RETIREMENT PITFALLS

SO, WHAT DO ALL THESE FOLK HAVE IN COMMON?

FAIRLY HAPPY BUNCH I can hear you say. True!

In fact they have all retired! Yep, all retired!

Man this retirement thing is a bit on the tricky side. There are heaps of people doing it but just because it’s popular, doesn’t mean you should be jumping in willy nilly.

A person works for quite a few years – decades. Day in, day out. Then work stops!

For some people, like some doctors, some accountants and lawyers and Crock the dentist, they’ve managed to ease into retirement somewhat gradually. First they have Fridays off. Then they just don’t go in on Mondays and Fridays. You get the idea. Indeed, a number have followed Bev’s angle and taken up something quite foreign like bus driving on a less than full-time basis to give them something to do after their real job has finished. And something quite different from their farming career or whatever it was.

One minute Robbie was a most important person as a well respected deputy principal of a community primary school. The next minute she’s a nobody; just living on the memories of her former occupation and her place of importance. Then there was a really good mate who had an engineering firm. He scaled down to something like 3 days per week. Problem was there’d be a site meeting called on one of the days he wasn’t supposed to be working. Got to be a bit awkward. Think it really affected him big time.

Another engineer became the manager of his wife’s beauty salon. It seemed to work…. OK. Maybe she started seeing too much of him?

Teachers and principals are a bunch I know a fair bit about. A classroom teacher does a 5 day week (normally.) Most of them retire… They stop teaching… cold turkey. Some of them do a bit of casual (which can be a tough gig.) But how ’bout principals? Bit hard to do a three day week when you’ve been boss of a school. They either want you there all the time or not at all.

There are pitfalls in retirement – like hangin’ around your missus 100% when you used to be around home only 17.5% of the time before that. Some of the spouses can feel a bit cornered.
Eating is another pitfall. Stuck within seven metres of the fridge and six from the pantry…. can be a bit of a danger. Without too many meaningful tasks to be completed and meetings to attend. How many sudokus can you do between brekky and lunch? How many days can you play golf Bill? Dicko?

Of course the health bit is important. Some folks’ health goes down the gurgler at an alarming rate once they cease to be employed on a full-time basis.

So, Dicko, Alpal, Bruce, Bill, Robbie, Army, Morrow, Bud, Jim, Smarty, Reidy, Margy White, Robbo and the rest of you… what are the secrets of retirements? What are the pitfalls and how do you avoid them?

Guess the question we want answered is:

How can you ensure retirement is a fabulous time?

Hey, you've got a bit of spare time - click on comments below (somewhere) and tell us one thing you think is a factor for a great retirement.... whether you're there or not!!

I'M FREE SYDNEY TOUR

Here's Ross. The other one's Justine! They were GREAT!

Hey everyone! You gotta do the FREE TOUR with Ross and Justine!

It's a free three hour walking tour! They're gonna survive on TIPS they reckon!

Look up I'M FREE on the net. If it doesn't work, let me know or just google i'm free.

We're talking Sydney of course.

Fay and I were their FIRST customers. They are gonna see if they can survive on just tips! Cool! They are great young people and we really enjoyed our time wandering round Sydney with them.

We were staying at Wyndham on cnr Wentworth and Goulburn Streets.

Managed to see CHANGELING and also THE REMOVALIST (play by David Williamson currently on at Pier 4 near Circular Quay.)

Good place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there!!!

Next stop..... Cudmirrah!!!

2 SILKWOOD CLOSE FOR SALE

Feeling bad. Here we are selling our house and there are 1800+ houses in Victoria burnt to the ground! 189 lives lost. Over a million native animals dead. Then north of us in Queensland, they've had incredible flooding... 60% of the whole state declared flood bound. Unreal.

It sure will be sad if and when we depart Dubbo. What a great house!

Neat bedroom eh? Ensuite, mirrored built-ins. Great family home.

JCK II about to go driving in the new Corolla. Go girl!

And when she's not driving or playing netball or dancing.... she's on the baby grand!

Good opportunity to visit Bruce up at Wharparilla. Near Come-By-Chance.

Bruce once broke my leg in a rugby tackle. I have utmost respect for this man!!!

Chris sent down SIX STRIKES in a ROW! Don't think I'd ever seen that before. All without paying for shoe rental or even picking up a ball (ten pin bowling.) Yep, in Pete and Jon's lounge room. Go Wii! (Pronounced wee.)

Pete and Jon cooked up this delightful dish.... skewered salmon with lime.... or was it lemon???It was absolutely delicious!

Jon shows his form at ten pin! Good style.

Jane shows her form. Note the lounge had to be moved to accommodate the game.... the wee.

Go Fay. Stick that tongue out a bit further... it'll give you leverage!

VICTORIAN FIRE WIPEOUT

It's pretty warm when you get this shimmer in the distance. These first 3 photos were taken around Burren Junction/Wee Waa area. It wasn't extremely hot but I felt the effect was an interesting one.

The photos below are just a couple of shocking reminders of the devastating fires in Victoria that have claimed the lives of about 180 people so far! It's not over yet. No, I didn't take these photos.

Whole communities have been wiped out. Unbelievable. Very very sad. How fortunate are we. We live in New South Wales. These fires have been in a few parts of Victoria, south of NSW.