Planning retirement is not simple, you need to measure income against expenditure more closely than in the past. With Christine this is not easy. Today is the day I have to return my company car as it is now four months since I retired. This now makes us a 'one car family' and unfortunately, as Christine keeps reminding me, the one car is hers. Do we need another?


So the Volvo 2.0 with air co, satnav, heated seats, traction and cruise control has gone. I bade it farewell with a tear in my eye but we move on. We now have the Renault Clio which I now have to convince Christine is OUR car as opposed to hers. I thought this may be difficult but maybe not...


As I leave the depot having dropped the Volvo off I notice that Christine has moved to the passenger seat of 'her' car so that I can drive. As I usually do the driving I see this as a good sign. I get in, turn the engine on and immediately notice the petrol warning light is on, 'we need some petrol in our car' says Christine. So I take the hint and drive to the filling station at which point I ask which side the filler cap is and of course she tells me the wrong side. I can't stretch the pump cable over the car so I am now doing wheelies round the filling station.


I pay for the petrol and return to the car to find Christine in the drivers seat ready to go. 'Just saving time' she says. Somehow I feel conned out of £40.


But can we manage with just one car between the two of us? If we do lots of 'we' things then maybe so but if I want to be an 'I' it may not be so easy. But with only 3000 miles on the clock and it's just two years old we didn't use it a lot anyway.


So what do we do if we both need transport at the same time? Well I have been explaining to Christine the health and fitness benefits of bike riding. If we get a bike then the one who travels the furthest uses the car and Christine uses the bike. Beverley and coffee with Vivien is after all only 2 miles away. And I have accepted that I will ride it on nights at the Corner House with Kevin and his gang. Can you be breathalised on a bike?


Christine, as she has taken to doing, listens to what I have to say and then asks why I am discussing this at all as she has a car and intends to continue using it. If I think she is going to meet her friends on a bike I am very much mistaken. The 'dragged through a hedge backward - windsweep look' was only just acceptable in the Jeep in the Bahamas and certainly will not do for Beverley where people know her.


If I want a car I have to go and get one and not rely on using the Clio. Budget restraints are not even considered. I'm now off to get the bucket and sponge and wash Christine's car. Life is not like it used to be.