Retirement (or Last of the Summer Wine)

Back in the 50's when I used to travel into town with my mum and gran I used to kneel up on the front seat as well (didn't all kids?). I used to get quite upset if we boarded one of the older buses which didn't have that seat. Apparently, my mantra used to be "Ding ding, under the bridge and mound da torner" It's rather embarrassing now, at the age of 63, to reminded of this at family get togethers. But "yerve gorra laff ain't yer?"

Thanks for that, morgana - one of my most favourite tracks of all time The collection "Golden Days" in which it features is played over and over in the car

Yes, that plucked at the heart strings Morgana. A few of us retirees would relate to that. I also caught the 14 yr. old Liam McNally clip. What a stunning voice for one so young. I hope he will go far.

Hi all My dad used to tell me that getting old was when you noticed the policemen/women looking younger. I spend a lot of time reminiscing as indeed most of us do on our forum, judging by the content of the posts. The posts about the coffee bars which went on into memories of Woolies has stirred me this evening. (sorry, pun coffee stirred). If there was just one message that I would have to post for the benefit of our members who are not retired, let me tell you that it won't be long. It only seems like five minutes since I got married. I remember the day when Mr Walker shook hands with me, wishing me well on my leaving school day, but in reality feeling sorry for society then being forced to have me. The forum forces me to focus on our city, every day that I go out, as today when I was walking around what was the end of Fleet Street & then walking along the service road behind the Co-op in Corporation St, trying to project the pictures on our forum into where I was looking. The pictures of the now Central Six I have to un-project so as to extend my own memories of the marshalling yard & the noise of the shunting & so on. This evening, I have just enjoyed an hours shunting in our own goods yard here, or to be more accurate an hours playing trains. I wonder if our ladies on here, when entertaining grandchildren, project their memories of their dolls-house days, taking dolly out in the pushchair & so on. A lady once described our model railway as if it was a big dolls house, as she picked up a couple of people & moved them around. On its own, our forum is a health benefit for me. It forces me out to find locations, like today where I walked at least three miles, as well as the mental stimulation of having to project old to new or new to old in working out locations. There is always a snag though, as I had worked up such an appetite that I had lunch with Pam in the Wallace. I do hope that all of our members find our forum fun & interesting. I am all the more delighted at the friendships that have come about as a direct result of our forum. Happy retirement all

Well I am up before you and Pam this morning Philip and as soon as I read your latest post you had 'stirred' my pot of memories, i.e. The Wallace. Not as it is now though, but the lovely rose gardens and wooden benches that was once a haven for me with my pop and crisps, after Sunday roasts with my mum, dad and grandparents and then over to the Wallace and it was always a lovely summer evening in those days. So thank you again for your lovely post.

Philip, you are indeed a rare gem. Gilly

Gosh & thank you to you both. I like to tell it as it is, warts & all.

Hi all, I tell everyone not to retire. I have a coffee morning today with two very special forum ladies, then a lunch with a former tax man who just happens to be a train-spotter. Just how do we cope. "I should be so lucky" might have been the turn of phrase from the people in my office days, struggling to meet finance deadlines. The fact is, though, that most of my working life was a happy one, as was my childhood, even though huge chunks were spent in Paybody Hospital. In hospital one morning I was reading a comic story about Dennis the Menace, who had invented a go to school bed, so that he did not have to get up to go to school. There was I doing just that! In fact, having everything in bed. Morning after morning, particularly if my leg plasters were soft or new. Sometimes, in life, we have to make the best of what ever is going, or try to improve on it. Best wishes all.

Philip, I used to always dream of having a mobile bed to transport me to Freddie's. I hated having to get out of bed on a freezing winter morning. Putting my feet onto the cold lino, then rushing downstairs to huddle around the coal fire. Sometimes we only had the paraffin heater if the coalman hadn't been. Still happy days though.

Hi Mayjan That sounds like our home here when Pam & I were first married. We had an open coal fire, & I bought an Aladdin paraffin (blue flame heater that burns without smell) from your old neck in the woods, H E Phillips. It looked old fashioned, being circular. Placed in our hallway gave out 3kWh of good heat. It went to a good home when we had central heating installed in the early seventies. The thing is, like you, we made the best of it. That is what made it happy days.

Hi all Visiting forum friends today, where I cannot reach them by train, bus, boat or aeroplane. Really out in the sticks yet still in Warwickshire. For Pam & I, it's like setting out on a holiday journey adventure. I am so looking forward to this. I boast about how good our bus services are, but this is one exception. If there is a bus, it might be once a week.

A few years ago I was waiting for a bus in Accrington and there was one chap who was bemoaning that he was on long-term sick from work and was bored. "What are you going to do when you retire," I enquired. "I hope I never reach that age", he responded. I was gobsmacked. I commented that I would have gladly retired at 15. For many my career as photographer would be many people's dream job. It's not what it seems. You are taking pictures to meet others demands, not your own. Don't get me wrong: I still loved the job. But there was little opportunity to work on my own projects. Now 70 I am still as enthusiastic about photography as I was when I started my first job - perhaps more so, because now I have the experience to know how to get the results I want. Even so I am still learning about photography all the time. I have lost much of my mobility but with my scooter I can get out and click away to my heart's content, then come home and download then onto the computer to see the results. My big problem is that I have too many interests and there are insufficient hours in the day to do everything I want. That's despite a younger friend who comes in to do some of the housework.

Thank heavens I can still remember as far back as my pre-school days when my mother used to leave me with Mrs. Neal four doors away, what we would call here Family Day Care these days. I loved it there, only four of us and the days out in her garden picking and chewing the mint leaves (which we shouldn't have). I can't ever recall having bad memories as a child and on reflection I was very fortunate during my adolescent years for the events and memories were always happy ones. I would go as far as to say my retirement started when I had my family and if that is what retirement meant to myself and other ladies of that era then how lucky we were. Now I have time to reflect and would not have changed it for the world, and thank you Forum members for making me realise just how lucky I have been, although I can imagine not quite so for some. I do hope most of you are enjoying your retirement as much as you are able.