Retirement

[Ein Heldenleben]

Yes, I’ve gotten many lectures on how I need to have a plan. Somehow the option of sitting around half the day, quietly reading and listening to music, after a lifetime of toil, is striking so many people as unacceptably slothful. I do want to take some courses, primarily in creative writing and history, and will probably resort to Zoom. I will try to do some volunteering for local community orchestras, and since we will probably dispense with our bimonthly cleaning service and our lawn services as a way of economizing, some time will go into those activities while I am still physically able. Our local classical radio station WFMT sustains itself with fund raising drives that require volunteers and that might be a way to meet retired like minded music lovers. Our local library also has a couple of senior oriented book clubs going.

Yes well sitting around reading most of the day and listening to Radio 3 is pretty much a typical day. Plus a walk / bike ride and various mundane household tasks. I can thoroughly recommend it. The Protestant Work Ethic can get back in its box - lectures are for University students not 60 year olds.

[gradus]

Volunteering, not necessarily in the area of work in which you have spent your working life, presents a wide range of useful possibilities.

[Nick Armstrong]

Yes well sitting around reading most of the day and listening to Radio 3 is pretty much a typical day. Plus a walk / bike ride and various mundane household tasks. I can thoroughly recommend it. The Protestant Work Ethic can get back in its box - lectures are for University students not 60 year olds.

I would only add that staying up ridiculously late and breakfasting when others are having lunch are additional recommendable features*, for me at least

That might be thought student-like… but the last student I talked to (just now) was studying from 8am to nearly 6pm today



*PS: oh, and early evening naps!

[Sir Velo]

I would only add that staying up ridiculously late and breakfasting when others are having lunch are additional recommendable features*, for me at least

:

You probably won't see this post for at least another four hours but I take it the prospect of one of Jeremy Hunt's bootcamps doesn't tempt you back into the fold?

[Old Grumpy]

I take it the prospect of one of Jeremy Hunt's bootcamps doesn't tempt you back into the fold?

Er, had to look that one up:

https://feweek.co.uk/chancellor-to-announce-returnerships-and-bootcamps-expansion-in-back-to-work-budget/

No thanks...

... Jezza can truck right off!

[richardfinegold]

... Jezza can truck right off!

The Wall St Journal had a podcast on companies that specialize in “returnships” . The same podcast claimed that people entering the workforce now had better plan to work into their eighties, and that taking a year off here and there might be advisable.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I would only add that staying up ridiculously late and breakfasting when others are having lunch are additional recommendable features*, for me at least

That might be thought student-like… but the last student I talked to (just now) was studying from 8am to nearly 6pm today



*PS: oh, and early evening naps!

A twenty minute snooze during the afternoon concert is pretty much de rigeur. I seem to recall doing much the same during school lessons.

[Serial_Apologist]

A twenty minute snooze during the afternoon concert is pretty much de rigeur. I seem to recall doing much the same during school lessons.

At six years old we did too - rugs would be placed on the carpet and we little 'uns would bed down for what must've been about 20 minutes each afternoon.

[Ein Heldenleben]

At six years old we did too - rugs would be placed on the carpet and we little 'uns would bed down for what must've been about 20 minutes each afternoon.

got thru primary ok . The challenge was triple physics on a Friday pm

[Bryn]

got thru primary ok . The challenge was triple physics on a Friday pm

Triple physics on a Friday afternoon would have been my highlight of the week.

[Petrushka]

When I retired in 2019 I was clear about two things: no volunteering and no going back to 'school'.

After 45 years of work there was no chance I wanted more of the same.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Triple physics on a Friday afternoon would have been my highlight of the week.

Anything involving electronics I was ok with but specific heat and endlessly boiling water left me cold.

[oddoneout]

Er, had to look that one up:

https://feweek.co.uk/chancellor-to-announce-returnerships-and-bootcamps-expansion-in-back-to-work-budget/

No thanks...

... Jezza can truck right off!

I note this from the article.

Data published in December revealed that the government had exceeded its target for skills bootcamps between April 2021 and March 2022, securing 16,120 starts against a planned 16,000 for the short courses.
Data on number of completers for that period was not released, however.

Given how short the courses are (so plenty of time for a decent number of victims to have completed them during that time)I can only assume that the relevant figures do not support the narrative? I also can't help thinking that if more effort and money had been put into maintaining and funding the kind of educational establishments that used to provide the kind of vocational training the government is now deciding is desirable/necessary this sort of "initiative" wouldn't be needed.
However, that's off-topic, sorry.

Back on topic,as of yesterday I am now retired from paid employment(such as it was, it had become of necessity very sporadic, and was in any case casual work which doesn't involve retirement as such), but will be continuing with my various volunteering activities. Indeed I have one later this afternoon to do with the local library. Quite apart from being involved with things I enjoy it is also a way for me to get out of the house and engage with other folks which otherwise, not being very good at socialising, wouldn't happen. Living alone, and with no family within reach, that wouldn't be a very good set-up.

[Nick Armstrong]

You probably won't see this post for at least another four hours but I take it the prospect of one of Jeremy Hunt's bootcamps doesn't tempt you back into the fold?

[Ein Heldenleben]

You probably won't see this post for at least another four hours but I take it the prospect of one of Jeremy Hunt's bootcamps doesn't tempt you back into the fold?

Isn’t the word bootcamp with its inevitable associations with Private Pyle in Full Metal Jacket a tad off-putting?

Whenever the word bootcamp came up at work I always avoided whatever it involved as it usually seemed to effortlessly combine tedium, futility and a full -on waste of licence fee payers money.