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Ageing. It's a Bugger....

As a newish octogenarian, I don't feel I have the time left to spare reading pp 2 and 3 (but prob. shall later. ;)). I noticed this morning on the tennis court that it was a bit of a struggle for 2 hours. 2 further hours of awkward seedling planting this arvo made me become far more cream-crackered than previous years, but I keep telling myself that it's all in the mind.

So, Mull, it doesn't matter if your mind tells you you're a spent force of a crotchety, senile citizen; it's a Covid accelerated effect. Just aim for 80, which reminds me of a council notice on the facing wall of a public urinal in Leicester Square in the 60's. 'We aim to please; you aim too please'.
 
Saw this today. If anyone has photoshopping skills , please put some bite marks around the edge.

wCLMGxZ.jpg
 
You know, reading some of these tales makes me want to retire much sooner, not later, and enjoy life frugally, rather than working my ass off to buy stuff I don't need. My goal is still to retire from the rat race at 55, but only if I can fill my days with fulfilment and discovery (of the good kind) rather than vegetation and daytime tv....

I’ve always had that attitude. Just do it! I’ve spent most of my life well away from the rat race, partly through choice, partly due to the mass unemployment of the 1980s. I have had rat-race jobs, some very well paid, but I quickly tired of the illogical process of getting up early in the morning, wearing a crappy corporate suit, getting on a sweaty tube, going to a dull grey office and providing computer solutions and support to people I’d not have anything in common with at all in the ‘real world’, many of whom I’d actively avoid. I actually only stuck it for about 8-10 years all in depending how one counts it. Eight hours a day doing something tedious, another hour or two travelling, and then no time to spend the money as I was knackered and had to do it all again the next day. I ended up just spending money because I had (from my perspective) lots of it and was bored, not because I actually wanted anything.

I ‘retired’ just before my 40th birthday. This place has provided a perfectly viable income for the past 15 years or so (the first few years I was living off savings and eBay record sales). I view it as a hobby that pays rather than a job, but I live quite comfortably. I’m now 57.
 
If you stop working you will get time, and that's great if you can fill it in a way you find rewarding.

However I think for some people, time consuming work is a way of avoiding thinking about the void which is their life.

Work is a distraction from reality, a way of forgetting the depressing truth.

And it is a way of getting rewards, both financial and the reward of a target achieved.

So, work helps some people to feel successful.

Without work they will be up against meaninglessness, disappointment, failure . . . and thence to substance abuse, relationship failure, breakdown, suicide. Work is the opium of some of the people. Arbeit macht fr . . .

Just saying.
 
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I retired at 39, 20 years later, back to work. Part time, peanut money but lots of pluses to work from where I sit. Met lots of great people. The organisation is run by plonkers but the human beings that work there are lovely. I'm 63, about 10-15 years left.
 
A profitable hobby rather than "working to live" was always my idyll.

Guess not everyone has that creative gene that keeps them from getting bored of life but I've never had so much fun since I retired. All those things I ever wanted to do? I'm doing it.

I truly feel sorry for people who have nothing in their live's other than their "job" and are in a void without it.

What an empty way of living.
 
If you stop working you will get time, and that's great if you can fill it in a way you find rewarding.

However I think for some people, time consuming work is a way of avoiding thinking about the void which is their life.

Work is a distraction from reality, a way of forgetting the depressing truth.

And it is a way of getting rewards, both financial and the reward of a target achieved.

So, work helps some people to feel successful.

Without work they will be up against meaningless, disappointment, failure . . . and thence to substance abuse, relationship failure, breakdown, suicide. Work is the opium of some of the people. Arbeit macht fr . . .

Just saying.
Another optic is that work institutionalises us. By the time we retire we don’t know what to do. Fight against this!
 
I guess ageing doesn’t have to be but it certainly feels that way to me. I guess health plays a big part in how you look at it.
The last two years have not been kind to me health wise, who knows what the future holds but I suspect there will be good times and bad times ahead.
Yesterday was the first day that pain woke me up, 05.45 according to the clock. It’s never good to be playing catch up with pain meds!
 
Please please please don't let me become of those guys. I applaud the effort but someone should have told them to ease off a bit around the halfway point!
Yep, of those not obviously photoshopped - the bodies look fitter but the faces look 20 years older.
 
Yep, of those not obviously photoshopped - the bodies look fitter but the faces look 20 years older.

That's what it'll be. I'm all for people living as they want to live but there was something really odd about some of the pics and photoshop just might be it!
 
If you stop working you will get time, and that's great if you can fill it in a way you find rewarding.

However I think for some people, time consuming work is a way of avoiding thinking about the void which is their life.

Work is a distraction from reality, a way of forgetting the depressing truth.

And it is a way of getting rewards, both financial and the reward of a target achieved.

So, work helps some people to feel successful.

Without work they will be up against meaningless, disappointment, failure . . . and thence to substance abuse, relationship failure, breakdown, suicide. Work is the opium of some of the people. Arbeit macht fr . . .

Just saying.
I can see that being true for many people, but not for everyone. I "retired" at 65 and set up the world's least significant patent and trade mark attorney practice. I remain a consultant at my old employer and I enjoy the interaction with the younger attorneys and being the repository of ancient knowledge. Plus, as laws in our field are constantly changing and developing, there's the necessity of keeping up with them, so that I can deliver the best, most cost-effective service possible to the client. Then there's the whole matter of running a little business in a language not your own - English may be the universal language of the intellectual property and science fields, but it doesn't extend completely into the business field. It all keeps the cogs turning - better still, I like doing it, and I can't see myself stopping any time soon. In any case, when I want time off, I can take it.
 
I can see that being true for many people, but not for everyone. I "retired" at 65 and set up the world's least significant patent and trade mark attorney practice.
In that time you’ve not let the grass grow under your feet and have registered 36 different Novichok analogues on behalf of the Kim Jong-Un family trust? :)
 
A profitable hobby rather than "working to live" was always my idyll.

Guess not everyone has that creative gene that keeps them from getting bored of life but I've never had so much fun since I retired. All those things I ever wanted to do? I'm doing it.

I truly feel sorry for people who have nothing in their live's other than their "job" and are in a void without it.

What an empty way of living.


You don’t need to feel sorry for me. I have plenty to keep me occupied without working but I enjoy the challenge. I like to keep my hand in so tomorrow I’m going to fit new discs and pads to our Tony’s RangeRover.
 


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