Lynda's Blog

  Oh how I love those grandbabies! I have three and not so much babies now. My grandson is nine years old, his sister is six years old and the little one will shortly turn four years old. We don’t get to see them enough as we live three hours away and the roads between are not the nicest to travel. The road for the first half of the trip is windy and hilly. During bad weather there are often slips and there are always roadworks to slow us down. Fortunately the speed limit has been lowered and there are fewer accidents. We used to visit the family for a few days every six weeks and they would come to us a couple of times a year—much harder for them with the whole family and a dog to pack up! Once we retired and with the cost of petrol rising, it became very two months and now sometimes borders on three. We are finding as we get older we are not quite as confident travelling over this particular road. We always stop around halfway and have a coffee and something nice to eat so that...

  It is so lovely to curl up with a good book on cold rainy days. I remember the feeling of having to ‘bundle up’ and brave the elements to travel to my work. Then of course, trying to find a parking space near my place of work which was often almost impossible. Taking a brolly wasn’t always helpful—especially if there was a strong wind blowing. Many of my umbrellas turned inside out leaving me drenched and with a useless brolly. So once retired, the impulse is to just stay home. Of course it is different if you have commitments. Today I thought hard about whether I wanted to go out or stay home in the warm and read some more of my current book. But I have a weekly commitment to meet a good friend for lunch. I could have cancelled and she would have been understanding. I could have persuaded myself that she would also be pleased to stay home except I knew she was already out volunteering at our local church. Besides, I would miss that extra-large flat white! So I added a vest a...

  I love my retirement. But I also found great satisfaction in working and bringing up a family. The Bible makes it clear that work is important and we should work diligently at all that we do . I grew up with parents who taught me the value of hard work. So when I was employed, I worked hard for my wages and even went above and beyond if necessary. I have noticed a trend today (and please forgive me for generalising) that some younger people (and some not so young) use working hours to have long chats with co-workers, to take frequent regular vaping breaks, to make private phone calls or texts and to post on face book. There seems to be a culture of just doing enough work to get by in some organisations. Some employers seem OK with this. Are they worried that if employees work an eight hour day they may develop mental health issues? Burnout is of course very real and one needs to be vigilant about that, but working your eight hours a day for eight hours pay is surely the most ...

  I have friends who complain about their husbands sitting around and not helping with the chores and also the difficulties of living virtually on top of each other. My husband retired a few months after me, but once he had retired we had a discussion about the fair division of chores. We wash dishes and make the bed together. He enjoys cooking and also discovered a love of baking, so he cooks dinner and bakes every week. I dust and polish, and clean the bathroom, he vacuums. I do the supermarket shopping and absolutely refuse to take him with me. It takes twice as long and costs twice as much! He is happy to put the groceries away once I get home. Although washing clothes is my responsibility, he will happily bring it in off the line if I am out. He manages the lawns even with his painful knee. He organises the vegetable garden, I sort out the flower garden. Unfortunately, I still do the ironing—a chore that I really do not like very much! But I do iron less than I used to and he ...