[Closed] I've just retired .......

#obviousjokeisobvious

Spend more time doing your other job?

Congratulations, and huge respect for your specific contribution to the public.

40 years in my job

Only another 20 to go, unless I die first.

I retired just before my 38th birthday and it was a bit of a shock to the system. Hardest part was feeling a bit lonely and not having people to talk to about everyday stuff/news stories etc. Now, 12 years later I think I've cracked it, with plenty of running and cycling and I also do a bit of swim teaching as and when I need a change of scene.

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Sadly not retired. When I dropped I had no trouble filling my time

I'd take some time off and just do what ever you want.

Ride more. Find cheap mid week accomodation and go visit places you haven't ridden.

Ride less, in bad weather.

I started to do more cooking and baking. Something I used to do more of.

Find a new hobby? My wife spent three months out of work. Starts today! She's been learning Cossack stunt (horse) riding.

Volunteer. Bike clubs and events are always on the look out for people to help. If you are in the NE I can always use CX organisers!

Join some clubs. I know a few retirees who miss the social side of work. There's a few pensioner chaingangs that ride out mid week so social stuff isn't limited to weekends.

Get drunk, like a student. It's cheaper to drink on Tuesdays.

Get a nice grill and invite your mates over for a BBQ.

Take a bit of time to just sit around in your lounge pants. Then, after you have developed a reaction to daytime TV and are bored with gaming, think about what you would enjoy doing and how much time you want to spend doing it.

I still have a way to go before retirement, but I think just doing nothing would drive me mad. I enjoy brewing, I enjoy DIY, I enjoy skydiving. I can't combine all of those, but I might find something that could tick most of those boxes for 20 hours a week.

Also, congratulations and thank you. You probably deserve some time to relax after that.

This 'Thankyou for your service' stuff is all a bit American isn't it? I'm sure it isn't just altruism that makes people take certain jobs...

Anyway, go biking. Local clubs run Monday/Wednesday rides. Ours are 'Triple R' rides. Retired, Rich or Redundant though you get mostly the former. Swimming, running, hill walking etc. It's all there. I've been semi retired (50/50) for 10 years, fully in 3 weeks at 53.

Congratulations....jammy git.

I plan on pointing a bike at the nearest Eurovelo, leaving the house rented out, and not returning for a year when I first retire.

I think I might try and do the compass point pubs if europe - furthest N, E, S W.

Best of luck in whatever you decide to do.

Plan a long distance bike trip.

Don't buy the Whailing Daily.

Swim in the sea.

Don't buy the Whailing Daily.

Wash the car.

Don't buy the Whailing Daily.

Coast-to-coast walk.

Don't buy the Whailing Daily.

Stay off facebook.

Don't buy the Whailing Daily.

Cut the grass.

Don't buy the Whailing Daily.

Visit all the 12C Churches in your local area, document what you see.

Don't

Buy

The

Whailing

Daily.

Get another job.

I hear the NHS are looking for 3 million volunteers to help with the impending zombie apocalypse

I retired at 50 a few years back. I was slightly concerned how I would fill my time (I'm not good at sitting around watching TV etc). I needn't have worried. I have got back in to motorcycling, so I'm doing some advanced rider training. I have rediscovered my love of art so have joined an Art Club at the local library. Strangely, I have discovered I enjoy "pottering" in the garden. And I am cycling and walking more than ever. No regrets here.

Best of luck with whatever you decide to do.

56 and retired, I'm learning to play guitar, tackling some classical stuff atm, what I lack in talent I make up for in persistence and grim determination.
I've been playing for a few months usually for around four hours a day.
My plan is to get a band together and do some gigs.
I'm also getting a drum kit soon, my wife's mental health seems to be holding up atm.

Some people who retire like to take the opportunity to look at their previous line of work from another perspective. It can keep the mind engaged and also help maintain an ongoing link to their profession and support networks.

Become an arsonist.

I am trying to hold out for one last year! gone part time, t'missus has retired, I can quit at any time but remain able to do bank shifts

Plans - we have plenty. first thing is to walk (most) of the length of Scotland, then off to south america trekking then big european cycle tour. Funded by letting out our flat. Thats the first 18 months or so.
Then antipodies road trip? Indian sub continent by train?

I'm now at 54 the same age as my dad was when he retired from the fire brigade after 30 years service, it's a sobering thought as there is no chance I'll be retiring till I'm his age now which is 82!

Welcome to the "third age". After 6 months of doing all the jobs I'd put off till I retired, riding my bike every other day and generally detoxing I gradually settled into a routine. I'd been a teacher for 38 years and really missed talking to people so I volunteer two days a week at a foodbank - van driver and warehouseman. Lots of other active retired folk to talk to. There are many many worthwhile activities you can volunteer for. Also I took up fly fishing from scratch. I think it helped me to have something brand new to get into. I plan my holiday/ challenge year so I always have a target to be working towards. This year - a week mtb in Aviemore in May, Kiltwalk Dundee in August and three weeks in Canada in September. Last year I walked the West Highland Way in September. The year before we did an off road Scottish Coast to Coast from Fort William to Dundee.
Hope this helps. Enjoy whatever you choose to do.

Congratulations, I always thought you looked younger.

I would be disappearing into the Alps for the summer, back home for a few weeks, and then back for the Winter season. Girls have already asked what happens to them when we do it.

Main thing is to enjoy it.

Congratulations, and despite obvious jokes, very well deserved.

I'm at an age now when luckier colleagues only slightly older than me are taking retirement in their 50s. All of them have needed to find some reason to get out of bed and interact with people.

If your riding is sufficient, crack on. Most have volunteered, often with outdoorsy groups like local country parks, FC etc. Having time to give back to places and causes they've loved seems to be the theme.

More sport (can do daytime now)
More holidays
Volunteering for a charity
Bit more gardening and house maintenance than before.
Daft idea tinkering (now on mk3 cat squirted)

Found this to be a long wet winter, so more holiday (to a warmer clime) in winter is the current planned solution.

I retire at the end of March - and have some concerns about filling time. But certainly not for the first 6 months.

Just not getting on an airplane every other week will be nice ...

Good stuff, congratulations. Were you protected? Hoping I get the next 9 years out of the way before the Tories bash the scheme again!

Just do what the rest of them do. Meet up in the pub during the day and tell all of us still serving how much better it was in your day and how we've gone soft now.

I plan to ride my bike and the tandem (with herself) when I retire. Plans are afoot for 5 years time as the hit on my DB pension will not be too great.

There will also be volunteering with a local charity, hopefully the food bank will not be needed by then(!).

Welcome to the club. I retired from the fire service five months ago after 30 years service and I'm still getting used to it & far from getting all my ducks in a row. Finishing over the winter with dark mornings, short days & shite weather probably wasn't the best timing to take advantage of my new found freedom so I need to think about keeping myself occupied over that period in future. I feel noticeably better for the regular sleep pattern & normal size food portions. My other half loves the fact that my default answer to any social activity is no longer 'Sorry I'm on nights'.
I miss my work mates & having them to bounce off. I guess there will be no replacing that no matter what I do. The other thing I miss from work is that feeling you used to get coming off your last night shift knackered but free for a while.
My diary is getting pretty full now though with travel & there will always be time to get a ride in.

To all those that have retired:

* you, you * lucky * ****s

I reckon I'll be 75 when I retire!

chestrockwell wrote:

Were you protected?

Yes due to the fact I was an old bastid when I joined the service.

Mrs and I have decided we are off to the pub this afternoon to try daytime drinking.

I've just had 5 weeks off unemployed, never been busier! Most days I started in the garden before 9 and finished in the dark. Still loads to do, but sadly I'm back working at NewCo...

congratulations bruce!

Don't rush into stuff. When my dad retired (aged 62 IIRC) he was approached by the chair of some local fund-raising committee. "Alister, the committee have asked me to approach you to go on the committee. <long pause> My personal advice would be to decline of the moment, and come back in a year;'s time if you're still moping about with nothing to do." He did indeed decline, and never got back to them. To be fair he went on the local Macmillan committee instead.

Emtb

I'll get my coat 😉

Best of luck Bruce. 🙂

amuse me people

Go for holiday in China? See what the fuss is all about?

Were you protected? Hoping I get the next 9 years out of the way before the Tories bash the scheme again!

I’m waiting on how the legal challenge roles across the public sector, then it’s 8 years instead of 20.

Congrats bruneep. 24 years in tbe cops for me last week - Similarly to Drac, I'm awaiting the outcome of our own legal challenge to establish whether I can retire in 4 years or 9....

I'm retiring at the end of July, the house in Scotland is coming on well with the slabs cast and the timber frame starting to go up now. It will have a very large heated and well-lit workshop for fettling bikes, boats etc. and is 50 yards from Loch Voil. I can't wait.

Similarly to Drac, I’m awaiting the outcome of our own legal challenge to establish whether I can retire in 4 years or 9….

We have another challenge in too to allow us the same pension as fire and police. It’s extremely unlikely to go through but if it does I’m gone in 30 days. 😁

Do that stuff you used to enjoy when you weren't at work. But more of it. Definitely keep body and brain active.

Post numerous threads on STW asking "what tyres for retiring?"

Now that you don't need to earn a living, get a job as a bike mechanic 🙂

We have another challenge in too to allow us the same pension as fire and police. It’s extremely unlikely to go through but if it does I’m gone in 30 days. 😁

Drac, is this just NEAS or UK ambulance service wide?

 

E-bike, takeaways, slags, motorcycles, biking holidays, escort Cossie, wild camping in Alton towers. The world is your oyster!

50 yards from Loch Voil. I can’t wait.

Oooh, I think I know which is yours...

Thats us just back from a nice lunch and some daytime drinks and a wee bimble around the shops. I could get used to this new life. Tomorrow will be a bike day.

Enjoy your retirement bruneep. I got down to interview level at 19. Would only have another 6yrs or so to go. Now a paramedic, only another 24yrs to go..... Not jealous at all!

I got made redundant nearly 2 years ago at 53 and decided to start-up my own little online business - it's doing OK, pays its way and continues to grow but whether it pays me back the money it owes me I don't know. Had a pension review with a financial adviser at 55 - appears we're OK so only problem is income until I reach pension date - have a house with no mortgage. Put house on market last week, agreed sale in 72 hours so now looking at doing a self-build in Scotland. Got a better price than we expected and can probably survive will little income on the house sale proceed until pensions kick-in. No flashy cars and no fancy holidays will be the sacrifice - couldn't be happier.