A Retirement Blog by Caree Risover

On our journey out to New Zealand, inconvenient flight times on a change in Dubai (too short or too long) induced us to make a two night stop-over. The news stories concerning Matthew Hedges (the post-graduate researcher accused of spying) and Princess Latifa (the member of the UAE Royal family alleged to have sought to escape the country before being captured and returned) might have caused us to reconsider our strategy, but neither had hit the headlines at the time we booked our airline tickets. Further, it was only after booking that we examined the UAE's customs policies in detail. The trouble with having been a solicitor in my previous life is that being on the right side of the law is an absolute compulsion to the extent of reading pages of small print that I'm sure many travellers must never bother with. The regulations have recently been updated in relation to medicines and the Foreign Office website warned about this but in the absence of further details ...

I have fallen in love all over again, proving that although I  may be retired I am not too old for romance. Yes, in meeting up with the eldest who continues to work in Auckland, 2017's passionate encounter with New Zealand has been renewed. How could it not be in a country with  amazing scenery and birdlife; no natural predators (unless the occasional insect bite counts); enormous flora, where some of my favourite patio plants such as agapanthus, grow like weeds or heather dwarfs you as you walk across moorland; so many beautiful beaches, islands, mountains and forests. Whether they are retired or not, New Zealanders seem generally happy and relaxed but then I'm guessing that the average Kiwi, unlike so may trapped in the corporate structures of the western world, isn't glued to time sheets viewing time as money, and , therefore, leisure as a wasted opportunity for profit or advancement . Also in a country with a generally benign summer climate, fa...

Can I make a recommendation on the best way to recover from a long trip ? Bizarrely: take another vacation! At least that's what we've just done. We had a week at home where I resumed my gym class routine, caught up with administrative tasks and household chores. Then, 8 days after we'd returned from a summer month in New Zealand, we drove across the Pennines for a wintry week in the Lake District.  Of course, as we always stay in the same place, it is a little bit of home from home and a place to relax and unwind. Well that was the theory when we were working, although I do wonder when I recall a week, in a period  between home-helps, that I had to take my ironing basket with me. The creased clothes may have been real but they were also a metaphor for the mental baggage that we conveyed back and forth with us too. This month the limited time squeezed between trips forced me to complete the laundering. It's a task that's easier to accomplish ...

Such is the miracle of modern transport that we landed at Newcastle airport yesterday at 11.15 am, having left Auckland in New Zealand at 9.15pm the night before. It's a distance of 12,400 miles via Dubai where we changed flights. Excluding the 2 hours we spent in transit at Dubai, that equates to a thousand miles per hour, easily beating the speeds of Formula 1! The truth, however, is far more exciting because we actually indulged in time travel and that despite leaving the Doctor (Who? No, our son) in New Zealand. I apologise: being out of the country over the Christmas period means that I have, of course, missed the pantomime season. Between departing the tarmac in Auckland and arriving at Newcastle, we took 2 flights of 17 and 8 hours' duration respectively; ate 2 breakfasts, 1 lunch, 1 dinner and several snacks; drank numerous glasses of champagne and water (mainly the latter, honestly); watched 6 films and a complete season of a BBC comedy programme; slept f...

We are working hard at simplifying our family meet-up for Christmas this year. It’s all going well so far and, once we’ve pulled it together and then recovered, I’ll be back here in a couple of weeks to discuss events with you. In the meantime, I wish all my visitors to this blog (frequent or not) a peaceful and happy Christmas and a contented New Year. Until 2019.....

The best laid plans don't always turn out the way you expect. I find that in retirement I can make sufficient time to prepare projects to perfection but frequently and regardless, through impetuosity or indolence, still plunge in anyway. Even when I do prepare, polishing to refinement is invariably a little too arduous. Take our recent trip to Madrid . I thought I had planned a faultless itinerary (with a Plan B for bad weather, tired feet etc..). We may have booked the flights on the spur of the moment but they seemed ideal, from our local airport hub via Schiphol in Amsterdam with KLM. The hotel I reserved a room in was centrally based in Old Madrid, near to a Metro station for transport to and from the airport and of historic interest itself being an old palace. However, there are some things you just cannot plan for (or maybe you can, with more time and research). In our case, however, who would have known that the time to catch our connecting flight would be reduc...

This time a week ago we were returning from Madrid after a far too brief trip, the aim of which was to sample the delights of the Spanish capital, especially the Museo del Prado and the Museo Reina Sofia.  Neither of the two art museums disappointed. In fact we left the Reina Sofia somewhat disturbed by the impact on us of the collection stretching from 1900 to 1982, from Modernity to Post Modernity through Cubism and Surrealism and the ugly period where war and conflict impacted on creativity with an emphasis on works by Picasso, Dali and Miro. It was fascinating to see before you the effect on art of historic events and whilst one of the most famous pieces is Picasso's "Guernica," the exhibition that surrounded it of the preliminary artwork and sketches leading up to and following the main piece was perhaps the most poignant and harrowing. How illuminating too to wander from Salvador Dali's realistic picture "Girl at the Window" to then encounter...