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If retirement really is busier than working life, then I'm glad I don't have any immediate retirement plans.
It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.
Congratulations and a happy retirement, Caliban. I always wanted to go at 60 but it wasn't to be, alas. Looked at going down to a four day week but that's not financially viable either as I seem to have spent all my money on CDs! Three more years and I'll be joining the ranks of retirees.
"The sound is the handwriting of the conductor" - Bernard Haitink
(Apologies - today is the first time in a third of a Century that I haven't said that to a group of kids who felt obliged to laugh in the hope that I'd let them off homework if they did.)
[FONT=Comic Sans MS][I][B]Numquam Satis![/B][/I][/FONT]
"...the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices..."
If retirement really is busier than working life, then I'm glad I don't have any immediate retirement plans.
It isn't all it's cracked up to be. I felt I had a good work-life balance pre-retirement. Now I don't feel as though I make a difference.
(I completed my 6th 1000-piece of jigsaw of 2016 yesterday. I go running with my son twice a week - and usually win. Then there's the canoe I built. And editing an annual "magazine". Rescuing and archiving old photographs - though that's really a part-time job, as I have the temerity to charge for it.)
I am far from sure what (if any) difference I have ever made, either in work or subsequently. The joys of life for me have mainly resided in interaction with a few friends and loved ones, appreciation of certain works of culture, and the physical delights of existence. And of course 'botanising the asphalt'.
I hope your post-retirement perspectives will give you a variety of joys and satisfactions - even if it may seem harder to work out what 'difference' you are wanting or are expected to make.
As our American cousins - so dear to you in their linguistic felicities - might say - "Enjoy!"
Despite having lots of time to pursue other interests, it has all seemed so empty for last 17 months. My previous life of music teaching and (occasional) orchestration have gone out of the window, and I am embarking on a completely new career of freelance photographic archive work.
Despite having lots of time to pursue other interests, it has all seemed so empty for last 17 months. My previous life of music teaching and (occasional) orchestration have gone out of the window, and I am embarking on a completely new career of freelance photographic archive work.
Well done, EA. I'm quite sure this will turn out to be your best shot.
Despite having lots of time to pursue other interests, it has all seemed so empty for last 17 months. My previous life of music teaching and (occasional) orchestration have gone out of the window, and I am embarking on a completely new career of freelance photographic archive work.
... all best wishes for the new venture.
However if the emptiness comes from somewhere deep it may not always be the case that diversion is the ultimate solution. At least not if you read Kierkegaard.
“Of all ridiculous things the most ridiculous seems to me, to be busy.”
[ I tried immersing myself in Kierkegaard. In the end I found I was too much of a light-weight - and that diversion was probably the best answer for me ... ]
However if the emptiness comes from somewhere deep it may not always be the case that diversion is the ultimate solution. At least not if you read Kierkegaard.
“Of all ridiculous things the most ridiculous seems to me, to be busy.”
[ I tried immersing myself in Kierkegaard. In the end I found I was too much of a light-weight - and that diversion was probably the best answer for me ... ]
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