Enjoying Retirement

[Prolex-UK]

We planned our final move based on proximity of services within walking distance and public transport also close.

Same with the house. Manageable garden and not too big.

Ended up in Whitefield twixt Bury and Manchester.

Tram 400 yards away Morrisons same. Doctors 500 yards.

House 2 bed semi which needed some work.

All work done now so new flooring kitchen windows and external doors. Also solar heating fitted

Drive holds 3 cars and our next door neighbour is a builder so all works done by someone who knows his st.

Park for the dog is also 400 yards away.

The equity from the London home we sold bought this place and is funding holidays and car purchases...

Wife calls it the fk it fund...

No children to leave the money to do the stress such as it is is spending the majority while we still have our facilities!!!

I am 66 next April and wife is 56.

[Hol]

paralla said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

paralla said:

We moved from Central London to Saddleworth in preperation for retirement. It's truly beautiful here as well and I can be in Euston Station in three hours if I need to be.

I've always thought the opposite. Getting older should mean looking to live somewhere busier. In due course you might no be able to drive and you're going to need buses, trains, hospitals etc. Nearby hopefully.

I live in the London suburbs. I'd like to sell the house and move to a flat in Central London, but the wife is happy with the suburbs. And I do like it here. Got about 3 buses, 3 tube lines, and Network Rail with 5 mins of our front door.

The train from my local village station to Manchester Piccadilly is 24 minutes which was kind of my point. We looked at a place in the Scottish Highlands (and old schoolhouse near Beauly) but decided it was a little too remote for us.

That’s quite a move north.
I assume the local roads are enjoyable for a car guy being just north of the Peak District.

[RDMcG]

Notice that there is now a thread that deals primarily with the financial/planning aspects of retirement which means that this thread will presumably focus on the enjoyment aspects. Seems to be a sensible division to me.

[paralla]

Hol said:

paralla said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

paralla said:

We moved from Central London to Saddleworth in preperation for retirement. It's truly beautiful here as well and I can be in Euston Station in three hours if I need to be.

I've always thought the opposite. Getting older should mean looking to live somewhere busier. In due course you might no be able to drive and you're going to need buses, trains, hospitals etc. Nearby hopefully.

I live in the London suburbs. I'd like to sell the house and move to a flat in Central London, but the wife is happy with the suburbs. And I do like it here. Got about 3 buses, 3 tube lines, and Network Rail with 5 mins of our front door.

The train from my local village station to Manchester Piccadilly is 24 minutes which was kind of my point. We looked at a place in the Scottish Highlands (and old schoolhouse near Beauly) but decided it was a little too remote for us.

That’s quite a move north.
I assume the local roads are enjoyable for a car guy being just north of the Peak District.

The roads are a bit narrow and bumpy for the family SUV I have now. Mazda CX-60 ‘s are freakishly wide. Hubby’s CH-R GR Sport fits the roads better but it’s CVT is no fun at all.

[Sheepshanks]

alscar said:

We live in a small village but within 10 miles have a choice of towns and London is an hour away.
We are cogitating on another move ( we both feel we have one more decent move left in us ) and don't want a much smaller house but am happy to have less land ( currently about 12 acres ) as long as my wife can still have her horses and stables at home and in return I get "my" garages.
Would love to go really rural but as get older think practicalities dictate that maybe one hour from Doctors /Dentist and the like is probably sensible.

We live in a Cheshire village and you don’t have to be a hour from facilities - we stayed in a barn conversion on a 70 acre wealthy bloke owned plaything “farm” while our house was being refurbed. It felt like it was in the middle of nowhere but it was about 4 mins drive from our village, itself about 15 mins from Chester.

Our village has a satellite health centre, chemist, post office, little Co-op, pub, chippy (excellent but expensive) so you could survive here if you had to by walking to things. We had a look around recently and anything outside of the villages means you’re in the car for everything - even if you fancied a walk the rural lanes are pretty hazardous. And some of the smaller villages have no amenities at all now.

Out of the blue (as it always is) my wife had detached retina a couple of years ago. The repair process hasn’t been straight forward but she was finally discharged this week. There have been quite long periods where she’s been unable to drive so we’ve been thankful to be no more rural than we are.

[supersport]

Hol said:

paralla said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

paralla said:

We moved from Central London to Saddleworth in preperation for retirement. It's truly beautiful here as well and I can be in Euston Station in three hours if I need to be.

I've always thought the opposite. Getting older should mean looking to live somewhere busier. In due course you might no be able to drive and you're going to need buses, trains, hospitals etc. Nearby hopefully.

I live in the London suburbs. I'd like to sell the house and move to a flat in Central London, but the wife is happy with the suburbs. And I do like it here. Got about 3 buses, 3 tube lines, and Network Rail with 5 mins of our front door.

The train from my local village station to Manchester Piccadilly is 24 minutes which was kind of my point. We looked at a place in the Scottish Highlands (and old schoolhouse near Beauly) but decided it was a little too remote for us.

That’s quite a move north.
I assume the local roads are enjoyable for a car guy being just north of the Peak District.

There are some amazing and fun roads in the area and then into the Peak District.

[mikeiow]

OldSkoolRS said:

Get well soon Mike. My wife has been suffering a bit with a chest infection too. Just managing to stay clear of illness myself as I don't want to lose my voice with the gigs coming up.

I'm off to that there London this weekend too. If you see a gang of 5 blokes drinking Horlicks that's us out on the raz. Just booked my train tickets and got the App (look at me all fancy with the tech ). Allowed myself a bit of extra time on Sunday after the lads have gone, so I can go to the new Gibson shop in London...not that I'll buy anything other than a packet of plectrums or similar, but nice to have a browse around and steal some inspiration for my music room decor.

Well, I hope your weekend was as much fun as ours!
Did you buy more than some plectrums?!

We had a funky cafe lunch with our daughter before wandering about Wallace Collection (quite a mix of paintings and armour!), Grosvenor Square (glowing roses), Soho, Carnaby Street, then later an excellent tasting meal at Mildred’s with both our kids & their partners (an active effort to spend the inheritance before RR can get at it ).
Couple of drinks later, nice hotel, then a late brunch with them all again on Sunday before heading up Horizon 22 for some great views, then down to the Mithraeum for some Roman goodness.
A fantastic weekend….over 20,000 steps all told, & eaten & drunk a bit too much….but a decent way to celebrate our anniversary!

Still feel a bit rough, MrsMikeIOW suffering with the lurgy…but a relaxing week to clear it before we are off again.

[OldSkoolRS]

Yes thanks Mike...we had a great time catching up. Loads of walking, chatting and we found a great river boat bar opposite the London Eye to rest our legs late Saturday afternoon. Walked to Chinatown for a meal, then more drinks on the way back to our hotel near Paddington.

More walking and talking on Sunday sustained by a full English breakfast somewhere near Madam Tussauds until we all had to catch our respective trains. I went to the Gibson shop with one friend on our way to Waterloo station, but didn't buy anything...was just nice to have a look around.

We did over 40,000 steps in total by the time I'd walked home from the train station, which might help counteract some of the excess food and drink this weekend.

[mikeiow]

40,000!
Impressive work!

[stepej]

C'mon you lot... I can't believe you'll all in hibernation / warmer climes for the Winter

What you been up to?
It'll brighten my day, stuck at my desk after the -4 drive into work earlier (or maybe make me a little jealous having just signed a 12 month contract extension"")

"" it's only 3 days a week though - as i wind down to join you guys

[paralla]

Long walk around Glen Affric in the Scottish Highlands yesterday.

[SMar]

Just returning from 8 days in Cyprus, then home for 10 days before going to Canary Islands, Madeira for Xmas and New Year, before returning via Lisbon in mid January.

[alscar]

Last week,2 nights away in a nice hotel ,car in for a service so time with eldest and his daughter , finished Pm'ing of wife's turn out area for horses.
This week , annual medical review at GP , zoom mtg with FA , dog got 4 long walks , lunch out today.

[stepej]

Glad you're not all tucked under the blankets watching daytime TV

[mids]

Just bought a cheap old caravan. Now that I've dropped down to a 3 day week I want to start making the most of the 4 day weekends. If I get on well with it I can see myself upgrading it when I fully retire in about a years time. Not very PH I know but, pffft

[Boringvolvodriver]

A lie in until 830 - waiting til it was light and the house nice and warm, A leisurely breakfast whilst reading the paper (online) scrolling on PH before a walk to the Post Office later on.

We might make a start on getting things ready for our 4 week trip for a cruise and 10 days in Florida in 2 weeks - we’ll get the suitcases down from the loft!

[98elise]

stepej said:

C'mon you lot... I can't believe you'll all in hibernation / warmer climes for the Winter

What you been up to?
It'll brighten my day, stuck at my desk after the -4 drive into work earlier (or maybe make me a little jealous having just signed a 12 month contract extension"")

"" it's only 3 days a week though - as i wind down to join you guys

Did a cheap winter sun break a couple of weeks ago to Lanzarote. As it was just us (now the kids have grown up) so we spent it exploring the island and visiting Cesar Manrique (Architect/Artist) sites. We did a day of off road buggy driving to counter the culture though

The benefit of being retired is you don't need a lazy pool/beach battery recharge type holiday. You can have a busy holiday knowing you haven't got to go back to work/stress.

Planning a trip to Wales to see relatives. Again retirement means you can travel any day avoiding rush hours, and you don't have to be back for work. It completely changes your perspective. I used to see family trips as a chore/obligation. Now its a mini break.

[9xxNick]

Our daughter's still at school, but that just means that extended school trips and swim camps, as two examples, are now an excuse to go on holiday and spoil ourselves for a bit. We do of course still take holidays with Ms 9xx as well.

[DT1975]

Up at 0845am,shower, 2 cups of tea, walked the dog. Starting to dig out stuff for next weeks two week Caribbean cruise, will have some lunch then I'm off for a longer walk over some nearby Dorset countryside. (Poole Harbour & Isle of Purbeck in the distance)
(pic taken the other day)

[200Plus Club]

We've started swimming weekly in addition to regular walks, plus I've just bought an offroad bike for winter exploring.
We are also off to Tenerife in January for our first winter sun break.
I've also booked a ferry crossing for late June and we are off to Switzerland so I'm really looking forward to that trip and driving hopefully all the Swiss Alps famous routes.

One thing so far I've really noticed is we've been so busy sorting things/getting into retirement I haven't really missed/thought about work at all, it's been fairly full on and you do wonder how you had time for anything in addition to full time working!