recently,  however, inspired by receipt of an e-mail from that well-known do-it-yourself store, B&Q, I thought for a moment that "diamonds" could be the perfect name. With their association to sixty years ...

In light of the hot sunny weather, Wednesday morning's Yoga classes have moved outdoors. Forget wobbling in the studio, as an alternative I can wobble outside. The strange thing is either all those physiotherapy exercises have really worked or connecting to the Earth isn't as far fetched as we might think. Either way, bare feet, uneven lawn, the branches of a large oak tree above with its dense foliage filtering the sunlight, birds singing, insects hovering and amidst it all I can suddenly hold a very elementary version of the tree pose. I have to confess to feeling relieved as a result. So much is now known about the need for both muscle strength and balance to aid mobility, prevent falling and preserve independence as we age that I have even been practising standing on one leg whilst cleaning my teeth. Don't try it, toothpaste inevitably ends up dripping down the front of whatever you are wearing! No from now on I am happy to draw my inspiration from t...