Autumn's knocking at the door

Five months now of retirement and continuing to love every minute of it.  Still plenty to do though.

We're almost at the end of August and wondering just where the summer went if indeed it ever arrived.  Oh yes, we've had a few wonderful days and we managed to be away on those days and both of us have picked up quite a good tan this year but it's been a very on and off summer.

What a busy day!

The rain has stopped and the sun's shining.  All around are the sounds of lawn mowers, hedge trimmers, the clip clip of garden shears, even a whiff of barbecue during the afternoon.

And so I joined them. I cut the grass, front and back, trimmed two Euonymus', cleaned and polished the front windows and finally brought the window boxes round.

Our back garden is waiting for a patio to be laid, meantime the self seeding Love in the Mist or Nigella damascena have taken advantage of the lack of maintenance and put on a spectacular display.




























We've not put the window boxes out the front of the house before now as it's been so windy and we wanted them to firm up a little from planting.

Our only concession to The Jubilee this summer has been to bring a patriotic  RED WHITE BLUE flavour to our window boxes. We planned to have red geraniums, white Petunias and blue Lobellia but the Petunias got severely eaten by the slugs and snails following the recent torrential rain.  Petunias should be labeled "Slug Feed" they just love 'um. They do however dislike geraniums and so we've doubled up on them.

Summer's here?

 Almost 10 weeks of retirement under my belt and loving it. Kept saying "Oh, I'll be fine, just need to settle into a routine"  That's what I thought! Couldn't be more wrong.  Perhaps I will change my mind at some time in the future but for now no routine is best.  Being a newcomer to Pensionville I hadn't given thought to there being any other course in retirement for keeping me content than routine.  However, on a walk last month, a friend suggested to me that routine was almost as bad as being at work. It removes the ability to be spontaneous, to push off somewhere for the day when the sun shines, to stay in bed just that little bit longer after a late night, or to just do what you want to do.  It has been suggested to me I might idle my time away in (part time?) employment rather than at home as I've just lost out on a few weeks temping at my old firm.  50 years is enough but thanks for the thought.

It's early June and it seems we may have had our summer.  It's 15° C outside and raining steadily and it's been like that most of the day.  We've just booked 5 nights away at Sturminster Newton to coincide with Janey's party.  We're away Thursday to Tuesday so will drive back to Sturminster after the party on the Saturday.

Talking of the weather. Friday morning brought heavy rain and strong winds and, combined with a Spring Tide scheduled for 10.30am we decided to put our wet gear on and go off down the seafront.  This is what we saw.Look out for Zak (in the shorts!!) Wendy and Becci walking past.

Nearly there

Can't quite believe it but in exactly one week I will be unemployed, retired. On Thursday 15th March 1962 I started out on a journey that was to continue for another 50 years. Eight employers over the years from engineering to policing, cinema management, pub management, retail office management, sales representative and finishing as a basic office bod.

Will you still need me, will you still feed me....

Aaaaahg that's it. I am officially a pensioner.  No, I'm Not.  I'm a Pensioneer, as quoted by William Shatner on HIGNFY a couple of weeks ago.  A Pioneering Pensioner, overseeing my Pension.  Love it.