General Chat

I love being retired I left work when I was 58 so too young to collect my pension my husband retired at 63 but sadly he died last year aged 67 so like AnnCardiff retirement isn't quite as I had thought it would be. We did enjoy nearly four years of pure happiness doing things together and separately and now I am trying to rebuild my life and go out with friends.

Like others I love getting up when I wake up and not when the alarm clock says so. I eat when I want and don't bother to cook full meals. I go out when I want and watch what I like on tv. Nothing will compare with retirement shared with my husband and it involves doing different things on my own to doing things with him but generally speaking its so laid back that I sometimes have to check the calendar to know what day it is!!

i am glad so many people are enjoying retirement. i was a widow at 49, i continued working. i always had a plan that i would not work untill i was 60. the reason being, that my dad, brother, sister and my dear hubby never lived long enough to retire. i worked long hours in nursing for 34yrs. earlys, lates, nights. plus looking after the house and a big garden. i was worn out, and the amount of tax i was paying was a joke. knew i could retire aged 56, and thats what i did. it took me a while to slow down...i was so used to doing the housework, garden and shopping on my days off. i never had a day to myself. now every week i have what i call a pampers day...soak in the bath, do my nails, hair and make up, get dressed up. i may go to the shops, stay in or potter about in the garden. i still meet with a few true valued work pals, and my cousins who i found whilst doing my tree. i would say to all thinking about retirment, do it sooner rather than later. you will get by and manage, and have freedom to do as you please...enjoy.

I wish I could retire!
At 42, I thought, good only 12 years to go.
Then they raised the age..........
I'm one of those who learnt a few years ago that we could work an extra 6 years. In the meantime, through 'regrading' I lost £1000 a year from a p*ss poor wage anyway, and have been on a pay freeze for 3 years. and 5 of us are meant to do the work of 10...

I would (financially, and mentally) be better off retired.

I am not retired but I am not out at work any more which is pretty attractive.

Because I am awake and ready to get downstairs if a gnat farts up the garden I do tend to sleep in the morning if OH has a late start which suits me fine.

As we get to around sixty there is a group of us who seem to be gravitating toward each other and we are turning into a bit of a gang.(Think Monty Python's Hell's Grannies!).

Our local old people's club has run down to little more than a few ladies meeting to knit in the church hall now and we are thinking of invading that,make it into a sort of gang HQ.Breathe a bit of life back into it,like it used to be.

All i can say is you ain't doin' it right Jean,you are supposed to realise after a couple of weeks ,that you have more jobs to do than you ever had while working :-D that's me anyway ,not enough hours in a day :-P Fred.

My husband died nearly eight years ago we were very happily married for thirty eight years. I have continued to work full time in an extremely busy and demanding job. Work, and the support of my family and friends have helped me to move forward and now I have a new partner and I love my life. I have recently retired, but still hold a consultancy role so I can work as and when/if I want to. All of my days are filled, but also I enjoy having the time and space to do nothing what bliss!. I continue with my Yoga classes and go to keep-fit and swimming every week. I spend Tuesday mornings at a local junior school as a volunteer reading mentor and I LOVE it. The children are a delight to be with and I always come away smiling. I am a lady who lunches and anyone who knows me will agree that I was just born to shop. My OH and I like to go on holidays as much as we can, and he will use the offer of redundancy to take early retirement in the new year. I have lists of things I /we want to do. However, I never now take anything for granted. Life has been good to me I have no complaints and few regrets. Carpe Diem. <3