As you should be aware Christine and I went on a Retirement Course last week, designed to ease us into the world of the Third Age - see I understand the language already. We picked up some interesting information which I will share with you in a moment but Christine got herself into a mess trying to explain why she was receiving a State Pension when only 45.
Talking of Pensions, we received three books from The Pension Service, one about Pension Deferral (91 pages), one Pensioners' Guide (73 pages) and a State pension - Your Guide (36 pages).
That's exactly 200 pages on pensions. Very Useful! That is if you suffer from insomnia. Start to read these and I give you 10 minutes at the most. Who does the Pension Service thinks reads these?
We got an 'Eat Well Guide', it could have been written by Christine. Listed in the 'to eat' section were fruit and vegitables, of course, plus Salmon and White Fish and even suggests a Pear as an afternoon snack.
What's that all about?
A biscuit or a bun could be a snack but a Pear...
Listed among the 'no-nos' were the usual, pies, sausages, cheese, butter, pastries, cakes, everything I like, etc. The guide then went on about losing weight and drinking less alcohol. As soon as we got home the guide went in the bin and I got the wine out but I notice it's since re-appeared on the kitchen worktop. Don't know how.
We then got handed a sheet listing some suggestions. I have picked out a few and added my comments. The course suggested that:-
| 1. | Food shopping will be done together | Not with Christine it won't. |
2. | There will be problems in 'sharing' the house | Too right Christine thinks it's hers. |
3. | We will become closer | Jury's still out on this one. |
4. | Household chores will be shared more | What? I'm far too busy. |
5. | We will seek to take up more joint hobbies | I want to be an 'I' not a 'We' |
6. | There will be less stress in the house | Will there? We'll wait and see. |
There were lots of other questions but what it brought home to Christine and I is that we were probably more compatible when I worked away all week.
It was suggested that we create a 'Nag Proof Territory' and thats not to suggest that Christine nags but this is somewhere to go for peace and quiet to do 'your own thing'. Christine chose the newly tiled Garden room and apparently I could have the shed. Sounds about right.
So it is with some trepidation that we move forward into the Third Age but at least we were told that our physical and mental abilities will not deteriorate too much until we are 75 but after that we will have diminishing powers and must not do 'too much'. That's a cheery note to end on.
