A Retirement Blog by Caree Risover

  I'm not sure why but I do love my garden. However, toiling for hours to produce fresh produce just at the time it is widely available in the shops and consequently relatively cheap, surely requires some explanation. I think it is that mixture of nature and nurture, not in the sense of the great psychology debate but from the perspective of getting up close and dirty with the first, whilst deriving pleasure and reward from the actual process of rearing all those seedlings and cuttings. Experimentation and creativity abound; the economics of production are irrelevant. However, there is no doubt that it can be back-breaking and tiring. Since retiring, I have concentrated on trying to reduce some of the more physical aspects of digging and weeding. Consequently, I now have a system for adding compost and turning the soil immediately each bed has been harvested, covering it with a weed suppression fabric until it is time for planting again. In the flowerbeds too, I have begun to use b...

  We have just returned from a 2 week trip to the Baltic. It had been our intention to visit it as part of our Adieu tour prior to the end of the Brexit transition period. The hope had been to make use of the railway and ferry connections with a view to ticking off the member states adjoining the Baltic Sea from here to Finland and back again. If only, but unfortunately that nasty pandemic interrupted all our travel plans.  I'm not sure whether we are just being slow to recover our confidence after Covid and clearly catching it whilst travelling last October hasn't helped. There again it could be an age related issue. Either way, whereas the idea of all those transport connections back in 2020 invoked excitement, this year they just seemed something of a complex hassle and we had parked the whole idea. Of course, the last time we were ocean bound it was on our ill-fated cruise to the Azores . The company offered us compensation in the form of an acceptable level of discount b...

  I have alluded previously to a visit by the Eldest and Dilly together with our baby granddaughter. They stayed a week and I have to say I had totally forgotten how exhausting babies are! Grandparent status is wonderful but I'm not sure I'd have the energy to care for a little human being full-time. Hats off, therefore, to Robert de Niro and Al Pacino who both made the news recently when they announced the births of their children. Aged 79 and 83 respectively, I think they need more than congratulations and good luck, although I suspect that neither might be the hands-on type of parent we would normally envisage. I'm absolutely certain that even  if it was biologically possible  the last thing I would want to do would be to give birth in retirement. I love my sleep and quiet periods too much, not to mention the freedom to do what I want, when I want. I never thought I was an overly selfish person but there we are. Raising children is a full-day, every day, long-term comm...