A Retirement Blog by Caree Risover

    I am not sure that any of us likes change. Set in our ways, it can be experienced as extremely disruptive. Of late we have had several changes of occupant on our road and after years of being used to the rhythm of previous neighbours, it does take some getting used to. There are now people who park in the street where the residents before were accustomed to putting their cars on the drive. Then there are those who light up a barbecue at the slightest whiff of sunshine, adding a certain "je ne sais quoi" to the scent of my washing drying on the line. Grass mowing hours have altered and there are even owners' cats to contend with, as they seek to extend their territory into our garden.  I hope none of my readers likes garden gnomes. To be fair none of our new inhabitants have yet gone so far as to install any but we do find the lifesize model deer furnishing a nearby front porch something of a novelty. However, today a Christmas wreath has appeared on the front door so

  When visiting Anglesey as described in my last post , I called into the public conveniences located near to the beach where we ate our picnic. I was tickled to see this sign on the inside of the cubicle door. I imagine there are many ways to experience relief within the enclosure of a toilet stall. However, having a sign to indicate the exit has to rank highly especially, as you can see, it was not only written in Welsh but helpfully translated into English.  I know our mental alacrity purportedly declines with age but I am still unsure as to which demographic the notice was intended for. Nevertheless I am grateful for the information imparted. Who knows, without it I might still be sitting there and what a way to spend retirement that would be!    

  Yes we have been on our travels again visiting both Wales and Scotland in the course of just over a week. I'd like to say we travelled by car, but our journeys to both felt more like swimming as the rain swept down in torrents.  I confess the further I get on in retirement the more inclined I am to become a fair weather traveller. So much so that when I saw the forecast for our 4 day trip to Anglesey I did wonder whether that super dooper travel policy I had to pay millions for might enable cancellation on the grounds of soggy conditions. Of course it didn't. Hence Mister E, the youngest and I set off, expecting the worst and prepared for it with heavy duty waterproofs   But, as we all know, the British climate is fickle to say the least and although we very much floated there in some of the foulest conditions I have ever encountered on a motorway, the black clouds dispersed upon arrival and we were indulged with sunshine for the rest of our stay. So much so that we even had

  A US study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine attracted widespread coverage today. Whilst my Fitbit congratulates me for exceeding 150 minutes of moderate physical activity a week, it seems that this accolade now comes with the ringing endorsement that coupling 2.5 hours of moderate to vigorous physical exercise with muscle strengthening potentially extends life. That's good, as three times a week I combine a strength class with Zumba or HIIT, with swimmming and additional Pilates sessions thrown in for good measure. 150 minutes? Far, far more but then I am making up for lost time spent in an office or lounging on a sofa. Obviously I'd like to think that muscular and aerobic activity could be a prominent feature of the whole of my retirement but I'm not entirely convinced by the prospect of continuing this routine into my eighties or beyond. Endorphins or not, the idea of moving from zimmer frame to press-ups is strangely fascinating. A definite challeng

  Last week I visited the optician's for the first time in 3 years, after the pandemic intervened to interrupt my normal pattern of biennial eye tests. I was a little concerned that having broken the spectacles that I used for driving in my fall, I was not seeing as well as I should through my back-up pair. Had the fall affected my vision long-term or was it a case of age related deterioration that's inevitably par for the course in retirement? Gracious, it turns out that my eyes actually see distances much better now than a few years ago. Perhaps I should have realised when I jettisoned spectacle-use for watching television and for driving have preferred to wear the older glasses from a prescription many years ago, following my last eye test when I was told that my eyesight was closer to that prescription than the one two years before. The optician offered a number of explanations: it could be that my eyes are going through a cross-over period between long and short sightedn

 I don't know how everyone else manages but there are occasions when I just find retirement so exhausting. Take travel for instance: following the trip to Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire and Rutland we had a 2 night sojourn before making a 6 hour dash by road up to Oban to prepare the retirement project for lifting-out ready for winter onshore.  We followed two nights there with a long drive home for a pit stop before setting off next morning to explore parts of Yorkshire that we are less familiar with, staying over in Ilkley and then venturing to Saltaire the next day. The Rivers Wharfe and Aire may not be quite up to David Livingstone standards but exploration and discovery enliven even when they are just round the corner, so to speak. Salts Mill and the village surrounding it were particularly fascinating and lived up to their designation by UNESCO as a World Heritage site. Visiting so many places in such a short period of time, however, might get the blood and energy flowing b

   Pre-pandemic, Mister E and I never quite counted the Emirates' air-miles accumulated from travelling to and from New Zealand on two occasions . Indeed, we assumed that having failed to book any further flights they would have lapsed but a couple of months ago received emails suggesting we had only a limited time left to make a booking with them. Use them or lose them, was the moral of the tale. Of course, that sparked some interest, quickly turning to disappointment when we discovered that when it comes to rewards the equivalent of twice around the world even in business class doesn't stretch to a free flight to the nearest town (not that there are any airports but you appreciate my drift). Truth be told malaise set in and they would probably have disappeared without trace until Mister E discovered that they could be exchanged for hotel nights in the UK. Hence, courtesy of air miles, we have now had two nights away to coincide with Mister E's birthday. Better still we ha