From 2013, a report on my first year of retirement… Another year older… My Countdown To An Event app – which is now functioning as a Countup – tells me that, as of 2 p.m. European Summer Time on September 27th, I have been retired for exactly one year. Not that I’d forgotten. It’s interesting…
This post was originally published on 2 August 2014, about two years into what I euphemistically call my blogging career (and definitely not ‘journey’). Here I muse on how things are/were going blogwise. Simon Schama’s Swampy Suck Oh, hi there. I thought that might get your attention… Today’s instalment of ‘365 Days of Writing Prompts’…
“I hate having to behave: it takes all the joy out of life” – my Mum (last week) – – – – – – – One-Liner Wednesday 12 September 2018
“I’m an old-age pensioner, not a reincarnation” – – – – – – – I wish I’d said that. However, British readers may be surprised to know that it was actually Ann Widdecombe (on The Chase Celebrity Special, to be exact). Non-British readers, of course, couldn’t care less. One-Liner Wednesday 3 January 2018
“If you are not sure if we need to know something, tell us anyway.“ I’ve just started receiving my state old age pension from the UK. They sent me a letter telling me this and enclosed a leaflet about what I need to do should my circumstances change. It contained this priceless invocation to submit…
Does it not strike you as odd that the expression ‘He’d be late for his own funeral’ is used as a criticism of somebody’s timekeeping? It mean, it’s hardly fair to criticise the stiff in question, since presumably by that stage all matters relating to punctuality will be out of their own hands and down…
‘The Job Interview’ was a ‘fly-on-the-wall’ documentary series that aired recently on British TV. It was excruciating, but I watched it because I do like a bit of schadenfreude. Nothing has made me happier about being retired than the thought that I’ll never again have to go through the toe-curling experience of interviewing for a…
Today, 24th June, is the 1,000th day since I retired from working life. I know this because I have an App that counted down the months and weeks towards my retirement date and then forgot to stop. 1,000 days. That’s about 33 months. 143 weeks. 24,000 hours. You can slice and dice it as finely…
And so we finally drag ourselves across the finishing line, with the last of WordPress’ ‘365 Days of Writing Prompts’ – the end of a journey my enthusiasm for which, I have to admit, has fallen off somewhat over the past couple of months, as evidenced by the recent scarcity of related posts. Which you…
You’ve probably never played Belote. Until two years ago, neither had we. It’s a card game, little played elsewhere but in certain parts of France – like here – almost a way of life. We first encountered it when we were persuaded along to a meeting of the local commune’s ‘Club d’Amitie’, a fortnightly social get-together for retired people. I admit…
the only deadhead in the hameau 