A Retirement Blog by Caree Risover

Image by congerdesign from Pixabay One of the great joys of retirement for me has been to avoid, so far as possible, routine, revelling in flexibility and the potential for impetuosity and the opportunities that brings. Sadly, coronavirus and especially the restraints of lockdown have very much brought that previous way of living to a close, at least temporarily. Somehow, routines have now crept into daily life and, a little like my days in the office, it's once again coffee at 11am and tea at 4pm. Mornings begin with a rigorous trawl of the newspapers online and then a Pilates session  to a YouTube video before pottering in the garden and, every evening, time is devoted to watering plants and shutting up the greenhouse for the night. Obviously there have been unexpected diversions with telephone conversations, walks through and around the village and the excitement of watching seedlings grow, flower and, as now, begin to bear fruit or rather vegetables. However,

  In the midst of the pandemic, the tenants at our rental property decided to flit back to their home country. Obviously it was probably a sensible decision from their point of view but as they left within a matter of hours of booking last minute flights, to say they left the house in an awful state would be an understatement.  Needless to say it was several weeks before the managing agent could arrange for it to be cleared of the tenants' abandoned possessions and rotting food, as well as given a superficial clean. With the clear lockdown message to Stay at Home, there was little that we could do to assist. Fortuitously, a month ago, new tenants were found and last week I spent my time between home and Nottingham where the property is located, redecorating and repairing as well as removing several layers of grease from the kitchen. Up and down step ladders, stretching and bending, even my Fitbit was impressed by the effort, especially as I managed 11 and 12 hour day

Unbelievable! Six years ago today I left the world of work . It really was a different world and so long ago now that I can hardly recall it. It has become something of a tradition for me to do a blog post on my progress moving through retirement as each anniversary has come around. A little reflection and a snapshot of where I have reached on my journey around this phase of life. Looking back, it is interesting to see that a year ago I was referring to an aura of calmness that was creeping in, as finally I felt able to abandon the mad rush to go everywhere and do everything. Little did I realise that by neither design nor device, coronavirus would intervene and force me to slow down regardless. I guess it's lucky that I was just about ready for that. Retirement: exploration of a new planet or a personal trek in the quest for happiness and fulfilment. I discovered fairly early that, despite my grasshopper approach, it's not as one might imagine a long bucke

I have received a letter inviting me to take part in a Covid-19 testing research study. It's being undertaken by Imperial College and Ipsos MORI on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care and is intended to help the Government work out how many people have the virus in different parts of the country. The letter actually reads like an invitation to enter a free prize draw: "We have chosen your name at random...Go to the website..Enter your details..If you sign up, we will send you a package.." Until you read the small print on the back and there it is in black and white: "The test...may cause some mild short-lived discomfort." Now the dilemma this letter poses is, of course, threefold: 1. On the basis that I had a test only last week, will another one distort the testing figures that the Government proudly displays at its Daily Briefing? 2. Knowing how eye-wateringly uncomfortable the test is, could I actually administer it to myself properly?

  Image by Pexels from Pixabay Non-essential shops re-opened today and, if the camera doesn't lie, people were queuing outside waiting for the doors to be unlocked. I stayed well clear, so cannot vouch for the accuracy of the reports. Assuming that I understood the Chancellor correctly, he was actually urging us to get out there and spend in order to save British business and help arrest the economic decline. Yes, he was asking us to visit retail outlets branded as non-essential by the Government itself, in order to buy the goods which they sell and which, therefore, by definition we do not need. Now that's a message that takes a little digesting. After all the bellicose rhetoric the Prime Minster in particular has been using, I thought, in the spirit of the 1940’s, we were very much required to "make do and mend". Didn't I replace my sewing machine specially? At least it will come in useful for making all those masks we have to cover our face

Image by Florian Berger from Pixabay I seem to remember playing Hunt the Spoon in the dark with friends at early teenage parties. I can recall the squeals of anguish but as to how difficult or easy it was to actually find the spoon, I forget. Mister E and I have invented our own updated version of the game for lockdown. It involves copious amounts of gardening where I wander around outside, trowel in hand and then, suddenly and inexplicably, lose it. The following hours or even days are spent aimlessly walking around the garden trying to find it. Sadly, my favourite trowel, having initially turned up behind a pot after presumably falling from a wall, has now been AWOL for 2 weeks. I was using it to refill patio planters, hanging onto it as I walked from one part of the garden to another. Although I cannot believe anyone would be so stupid, I can only conclude that I have inadvertently buried it in one of the pots. Poking bamboo canes into them to see if they might strik

Whilst I might prefer to forget it, every good series deserves a cliffhanger as well as a grand finale. So continuing my recent episodes on hospital visits, I'm going to report on yesterday's little trip which I am now hoping will be the last I have to make for a long time, certainly in connection with this particular problem, anyway. You will recall that the Nurse rang last Thursday to say the results of the previous tests were contradictory and, therefore, inconclusive.  When she said that they would like me to go back in so they could just have a little look up there, I knew, of course, that she was lying . A diagnostic examination? Possibly, but there's always the fear of a little more, not least when she said I needed to have that COVID 19 swab test and had to make sure to take a couple of painkillers; I hadn't required either of those before the biopsy the previous week and that was hardly pleasant. Trembling with trepidation, I nonetheless presented