It's next month, already!

My ‘retirement’ from the Civil Service is now next month, rather than at some vague specified date deep into the future.

Having been with the same employer for over 39 years, this is undoubtedly somewhat daunting.

For instance, I have to carry on working in some way, shape or form.  My pension is nothing to scoff at but it won’t be enough for me to continue to lead my current modest lifestyle.

So am I ready to retire?

Not in the perceived way of doing these things where I have always envisioned retirement as being a greying, bespectacled man in cardigan, slacks and slippers sipping tea from a cup and saucer, sat in an armchair.

I’ve never seen me doing this, mind you, because I never really planned in my mind for a time I wouldn’t be doing this.

There are certainly some priorities.

The first one, and this will become more pressing as time goes by, is getting a job.

I have a fair idea of the application process although the interview may be a little trickier given that I have spent much of my life being the interviewer.

I will need to find something that’s bearably interesting too, as well as being able to offer me more time off than I get now.  The last thing I want is to be working the same number of hours in order to earn the same money (or less).

In an ideal world, I would like to carry on exactly as I do now, albeit without the work bit.  More golf, walking, cycling, reading and writing.  Hopefully a good lottery win – a few hundred grand is all I ask for – can more than make up the difference!

Whatever happens, it’s beginning to hit me now.

I’m almost out of the door now and, frankly, I cannot wait.