Autumn days .......

There is something I love about the light at this time of year. Restful and mellow. Those smells too, rich notes of decaying apples, wood smoke, leaves. Walking out yesterday afternoon, we ended up going further than planned, at times lost in thought about many things. Some of which are out of our control. A time for reflection and thoughts of the future, we didn't talk much just happy in each others company.

Retirement is a funny thing. Not what either of us expected really. It’s nearly the end of our first year and it’s been a busy one up till now. The first six months was spent living on a building site whilst the house was renovated, escaping every day to be out of the mess. Decisions to be made, planning to do. Busy busy. Then the day came when finally it was just us - we worked on the garden, then hid from the relentless sun,glad of nothing much to do in the heat. Then suddenly it’s “what do you want to do today”. To be honest most of the time I don’t know. I can remember sitting at work longing for a day to call my own. Now it feels somehow wrong to do nothing. When I say nothing I don’t mean an empty day, I can fill a day no problem. It’s just that sitting with my knitting or a book just doesn’t feel right, I should be doing something. I guess I find it hard to relax and get the fidgets. Don’t get me wrong, there are still plenty of jobs to do around here, it’s just being bothered to start on them.

If you are retired how long did it take to get used to it?  I don’t want to get into a routine, you know, it’s Monday, it’s market day. I guess we are lucky that we get to go to France every month where we are kept really busy and I suppose that in some way highlights the lack of stuff to do here. You’d think we'd be glad of a rest. I like to feel I’m being useful to someone. What do you do to fill your days without driving miles or spending unnecessary amounts of money. It’s amazing how those coffee and cake treats soon add up - please don’t suggest sandwiches and a flask - not to mention the effect on the waistline, hence the walking!  We belong to the RHS and National Trust - how retired of us!! Again don’t want to get into the habit of visiting garden centres etc where you just see more retired people wandering around. We'd like to travel a bit but hate hotels - though no burning desire for far flung places, don't like flying much either. Our cat is old and we are conscience of the effect our being away has on her.

The grandchildren are a welcome distraction and we do enjoy our time with them, but they are growing fast, school now and the baby is no longer a baby - now in a big boy bed - we've put away the cot for the last time, that in itself feels odd.  The end of an era..

So retirement tips would be welcome and maybe someone to give me a good shake

I’ll leave you with some cute photos of local alpacas from our walk yesterday

I call this "walking into the future"