Retirement - the future

[Scarlet]

I wouldn't recommend online dating - too many freaks about by half.


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Really? I've been to a few weddings the last couple of years where they've met online.

[Bex]

Really? I've been to a few weddings the last couple of years where they've met online.

Maybe it's just me then Scarlet lol


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[veggiechicken]

I wouldn't recommend online dating - too many freaks about by half.

There are freaks everywhere

[Nannysally99]

My daughter met her husband to be online. Took a few frogs though .......

[noviceveggrower]

After 22 years in the military and another 11 in the telecommunications industry I was made redundant at the age of 52 back in October 2012. So with my redundancy money I decided to leave the rat race , meetings, commuting etc behind, moved back to the old homestead in the country and never looked back. Reclaimed, drained and cleared half of the land in the first year, and the aim to do the rest over the next few years. I have about three acres in all. I have never worked so hard in my life but have never felt so well or contented either. Following two serious life threatening illnesses in the previous decade which I now put down to unhappiness and stress I can't believe how healthy I am now and my doctor is amazed at the results of my last two check ups.I do have the safety blanket of a small monthly pension and do without a lot of stuff I thought was important. Changing my car yearly and a couple of foreign holidays a year is now just a memory but the advantages really out weigh the cons. I have albums on my profile which show the progress from wilderness to productive gardens if anyone is interested.The simple pleasures of eating something you grew yourself or drinking cool crystal clear water from my own well , a log fire in the grate which I cut myself , simply being part of a helpful sharing community again are hard to beat

It sounds as if you have given up so much but gained so much more back. Where is your nearest neighbour?

[noviceveggrower]

There are freaks everywhere

I usually end up with them sat next to me on the bus.

[Greenleaves]

My lifestyle was changed through a health scare at 49. I spent my whole working life making someone else rich at the expense of everything I hold dear, family etc. 10 years ago I suffered a major heart attack whilst on the tube one morning and work up 4 days later having undergone a triple heart bypass. Released from hospital on the 8 September, my wife and I decided that I needed to seriously change my lifestyle. My employer was charging £1500 a day to clients for the work I was donig for them but the advantage I had was that I held the relationships. I handed in my notice which ran concurrent with my sick leave and set up my own business. I have a great work life balance and only do as much as I want. I shall retire later this year but still own the business which will give me a nice income without making my 4 employees work for a company that puts profit before people.

[Bex]

My lifestyle was changed through a health scare at 49. I spent my whole working life making someone else rich at the expense of everything I hold dear, family etc. 10 years ago I suffered a major heart attack whilst on the tube one morning and work up 4 days later having undergone a triple heart bypass. Released from hospital on the 8 September, my wife and I decided that I needed to seriously change my lifestyle. My employer was charging £1500 a day to clients for the work I was donig for them but the advantage I had was that I held the relationships. I handed in my notice which ran concurrent with my sick leave and set up my own business. I have a great work life balance and only do as much as I want. I shall retire later this year but still own the business which will give me a nice income without making my 4 employees work for a company that puts profit before people.

Wow Greenleaves, good for you. I think sometimes it does take a scare to make us wake up and smell the roses.


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[greenishfing]

Farmer Giles you need to decide what YOU want, irrespective of being single or not.

If you need to get out of the rat race DO IT if you can afford it. You say France would be no good alone but if you are alone you have to put more effort in to integrate and you never know maybe you will find the perfect partner there.

Several times I have uprooted myself. alone, and jetted off to pastures new. I have great memories of all these experiences.

I eventually found my soulmate closer to home and we then jetted off together ...........and eventually came home.

You only have one life.......try to enjoy it.

Go for it but don't burn all your boats.

[noviceveggrower]

Farmer Giles just go for it if you can afford it. I should of gone for it. I was meant to go to New Zealand. I had a place to work and a person to stop with but I didn't do it. I regret it in a way now. I sometimes think what could be. But I'm married now with two young kids. I don't have any formal qualifications so there is little chance of going now.
If you do go to where ever you will meet new people and possibly your soul mate.
Try to sit down with a piece of paper and write a pro and cons about moving to pastures new. Then do the same for France, Ireland or where ever your heart takes you.

[Feral007]

I think internet dating is the same as pub crawling now - always a lot of frogs around. Mind you, in France they're all frogs aren't they?

I think you have to decide what you want to do as the others said. But are you deciding what you want to do? Or are you still at the 'I know what I don't want' stage?

If you have got past just hating what you've got, then you can actually start to think about what you want and then you will start to see the plus' and minus'of each place.

I came down here to live with the kids. We did know a couple of people an hour away, but knew that we would see little of them as they weren't social types.
I had to make an effort to meet the neighbours (and isn't that fun some days!) and find out about everything we needed. You do have to put effort in, but you do meet lots of people - and you will amaze yourself at how many you could have done without meeting :P

I'm not sure I'm going to stay round here once the kids are gone. I'm playing with ideas in my mind. I haven't found one that is worth pursuing yet, but that's half the fun. I agree that if you could rent for 12 months it helps show you what's what.

I've never been one to wait for someone else to come along with me. I went to europe on my own and met some great people. I've moved around my state over the years and it's great.
Once you've decided whether you want to go somewhere, then you just have to start looking. The first step is the hardest.

[Farmer_Gyles]

Well the commune idea sounds good - some seem to be like large smallholdings with pigs, sheep, loads of veggies - share the workload - i'd love a smallholding, but it's too much work for just me, so communal living could work

france etc is always an option .....

i do have an income from the internet, so hopefully won't ever be skint .... i will have a small railway pension one day but of course, that's worth nothing at the moment .... and there are options like keeping the house and renting it out for an income .... i know that one day i'll say enough is enough and just go .... it's when, not if .... be nice to have plans in hand ....

[meteor]

I was lucky because a few years earlier I had inherited the family homestead and kept the house in good repair although the grounds had reverted to the wilderness. I did intend to live there in my retirement but redundancy enabled me to realise a dream and move back to the house I grew up earlier than planned so it wasn't such a dramatic step as it would appear.I have records that show my family lived, grew crops and kept livestock there going back to the 1700's and I now continue that tradition. A lot had changed since I left home in the late seventies and most of the people I knew were gone except one old school friend, but I have become friends with my new neighbours and helped them with starting a veg plot also.I would highly recommend my new life style but if you cannot do without your Sky sports, fancy restaurants etc it may not be your cup of tea

[noviceveggrower]

Funny you saying how things have changed meteor. I live about 4 miles max from my nans old place. It was a farm once and still kept its name. She had the biggest orchard I ever saw as a child with apple trees that were so old they'd become twisted in time. Land at the back where she had a massive poly tunnel. She also kept chickens and rabbits.
She was a private dog breeder so she what she grew she fed the dogs and puppies. Those dogs even then were only fed what she grew as she said she knew what they were getting and that was the best. The rabbits and chickens got the best to.
But due to ill health she had to sell the farm and she sold it to a local builder. He let his son have the farm. In doing this the son dug up the orchard and concreted over it. The ground at the back has now got buildings on it and a horrific extension that makes you wonder how they got planning permission.
Time waits for no man and I know you can't stop people changing things but it is so sad to see things gone forever.
I could give up sky, don't do fancy restaurants and my car is over 11 years old and you can tell I have an allotment with all the stuff I keep in the boot. I much prefer the radio especially a Radio 4 play.
Just think as I bet a lot of people do that you are very lucky Meteor