Retirement

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

It's only a nostalgia object in your own private museum, but some decisions take a lot of deciding. Do it and move on (then quickly go and climb Mt Everest, or sign on for a chef's course in Paris, or for an Open University degree course in Palaeontology or … or …

FF, you are the first person to back me on this.

Everest might not be possible now that Nepal has placed lower and upper age limits on the mountain, but there are the rest of the Wainwrights and the Munros. . .

And I'm learning Spanish.

[Flay]

The Rigoutat Evolution oboe appears to be a Rolls Royce model.

http://www.rigoutat.com/pro/oboe/?ob=db624eaa5ae82643b3874e16cae8757a

Could you not trade it in for something humbler.... just in case you have a change of heart? You say you rarely play it, so I assume you may still wish to puff on an oboe occasionally.

Have you thought of teaching the oboe? <Runs to hide behind sofa>

[umslopogaas]

I have found, after taking early retirement eight years ago (I'm 66) that an increasing problem is lack of motivation. I have an ambitious woodworking project on paper - it has long been a hobby of mine -, but since there is no-one to press me to get on with it, I always seem to end up putting it off until tomorrow. Being single, there is no other half to kick me into action. When you are working there are things that have to be done, but in retirement, happily, most things are only to be done if I want to do them. Which I do, but no-one else cares if I do or not.

One answer might be to find a reason for a deadline. I might for example have entered it for a show in six months time (I wouldnt, I'm not that good, it was just an example). Another might be that something has to be ready for an anniversary. Anything, really, so long as there is a definite timeframe.

[Serial_Apologist]

One answer might be to find a reason for a deadline.

The coronary I experienced just 2 years ago being such a spur, together with some kind of optimistic feeling of an emerging future beyond one's own, if that doesn't sound too sanctimonious. One wants to leave some apparently meaningful mark for posterity on the world rather than just fading into the long grass.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

The Rigoutat Evolution oboe appears to be a Rolls Royce model.

It is, and, like an unused Strad, it's a cultural crime to leave it unplayed.

Could you not trade it in for something humbler.... just in case you have a change of heart? You say you rarely play it, so I assume you may still wish to puff on an oboe occasionally.

I have a 40-year old Boosey & Hawkes Imperial, which would be adequate for that.

Have you thought of teaching the oboe? <Runs to hide behind sofa>

Done that. Got the T=shirt.

[jean]

Not sure if there are offers on continental trains...

There hardly need to be! I've just travelled from Nice to Genova for £11.

[Flay]

I have a 40-year old Boosey & Hawkes Imperial, which would be adequate for that.

I'm glad about that.

I've just had a quick look at my dusty old Louis oboe. It still appears to work and there are no cracks. I really must get back to playing it! I feel inspired now...

Done that. Got the T=shirt.

Hmm. I did wonder. You deserve more than a T-shirt!

[vinteuil]

One wants to leave some apparently meaningful mark for posterity on the world rather than just fading into the long grass.

... does one? I have no such wish - rather, I wd like my life to have been lived so lightly as to have had as little impact as possible. The waters will close over and it will be as if I had never been - that's what I want.

[teamsaint]

... does one? I have no such wish - rather, I wd like my life to have been lived so lightly as to have had as little impact as possible. The waters will close over and it will be as if I had never been - that's what I want.

I'm not sure about the detail on this, ( I think I would like my kids to remember me, perhaps, and to have had some positive impact on them) but the sentiment is excellent.


Are you planning to be buried at sea? I understand the rules( typically) are complex.

[Dave2002]

... Which I do, but no-one else cares if I do or not.

One answer might be to find a reason for a deadline. I might for example have entered it for a show in six months time (I wouldnt, I'm not that good, it was just an example). Another might be that something has to be ready for an anniversary. Anything, really, so long as there is a definite timeframe.

Try joining a society of some sort. Round here we have U3A, Nadfas, Probus etc.

Other societies - drama - there is a local theatre which does amateur productions, and one or two music societies. If you volunteered to write the programme notes for such, there would be deadlines to meet. Other options - parish council, local wine appreciation society for trips. Local history groups - put on an exhibition ... There are many possibilities. If you are doing work with materials - then the stage scenery for a theatre group would keep you busy + deadlines!

I'm not really suggesting that you need all of these to get deadlines, but you would almost certainly feel some of the pressure come back if you took any of those on. Be careful what you wish for!

[Dave2002]

There hardly need to be! I've just travelled from Nice to Genova for £11.

Plane or train? Was it really £11, or a notional £11, plus another £70 in incidentals and taxes. Also, how much to get back? I guess it wasn't bus, as the bus pass won't work outside the UK, will it?

[jean]

It was a train - I thought it was train travel we were talking about! No extras.

(It did cost more to get back, but that was only because I initially booked the wrong day.)

[Cockney Sparrow]

If you are doing work with materials - then the stage scenery for a theatre group would keep you busy + deadlines! !

My kind of woodworking - needs to stay intact/upright, look plausible from a distance but quality close to is not an essential. (And then its binned /recycled)

[Padraig]

The waters will close over and it will be as if I had never been - that's what I want.

Would you settle for a compromise?

And will any say when my bell of quittance is heard in the gloom.
And a crossing breeze cuts a pause in its outrollings,
Till they rise again, as they were a new bell's boom,
'He hears it not now, but used to notice such things'?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/poetryseason/poems/afterwards.shtml

[Dave2002]

It was a train - I thought it was train travel we were talking about! No extras.

(It did cost more to get back, but that was only because I initially booked the wrong day.)

Sorry - I misread your post. It was train travel we were discussing - but I thought you'd travelled further than you actually did. Nice to Genova is about 120 miles, so you paid about 11p per mile. The East Coast journeys to and from Scotland I mentioned using a Rail Card would be cheaper than that in 2nd class and comparable in 1st Class, but with the strong incentive and benefit of "free" food and drinks (including beer, wine, spirits on weekdays) and also WiFi and sometimes a newspaper. Still compared with our trips from home to London (South West Trains commuter services) your Nice to Genova journey was cheap. Was that a regular fare, or somehow discounted?