Topsy Turvey

katex · 27-12-2006, 16:35

Well, now I am completely the wrong way around!!

Found myself not going to bed 'til very late and not getting up 'til late .. wasting half the day !! Know you can't when you have young kids, but this is getting ridiculous .. find myself almost getting up in the dark. Would I be like this when I can eventually afford to retire ? How do you force yourselves out of bed when no work to go too ... retirement seems a little daunting to me.

Think I might need a course before I do. Would be interesting to hear from some of our retired members.

maxwell silver · 27-12-2006, 21:13

A way from retirement yet Katex,but due to the shift patterns i work plus no longer bieng as young as i was,every holiday & weekends i find myself getting up at 4,sometimes 3 in the morning.Having the odd catnap here & there.Sometimes in bed by 9,sometimes later.The fact is i just can't lie in,as soon as my eyes are open then i'm up out of bed,and many a time its spoilt the day

jambutty · 27-12-2006, 23:25

When you retire katex you retire from the daily grind of earning a living and all that brings. Whilst working you was a slave to the clock. Time ruled your life but the day you retire you can throw off the shackles of time and become free. Free to pursue whatever you like subject to your financial status. You will still have to pay some heed to time – I mean there’s not much point in going to get your pension from the Post Office at three in the morning unless you intend to do it without their knowledge. But how would you do a runner on creaky bones? So there will be a few times when you will have to keep to other people’s time schedules. But in the main time will be your friend, your playmate and not your master. You will control time and not the other way around.

However, do not retire into doing nothing. You need to keep the grey matter active and watching TV won’t do that. Nor will going round the house dusting everything every few minutes. The old bones might creek a bit when you bend down or sit in a chair but what the heck you’re not a spring chicken anymore. Accept it and learn to live with the fact that you won’t be as agile as you used to be.

When I was forced to retire a dozen or more years ago I was fortunate in that the home computer in the form of the Spectrum and Amiga were all the rage. So I got an Amiga and also went to College to learn about computers. Whilst there I signed up for a Creative Writing course at “O” level standard and went on to gain an “A” level. Fired with enthusiasm I took “A” level Desk Top Publishing, brushed up on modern electronics (ex Navy Radio Electrician), did Maths “O” and “A” for the sheer hell of it and started a series of City and Guilds modules in computing and programming. Sadly a second heart attack put paid to my ‘school’ days but I had learned enough about computers to get my Amiga onto the Internet until it too showed it’s age and just couldn’t keep up with the new flashy Windows ME PC’s. So I got a PC.

I moderate the Golden Talk forum, come on here to have my say when I feel like I have something to say and do the same on the Jeremy Vine message board. I earn a bit more than a few bob on the Internet. Currently I have been converting all my records (78’s, 45’s, EP’s & LP’s) and tapes to digital format and that should keep me occupied for at least the next 12 months. In fact it could take longer because each track has to be cleaned up from all the hisses, crackles and clicks. My Audio Cleaning software will only do so much so I have to get in and get my hands dirty and do things manually so maybe it will take more than a year. But who cares, time means nothing to me.

Come late spring when the light gets better and brighter I intend to start a video diary to complement my digital photo album on a CD plus another pictorial CD of my dad’s army life during the First World War.

What I’m trying to explain is that your computer is a wonderful device and you can do so much with it. Write short stories or even a novel, or poetry if that’s your thing. I did. I wrote three books, two as a story for children and one as a record of some of the lesser known card and indoor games that I played. I didn’t do it to try and get them published but just to do it. One story helped to get me the Creative Writing “A” level and another helped to get me the Desk Top Publishing “A” level. Using my newly gained DTP skills I printed and bound all three books into real soft-back books. I knew nothing of book binding so I adapted the hard-back method for my own use.

So today I like my retirement.
I can do what I like when I like.
I get up when I have finished sleeping, no matter what the time.
I eat when I’m hungry.
I doze when I feel the need.
I go to bed when I’m tired.
I watch TV when there is something worth watching, which isn’t very often even though I have a couple of dozen channels to choose from. The computer and the Internet is much more interesting.

I hope that has given you some ideas on what is open to you should you want to take the plunge.
Can you read this secret message?
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE

cashman · 27-12-2006, 23:52

Katex,i aint been able to work for 6 years now, and what jambutty says is spot on, i had worked 6/7 days a week for more years than i care to remember approx 70hrs a week or more.and i thought crap thats me knackered,how will i cope, well i did and i love my life now,its a matter of adjustment,keep active with the old brain cells is paramount.in whatever you decide, i believe its the people that vegetate go under,the main thing in my opinion is you will not be a slave to the clock,as we all have to be when employed,time will be controled by you and its a damn good feeling once you adjust, to be honest with the things i have in my life now- i dont know how i found time to work.be positive and you will crack it,you don,t need a coarse just common sense.and you aint a dummy. good luck.

WillowTheWhisp · 27-12-2006, 23:57

I don't think I'll ever have trouble forcing myself out of bed because for some reason I find it impossible to sleep for more than 8 hours. I seem to have an internal body clock that goes off if I oversleep(forget to set the alarm or something), which is a good thing. I wonder if I'll always have that?

If I go to bed late and have to get up early I do find a cat nap early evening works wonders. Maybe there's something to be said for the idea of a mid day siesta.

Even though I keep specific hours to fit in with things like the girls going to school I do find myself doing jobs at what othr people may consider strange times - right now I'm ironing for instance.

garinda · 28-12-2006, 00:04

My advice, as the youngest retiree on here.

Get to like Jeremy Kyle and Trisha, get plenty of Prozac or a drink habbit, and you'll be fine.

shillelagh · 28-12-2006, 00:08

Well i would prefer to work full time.

When i was medically 'retired' at 27 and that was in 1994, i was bored mainly because i couldnt do anything because it was both my wrists that was k'nackered in. I was going to hospital appointments every week and being sent to bury, rossendale and burnley general hospitals. Eventually i learnt to write with the straps on and became a volunteer at my local school and with the credit union. I'm still involved with both of them now. Then my mum took ill and i became her carer. I learnt to drive eventually passing my test. I looked after my niece and my nephews after school and sometimes took them to school. But in fact it was the voluntary work that kept me going - i was meeting new faces and doing something that was doing some good. Me if i see morning i must be going work - its not often i see mornings! I just get up when i want and go to bed when i want. But i would still prefer to work.

garinda · 28-12-2006, 00:35

I too loved my job.

I used to hate my days off, cleaning, shopping and the like.

Enjoy it Kate.

junetta · 28-12-2006, 00:57

I took early retirement at fifty and I really think it was the worst thing I ever did. The dream of living in sunnier climes taking each day as if it was a holiday really appealed but after the first flush wore off, boredom set in.
Five years on and I wake up when I feel like it and sleep when I feel like it but the bit inbetween is dead boring.

On reflection, I dealt a little early but not to worry, something might turn up!

garinda · 28-12-2006, 01:01

We may see work as a life time of being on a treadmill, but lots of us like and need structure.

I know lots of people that spent their lives looking forward to retirement, only to drop down dead when it arrives.

Seize the day.

Ianto.W. · 28-12-2006, 01:51

Quote:

katex How do you force yourselves out of bed when no work to go too ... retirement seems a little daunting to me.

I find the call's of nature work very well for me katex, then the next thing is a brew, well I mighnt just as well 'boot' the pc up and have a quick nosey on accyweb, bingo dinner time.

katex · 28-12-2006, 12:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by garinda

I too loved my job.

I used to hate my days off, cleaning, shopping and the like.

That's me Garinda, sometimes happy to go back to work, unless I go on hols. of course, and you can't be doing that all the time when you retire, can you ?.

Well, thanks for your comments everyone, seems though even you have more flexibility with your time, you still have to treat retirement as some sort of occupation and discipline yourself to focus on activities, and yes, Jambutty and Ianto the computer is great and allows people to be in touch with the outside, rather than too lonely a life.

Although, probably 2/3 years away, think I will have to have a plan of action of things I have always wanted to do and never the opportunity (health allowing, of course).

Just being upside down these hols., worried me that this is what I would be like .. can be really lazy at times.

SPUGGIE J · 28-12-2006, 12:23

I have the same problem as Maxwel Silver as in my shift patterns play havoc. I find that even a short time of work has me climbing the walls.

As for retiring I will wait and see what happens.

cashman · 28-12-2006, 12:51

Well, thanks for your comments everyone, seems though even you have more flexibility with your time, you still have to treat retirement as some sort of occupation and discipline yourself to focus on activities, and yes, Jambutty and Ianto the computer is great and allows people to be in touch with the outside, rather than too lonely a life ------------- now yer talking,thats the thing to do, focus on whatever floats yer boat,you have too its that simple,theres loads of stuff clubs/societys/voluntry work/ etc etc,the computer, think not knowing the circs,but junetta seems to have had the wrong reasons i.e.( treat everyday as a holiday) thats the way you will come unstuck in my view. you need to sort yer head out katex, retirement is inevitable at some stage you gotta be ready for it i think.

mrskitty · 28-12-2006, 13:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by katex

Know you can't when you have young kids, but this is getting ridiculous.

Well jack goes to bed between 6-7pm,occasionally wakes up in the night(usually when im just falling asleep),gets up between 9-11am and always has a two hour sleep during the day-i think his decided to take VERY early retirement.When he was about 1 i took him to our GP because i was so worried about the fact he sleeps so much,just to be told 'enjoy the peace'.