Many thanks, all. I’m a “young” retiree—that’s my story and I’m sticking to it —so I know I’ll want to have a “job” of some kind. I’m going to take my time thinking what that might be, but my gut is something that leans more to the creative, things that I haven’t had as much time for the last 30+ years. But I definitely intend to say “no” when appropriate and make sure there’s plenty of time for family, friends, travel and other Good Things.
Not last year but 21 years ago yesterday I went with my daughter to the Millenium Dome. A nice time there but an awful coach journey down to London and an even worse one back home
So did we!
I enjoyed the trip very much. We went by train and stayed overnight with friends who live in London.
A year ago tomorrow, we went to Oxford to see the ‘Young Rembrandt’ exhibition. A year ago next week, we went to London to see ‘Upstart Crow’ in the theatre (part of my retirement present from work was theatre tokens), followed by dinner at Rules (also part of my retirement present) and stayed up in town overnight, going to the Nicolaes Maes exhibition the next day.
We were discussing whether we should, or would be able to, go to the next theatre thing we had booked. The rest, as they say, is history.
I think it is safe to say that 2020 was not the first year of retirement we had anticipated.
A year ago today we went to see our Guide Dog puppy working. 🐾💕
"What an incredible day.
It was absolutely amazing. We went to watch Spencer work with his trainer and say our final farewells.
He‘s learned such a lot and is every inch a Guide Dog. Not one paw wrong. There were several dogs - one huge and really pulling towards him. He ignored them all completely. He navigated a van parked on the pavement with aplomb too.
He went loooopy when we met him afterwards - a special time. He starts training with his owner on the 16th of March when they will spend two weeks at a hotel together, training by day and socialising with the others (three dogs altogether including his best friend Albert) in the evenings.”
A year ago today we went to see our Guide Dog puppy working. 🐾💕
"What an incredible day.
It was absolutely amazing. We went to watch Spencer work with his trainer and say our final farewells.
He‘s learned such a lot and is every inch a Guide Dog. Not one paw wrong. There were several dogs - one huge and really pulling towards him. He ignored them all completely. He navigated a van parked on the pavement with aplomb too.
He went loooopy when we met him afterwards - a special time. He starts training with his owner on the 16th of March when they will spend two weeks at a hotel together, training by day and socialising with the others (three dogs altogether including his best friend Albert) in the evenings.”
He’s been a hard working Guide Dog for a year! He has two great friends at home - Irish Wolfhounds!
Not last year but 21 years ago yesterday I went with my daughter to the Millenium Dome. A nice time there but an awful coach journey down to London and an even worse one back home
So did we!
I enjoyed the trip very much. We went by train and stayed overnight with friends who live in London.
Now that's the way to do it properly.
It puzzles me how the O2 Arena with a seating capacity of 20,000 can fit under the same roof
In March 2020, we went to our son's choir concert (in aid of the South Wales Valley floods) and then to Worcester (also flooded out) for a Cathedral music weekend. Little did everyone know that the floods were the least of their worries....
Orchid festival at Kew. Great meal in evening at White Swan, Richmond with adult son and daughter who live in London (and Mrs B of course). On tube back to Euston, en route back to North Wales, remember thinking “These odd bods wearing masks. What wusses!”
This time last year we were in self-isolation because we thought we had Covid. We didn't actually know for sure, because we weren't ill enough for hospital.
We went to the Stitch Festival on 28 February last year, wondering if this was wise, I suspect quite a few people of my acquaintance picked up Covid-19 there. We didn't, it something we did for a couple of weeks later did that.
Friday, 6 March 2020- I was working in Dundee. In the evening I went to see a film about the politics of Palestinian women's embroidery, part of the Dundee Women's Festival. I went with my daughter and a friend, R. There was a sale of Palestinian items after the film, and then my daughter, friend and I went for a coffee.
I remember that we were just teetering on the edge of the pandemic - there was hand sanitiser at work, and at the film. We were asked to leave empty seats between groups at the film. I think that night I saw my first elbow-bump. There had been a news item about people panic buying cleaning items and I wondered if buying several bars of soap from the stall was good (supporting the charity) or bad (buying up more than I had an immediate need for) I think I compromised by buying three. My daughter secretly bought a lovely embroidered bag which she gave me on my birthday in May.
I haven't seen my friend R in person since. My lovely bag has been used once.
Checking my blog - this time last year I was having a meal with a friend at a local restaurant, which was absolutely delicious. I haven't had a meal out since.
A year ago a friend helped me sort through some of Mum's old clothes and took a number of hand-knitted jumpers and cardigans that I would have thrown out or put in a charity bag, as they looked terrible on me. Apparently short baggy hand-knitted jumpers are (or were) the height of fashion and her teenage daughter loved them.
I was watching the news and figuring out when to jump, in terms of self-isolating at home. Mr. Lamb pushed us when he came home and told me he'd taken a woman to the doctor with a fever--and she'd been traveling in Vietnam. Bye bye, office!
A year ago today I saw Lulu in concert at our local venue. It was a sell out, we were singing and dancing in a small warm unventilated space. It was great fun and right now feels like science fiction.
A year ago today I met my boyfriend for a glass of wine, and then we went across the street to a fantastic little Italian restaurant - it was the last time we went out to dinner. The food was great, but we were nervous and distracted and didn't enjoy it as much as we should have.
Today he gets his first shot of the vaccine, while I wait, as I won't be eligible till they get to the general population.
Went on the train to Swansea. Walked round the maritime museum and had a meal in a restaurant. Last day out for a very long time. Haven't caught a train since and only ate in a restaurant during the brief lull between lockdowns. I'm very much looking forward to visiting the coast again, when we are able to.
This time last year I was asserting that I didn't think the library would close down because we wouldn't close unless the schools did, and I didn't think there was any way the schools would close down. The next day, the 13th, we got notice we were closing "for two weeks".
I just checked my calendar for 12 March 2020 -- a cancelled house cleaning and a cancelled dog physical therapy. Those were my first (of many!) COVID cancellations.
We went into lockdown early because my partner was working with vulnerable disabled patients and we knew a single case of coronavirus had been reported in the Cape, a traveller just back from Europe. The local library closed 'for a short while', I took out Boccaccio's Decameron and began reading the stories told by a group of young people sheltering from the Black Death outside Florence.
Power cuts each evening that week, so I sat at the kitchen table and peeled ripe prickly pears by candlelight. Sweet, bland and too many seeds, not worth the trouble. The news headlines were all about Harvey Weinstein getting 23 years in prison for rape.
Cancelled a trip to the coast over the weekend, cancelled a friend's birthday dinner at a new restaurant, cancelled my annual dental check-up (happiness!), went to the chemist unmasked to buy extra disprin. I made a note in my journal that everything felt jittery and unreal, the waiting for official lockdown.
This time last year we were running youthwork after school sessions, sure we were about to get shut down, asking why the Government wasn't taking things seriously, and feeling jittery because we weren't sure when. I had two lots of tickets for afternoon concerts at Kings Place, bought some time in advance, for this weekend last year and dithered about going, but Kings Place were advertising social distancing and sanitizer, so we went to the first concert - part of the Wilding Weekend, a talk about Folk on Foot. Various people like Nancy Kerr and Martin Simpson were playing that weekend and these were the last live concerts they were to play. The concert hall felt fine, but the travel there and back by tube and the crowds with no cares everywhere meant we didn't come in for the second tickets on the Sunday. A few days later my daughter was sick with what we thought was Covid19.
The last face-to-face Guides session was on 11 March last year, last youth work session was 12 March, although we returned to youth work face-to-face in September to the end of October, to very different sessions.
March 13 -- last normal day at work -- still with no idea we would be shut down the following week. We still had the "it's bad other places, but surely it won't come here" mentality. Our first case in the province would be reported the next day, but we were still heading into the weekend with a business-as-usual-except-more-handwashing mentality.
I was actually sick this time last year - I don't think it was Covid, but I remember coming home from work before lunch a year ago last Thursday, and being sure to bring my laptop with me.
The last face-to-face Guides session was on 11 March last year, last youth work session was 12 March, although we returned to youth work face-to-face in September to the end of October, to very different sessions.
Our Scout troop had their pancake breakfast fundraiser the day before lockdown started. There was a certain amount of umming and aah-ing about whether to go ahead with it; in the end, we did, with lots of hand sanitizer and spacing people out as much as possible. This year, they're doing drive-through collection of breakfasts.
March 13 -- last normal day at work -- still with no idea we would be shut down the following week.
My last normal day at work too. We had a meeting the day before with leaders from the church and outside groups that use the facility to plan the closure. On March 13 I transferred a ton of files from my computer to a tablet to take home. My boss thought we'd be back by Easter, but I figured it would be Pentecost.
Our last "normal" service at our church was a year ago today: March 14, 2020; we reopened again for services (with masks, distancing, etc) when regulations permitted again on Sept. 12 and were able to enjoy almost six months of semi-normal worship until Feb. 6, 2021, when a B117 variant outbreak here in the city lead to a new lockdown, which is just easing as we're back to no new cases.
Unlikely we'll be back in church for Easter; with the current gradual, cautious rate of re-opening we'll probably have a maximum capacity of 20 people allowed in services for Easter weekend, so we'll just stay online. Hoping to be back in the sanctuary by late April (obviously barring another outbreak before then).
Yesterday was Mother's Day in the UK. Last year it fell later, on the last weekend that Nenlet2 was with us before he headed up north to his home before Lockdown#1, so we had the day together and went for a lovely walk in the sunshine. Yesterday Mr Nen and I had our first covid vaccines at a big centre not far from where Nenlet1 and son-in-law live, so I got a walk with her before going for my jab. I feel incredibly lucky that I've got to see one of the Nenlets on the last two Mother's Days, as I know it hasn't been the case for lots and lots of families.
A year ago I had lunch with 2 friends in a cafe with a farm shop. I bought 6 eggs. If I’d known how difficult it was about to get to buy eggs I would have bought a dozen more.
A year ago today was my last day in the office too. In fact, the office was officially closed ("as a practice run in case offices have to close more long-term in the future" ) and we were having a small farewell event for our team in a hall down the road. A lot of us were being made redundant or, seeing redundancy coming, were moving on to other things. Had we planned to hold the event in the office we'd have had to cancel and it might have been better if we had: it was all very sad and subdued because of the break up of the team and the covid situation.
I did the rest of the working week from home and then took annual leave until the end of March, my official leaving date. Like @Schroedingers Cat I went back in the summer to drop off my laptop and collect some personal things. The office is closed permanently now.
A year ago was my last day in the office: I wasn't due in on the Tuesday as I (used to) work from home on Tuesdays and Fridays. But at the end of Monday I made sure my mug came home as I wasn't expecting to be back in too soon.
Years ago, I saw 'Kramer Vs Kramer'. I've more or less forgotten the plot, and who was right and who was wrong. The only thing that sticks in my mind is at the beginning, when the father has just started taking care of the child, he makes a complete mess of making breakfast, but at the end of the movie, when he makes the child's breakfast again, he does an excellent job. It's rather like that with working from home. I did have things set up to work from home, but it was all a bit Heath-Robinson - work tablet on the corner of a table, an extra monitor, an ancient IKEA wooden chair. A year on, I'm in the same room, but on an office chair, at a desk with two monitors and a proper mouse and keyboard. Physically, there's no need to go back to the office - although whether my manager will see it the same way is an interesting question.
Full lockdown here started on March 17, so a year ago was the last day before it happened. I went into the office in the morning, on foot to avoid the public transport, and came home at lunchtime feeling distinctly rattled. In the evening we went out to scavenge nappies and baby milk, which were both distinctly hard to find. The supermarkets were bedlam.
I never go into the office these days either, because the job in question died of Covid. I'm not all that upset about that, and intend never to work in an office again. I know this makes me fortunate and not everyone had the same experience, but one of the things I learned from lockdown is that I really rather like my home.
We went to London on the Saturday, as Mr Dragon had a meeting, and I took the Dragonlets to see the dinosaurs at the natural history museum.
Our last Guide meeting was on the Monday: about half of them weren't there, and we got the email to cancel face to face meetings with immediate effect just before the end.
I then went into work on the Tuesday to a mad rush to cancel all the clinics we had booked for the next few weeks (the consultant in charge having given the order to suspend screening locally about a week before the national programme did so.) It was also a wierd week as Dragonlet 1 was still at school, but the numbers present in his class were dropping.
A colleague and I were trying to formulate some reasonable emergency procedures for the home care team and email them to our manager, in the absence of any other direction. We were also trying to find out if there was any possibility of council carers being issued with masks. A year ago they didn’t have any (bearing in mind they were carrying out personal care and manual handling with numerous vulnerable people) and supplies of gloves and anti-bac were running low. The NHS had masks, but council staff are social care.
A year ago today, my 15 year old son developed an odd, but mild, persistent cough and I kept him home from school. Later that day I listened to him chat online to his friends who were also off sick with the same cough.
A year ago yesterday I arrived back in the UK, having managed to get onto the last flight from The Gambia to the UK. It was a strange experience crossing London on a near-empty Tube and then going into Sainsbury’s for basics to find the shelves empty.
A year ago today I developed an odd, but mild, persistent cough. I was unwell for the next 15 days (the second week with breathing issues and chest pain) and I am now returning to normal health after a year of post-viral syndrome.
This time last year my daughter woke up with a cough and temperature, so we put ourselves into self-isolation, suspecting Covid19. That was 18 March and she had a few days of not feeling brilliant, but we did get out for some walks later that week. Looking at the walks we did, the ground was much drier underfoot. I wouldn't attempt them now.
On March 19 last year I got my last professional haircut. My hairdresser slathered both of us with hand sanitizer, and in the middle of it her co-worker came in and told us the governor had announced that he was closing down California that night.
This evening I am teaching a 2 hour tutorial on grieving. I teach this every year but last year I suddenly had to leave my co-tutor in the lurch to do it by himself because I was unwell with covid. The university was fabulous over the next month and fellow tutors covered tutorials and did my marking.
Comments
Also wishing you a happy retirement!
So did we!
I enjoyed the trip very much. We went by train and stayed overnight with friends who live in London.
We were discussing whether we should, or would be able to, go to the next theatre thing we had booked. The rest, as they say, is history.
I think it is safe to say that 2020 was not the first year of retirement we had anticipated.
MMM
"What an incredible day.
It was absolutely amazing. We went to watch Spencer work with his trainer and say our final farewells.
He‘s learned such a lot and is every inch a Guide Dog. Not one paw wrong. There were several dogs - one huge and really pulling towards him. He ignored them all completely. He navigated a van parked on the pavement with aplomb too.
He went loooopy when we met him afterwards - a special time. He starts training with his owner on the 16th of March when they will spend two weeks at a hotel together, training by day and socialising with the others (three dogs altogether including his best friend Albert) in the evenings.”
He’s been a hard working Guide Dog for a year! He has two great friends at home - Irish Wolfhounds!
Now that's the way to do it properly.
It puzzles me how the O2 Arena with a seating capacity of 20,000 can fit under the same roof
Feels like a nightmare version of Groundhog Day.
That’s a LOT of mopping!
I remember that we were just teetering on the edge of the pandemic - there was hand sanitiser at work, and at the film. We were asked to leave empty seats between groups at the film. I think that night I saw my first elbow-bump. There had been a news item about people panic buying cleaning items and I wondered if buying several bars of soap from the stall was good (supporting the charity) or bad (buying up more than I had an immediate need for) I think I compromised by buying three. My daughter secretly bought a lovely embroidered bag which she gave me on my birthday in May.
I haven't seen my friend R in person since. My lovely bag has been used once.
(yes, I realise that I am taking huge liberties with the thread)
We spent a few hours on a deserted beach, remembering all the great times and trying to come to terms with our new times.
This time last year I was on a two-week development project in The Gambia, keeping an eye on the news and wondering when I might have to leave.
Today he gets his first shot of the vaccine, while I wait, as I won't be eligible till they get to the general population.
Power cuts each evening that week, so I sat at the kitchen table and peeled ripe prickly pears by candlelight. Sweet, bland and too many seeds, not worth the trouble. The news headlines were all about Harvey Weinstein getting 23 years in prison for rape.
Cancelled a trip to the coast over the weekend, cancelled a friend's birthday dinner at a new restaurant, cancelled my annual dental check-up (happiness!), went to the chemist unmasked to buy extra disprin. I made a note in my journal that everything felt jittery and unreal, the waiting for official lockdown.
The last face-to-face Guides session was on 11 March last year, last youth work session was 12 March, although we returned to youth work face-to-face in September to the end of October, to very different sessions.
Our Scout troop had their pancake breakfast fundraiser the day before lockdown started. There was a certain amount of umming and aah-ing about whether to go ahead with it; in the end, we did, with lots of hand sanitizer and spacing people out as much as possible. This year, they're doing drive-through collection of breakfasts.
My last normal day at work too. We had a meeting the day before with leaders from the church and outside groups that use the facility to plan the closure. On March 13 I transferred a ton of files from my computer to a tablet to take home. My boss thought we'd be back by Easter, but I figured it would be Pentecost.
That might be about right -- only it will be Pentecost 2021.
Unlikely we'll be back in church for Easter; with the current gradual, cautious rate of re-opening we'll probably have a maximum capacity of 20 people allowed in services for Easter weekend, so we'll just stay online. Hoping to be back in the sanctuary by late April (obviously barring another outbreak before then).
That was the last time I worked in an office building. It may well be the last time I ever do.
I had to visit it to retrieve my stuff over summer, but otherwise, I have not been into an office since.
I did the rest of the working week from home and then took annual leave until the end of March, my official leaving date. Like @Schroedingers Cat I went back in the summer to drop off my laptop and collect some personal things. The office is closed permanently now.
Years ago, I saw 'Kramer Vs Kramer'. I've more or less forgotten the plot, and who was right and who was wrong. The only thing that sticks in my mind is at the beginning, when the father has just started taking care of the child, he makes a complete mess of making breakfast, but at the end of the movie, when he makes the child's breakfast again, he does an excellent job. It's rather like that with working from home. I did have things set up to work from home, but it was all a bit Heath-Robinson - work tablet on the corner of a table, an extra monitor, an ancient IKEA wooden chair. A year on, I'm in the same room, but on an office chair, at a desk with two monitors and a proper mouse and keyboard. Physically, there's no need to go back to the office - although whether my manager will see it the same way is an interesting question.
And I am not sure where I have put my mug.
I never go into the office these days either, because the job in question died of Covid. I'm not all that upset about that, and intend never to work in an office again. I know this makes me fortunate and not everyone had the same experience, but one of the things I learned from lockdown is that I really rather like my home.
Our last Guide meeting was on the Monday: about half of them weren't there, and we got the email to cancel face to face meetings with immediate effect just before the end.
I then went into work on the Tuesday to a mad rush to cancel all the clinics we had booked for the next few weeks (the consultant in charge having given the order to suspend screening locally about a week before the national programme did so.) It was also a wierd week as Dragonlet 1 was still at school, but the numbers present in his class were dropping.
Here’s a photo - https://tinyurl.com/2dker89j
and another - https://tinyurl.com/ksxapszk