Tell Me Something............Anything!

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Originally Posted by Alex_UK

I did used to dread the thought of retiring, as I am not sure I could cope with the spare time, but the older I get the more appealing it becomes! I am sure there would be plenty of stuff around the house I could procrastinate over whilst drinking coffee...

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I thought that but it turns out not to be a problem. Even better for you since you live in beautiful countryside you can literally stop and smell the roses.

There's aspects of working I do miss, I did enjoy my last job, even though it was hard work it didn't seem like work. But as soon as they put idiots in charge that was the end of it for me. Why stay if you don't have to?

I do think about maybe going back and doing another couple of years, I do get contacted by agencies quite regularly, but these days it's hard to find a company to work for that doesn't have idiots in charge.

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Originally Posted by Alex_UK

I did used to dread the thought of retiring, as I am not sure I could cope with the spare time, but the older I get the more appealing it becomes! I am sure there would be plenty of stuff around the house I could procrastinate over whilst drinking coffee...

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It took me a good six months, maybe a bit longer to get used to retirement, but it soon became the norm. I had some sort of job since about 13, starting with paper rounds, Saturday jobs and evening work filling shelves in Tesco. I needed the money to buy records and go to gigs! I've never not worked apart from taking a year career break to travel around the world, but I still had a job. I never sit down thinking I have nothing to do, as there is always something . . . if anything, most tasks take longer now as I'm easily distracted by the next book, music or film. I still mess around a lot with computers too.

I do some Volunteer work a couple of times a week, so I'm never bored. I also have a new passion for making sourdough bread, just started one this morning actually. It's a 3 day process, but the actual hands on time is minimal, probably not more more than 15 minutes of hands on. I wish I had started making it earlier but it is a lot easier if you are around the house.

So trust me Alex, after awhile you won't have any spare time and there's bugger all wrong with procrastinating over a coffee, that's how I start every day!

Thanks chaps, that's set my mind at rest. I've given my boss my notice, the house is on the market, and the kids are on eBay! Not sure what Sue will say, though... :lol:

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Originally Posted by Alex_UK

Thanks chaps, that's set my mind at rest. I've given my boss my notice, the house is on the market, and the kids are on eBay! Not sure what Sue will say, though... :lol:

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Maybe Sue needs to go too - I'd go with Vinted :)

Three years on now, and I still haven't got into a post-retirement life properly. There's my archery that I could get back into, I have all the kit and the membership is super-cheap (around £120 for the year), but driving over there would be a killer, especially with the fuel costs.

Fireblade's back on the road, but between said fuel costs, nut job drivers, average speed cameras and pot holes, I just can't be arsed with it.

Good job I haven't completely jacked in working, I do one or two days a week, it's keeping me as busy as I need to be.

And I have a few records and CDs to fill in the gaps :)

For the first couple of weeks after retiring (at 57), I didn't know what to do with all the free time. OK I got out of bed a bit later than I had when working, but that still left a lot of time, I would deliberately not do a full shopping so as to give me an excuse to go out again! Daft I know.

Eventually I found things to do: gardening; redecorating the house, going up to London to visit the museums and art galleries - and of course joining AoS. :)

I am working from home today so took the dog out for his morning walk. Syd was having none of the route I had planned, and started dragging me towards one of the next villages, Crowfield. Fine, we’ll walk to the church, round the churchyard and if I walk back on the other side of the road I can fool him.

Just before the church is Church Cottage, clearly built before the advent of spirit levels- check out the roofline and the big window!

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The church is down a path, alongside a moat, of what I can only assume is a large house - there’s a bridge to it but so much vegetation you can’t see it. Anyway, Syd was more interested in the water…. No, Syd, you can’t go in!

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Walking along the path I could smell that churchyard smell - flowers I guess? But very distinctive. I haven’t actually walked round the churchyard since we first moved here and had forgotten how lovely the very small church is, with its medieval origins and Elizabethan (?) extension:

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So (finally) to the point of my story - we wandered around the churchyard and I was looking at the gravestones, as you do, and suddenly spotted this one…

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Well who’d have thunk it, Roy Hudd buried in a tiny little churchyard in Suffolk just a short walk from my house!

I have no idea how he came to end up in Crowfield, Wikipedia not much help, but will ask around as a few of the local friends have lived here all their lives.

On the way back we pass a lovely thatched place.

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On the radio yesterday they were talking about how thatching is a trade that is dying out - apparently there are only 60,000 thatched properties in the UK - I reckon at least 600 of those are within 5 miles of here.

You certainly picked a beautiful part of the world to live in.

We have old buildings here too of course but they mostly have trees growing out of them.

Excellent phographs Alex, thanks for sharing. :)

Thatched roofs do look charming, but they need a lot of maintenance: regular removal of moss and weeds, and depending on the reeds used to thatch the roof, rethatching every 15 to 20 years. There are a lot of thatched properties here in Essex, so I guess it's an East Anglian thing.

Lots in Devon. Had a girlfriend in Devon and her mate was called Becky Thatcher and she actually was a thatcher. Never short of work at least back then (1990s).

Maybe thatched properties are prevalent in places where reeds grow, so the Fens and other wetland areas.