Go for a walk boy...

When I retired, all that time ago, my 84 year old (fairly fit) mother told me I should go for a walk every day. Well, I've resisted until now because:

1. We went away to Essex and did walking anyway.

2. When I was at home the temperature never got above freezing!

Today, I had to give in. I had a stroll round the village and photographed our poor cricket pavilion which was almost totally destroyed by fire on Thursday 27th November 2008. It was due to an electrical fault rather than arson which we were all pleased to hear. However, I was also pleased to see that they have already started work to rebuild it - hopefully in time for the opening of the cricket season in the Spring.

I managed 2.14 miles by the way. That's 2.14 miles more than I usually walk and is a strange mixture of Imperial and Metric given to me by my trusty Garmin eTrex G.P.S. unit.

Getting old?

(O.K. it's Whipsnade, not London but you get the idea)

Now I know I'm getting old...surely it was only six months ago that London Zoo carried out its ANNUAL stocktake?

SWMBO's car fixed!

Good heavens! Car fixed in about 15 minutes. It was an ignition coil - cylinder 4.
I'm amazed the AA man had the correct spare part in his van - how good is that?
Anyway, she's off to work to let me get on with my retirement.

Cold or what?

The main thing I've noticed so far is how quickly the house starts to get cold after the heating goes off (well,down) at 8:30am. Having just seen yesterday that our energy bill for the last quarter was just over £400!, I don't want to keep the heating turned up all day.
Cunning plan...In the mornings I shall wear a bodywarmer (without sleeves), and then after lunch I can wear a fleece (with sleeves). Ha! this pensioner lark is easy.
SWMBO had to return home this morning as her car was playing up. She's had this trouble before where it misfires, won't change gear (It's an automatic), won't go over about 25mph and has no power to climb hills - not good. It has happened twice before, and each time it was one of the four ignition coils (one for each cylinder would you believe) which needed replacing. The nice AA man is here now with his diagnostic computer, and he doesn't think it is the coil this time.

Break in Essex

We had a celebratory break in Essex on 2nd/3rd January and stayed in Coggeshall.

We visited Colchester and found a lot of churches - and five bridal wear shops. The disappointing thing was the lack of pubs!


A visit to Mersea Island followed where we found a lot of beach huts, before moving on to Maldon on the way home.

First real retirement day

This is my daytime retirement companion, Poppy. She likes to have the phone handy in case she needs me to open more food at any time.

My main companion - SWMBO - continues to work in the NHS, as a Consultant Clinical Scientist in order to keep me in the manner to which I have become accustomed.

Her main instructions (for now) for my retirement are not to let my already low standards fall any further. This means no tracksuit bottoms or trainers it seems.

This morning is my first real day of retirement as we went away on Friday 2nd January for a short break in Essex (more later) - and it's a very good morning to be staying indoors as it is snowing quite heavily.

The gas men are here today 'power flushing' our central heating system as we have one radiator which never gets warm and all the others only get lukewarm. Not a good morning to have the doors open as it is bloomin' cold. At least I didn't have to have the day off work to let them in!

New Year - New Beginning

It's me - JR.

I retired from the NHS on New Year's Eve (2008/9) after 36 years 105 days (13,254 days!).
Imagine starting work and being told you only had another 13,253 days to go - and that's if you leave at 54, not 65 years old.
I was employed as a Biomedical Scientist in the Biochemistry Department of a Pathology Laboratory. I finished up as a Chief Biomedical Scientist in charge of my own department. Throughout my career I was privileged to work with some marvellous colleagues. The 'friends' I worked with made the job thoroughly enjoyable, until the last few years when the increasing paperwork and lack of staff really made the job miserable. The staff were still brilliant, but it was just no longer enjoyable. I used to be the envy of my friends as I was the only one who actually looked forward to going to work, and didn't really like taking holidays.

That's me. I'm not sure how this blog will go, but it gives me a reason for getting up in the morning, and after checking the obituary column in The Times, if my name's not there, I will get up.