So I think I officially left **’s clutches on September 30th 2017.  That was a Saturday, so my old work e-mail address at **.com finally stopped working sometime on the following day.  Not that I was using it at all by then, but I had been using it as my main e-mail, private and work) for many years, so I’d wanted to make sure I’d extracted everything I needed and has deleted all my histories.  I’m sure there’s still something I’ve forgotten, but important stuff like ****** *** **** **,   **** **** and ******** ** are all sorted.

My ‘final’ day was, however, Tuesday September 26th – a day later than planned.  On Monday 25th we had my leaving ‘do’ in the B**** T***s pub.  I’ve always like the place, despite it being seriously tarted-up about 30 years ago.   The beer is good and that’s the important thing.   My rather excellent and long-suffering ‘boss’ made the appropriate speech and I endeavored to respond appropriately (I failed).  I ended up with 4 Candles, some ‘Os’ and a wheelbarrow, which was rather unexpected and would certainly have been original if Ronnie Barker hadn’t got there first.   It was wonderful to see nearly everybody there.  (Sadly Les,  a long time colleague and lunch partner was away up north owing to the sad death of his mother.) Even old retired friends like Paul ***** and Kevin ********** turned up.   After this my No.1 Lady and I went to our dancing class (more about that later). To my surprise the bar bill was about £98.  Pathetic.  They MUST do better next time.

Next day I ambled in to sort out the final paperwork which, as expected, took longer than expected, and I dashed off to collect Son No. 1 and take him to the dentist to get his brace adjusted.    That evening I was playing at the French Dance club,  so it was a busy day.

So finally, Wednesday 27th was freedom!   Following the example of Mark Watney  I’m going to call it ‘Ret 1’.

So here is the account of ‘Ret 1’ to ‘Ret 8’.  (I’m actually writing on Ret 8).  Subsequent ‘Rets’ will receive more attention!

Ret 1. Having spent the previous days making sure I’d sorted all sorts of stuff for **’s benefit, it was time to sort out some things for myself.  Thus I emailed all the various people outside ** who I’d worked with over the years, saying how much I’d enjoyed working with them over the years and ‘here are my contact details if you need to get in touch’.   Of course, in some cases that’s a fairly obvious euphemism for ‘gis a job’, but in all cases though, it was genuine.  I had met and enjoyed working with many excellent people and I will miss them.

Ret 2. Time  to start sorting out all the work stuff I’d brought home, and to make a start on sorting out a number of domestic thing that had been bugging me.  So

1. the box of things holiday that hadn’t been put away – sorted.

2. kitchen ‘ in-box’  – sorted.

3. Pile of stuff from work I’d brought home: unwanted textbooks (take to dump), old payslips (burn), tools (into the shed) and other sentimental stuff (keep for now).

Ret 3. No 1 son not well and off school.  He’s been struggling for a few days with a virus and will only miss a sponsored walk today.  No real problems. I hold fort, do some shopping, go to Aldi to get gin.  Also start sorting out old domestic files, chucking out all sort of ancient rubbish.   Make curry for tea, overdo the garam masala and everyone complains.

Ret 4. No. 1 Lady is working today. No.1 Son a little better and has drum lesson today.  I have gig in evening, so make it a slo’ day so the energy lasts.   Surprisingly good gig in ‘Corton and Weston’.   Tiny place in the middle of nowhere (thank God for Satnav), nice crowd.

Ret 5. Slow day, Picked 2KG sloes with No.1 Lady. Roasted 2 chickens.  Poor little buggers.

Ret 6.  No.1 Lady working.  Spend day tidying up garden – it was a mess.  Deliver some crap to dump. Putty on bedroom window is now hard enough to paint, so climb ladder and make with the primer.  God I hate painting. Its a Georgian window with 30 individual panes.  I also hate paying £000s on new windows, so probably time well spent.

Ret 7.  No.1 Lady visiting No. 1 Step-daughter and No. 1,2 & 3 Granddaughters. I go to Yacht club winter working party planning meeting.  A nice bunch of retired gentlemen, all looking VERY relaxed. I’ll work out my role as I go.   Undercoat the  window in the afternoon.

Ret 8. Go shopping with No.1 Lady.   Gloss window twice.  I weaken badly in the evening and polish off a bottle of rather cheep and nasty red wine.  VERY BAD!!!! Had a little more later while I watched Memphis Belle on the Telly.  EVEN MORE BAD!!   I’m supposed to be cutting down – which I am mostly – but I’m still fundamentally a very weak  man.  (Units: I don’t want to think about it!)

So it’s not really an idle life at all so far.   Next blogs will continue the idleness to include sorting out the allotment.