This is the bit I like most, its Monday morning again. Everyone is off to work, the queue on the road to Beverley is growing which is nice to see. But this morning I need to get down to Focus DIY for some paint before Alex, Dave and the kids want the Clio to visit Dave’s parents in Scarborough.


This is the Clio that used to be Christine's, that I then claimed to be ‘ours’ when my company car was confiscated upon retirement, that is now being shared by everyone. If cars had social standings it would think it’s gone from being a ‘lady of leisure’ to ‘someone in the work house’. It’s gone from only doing 25 miles a week between Tickton and Beverley to doing 425 miles a week, even using motorways, in six months. Christine claims not to have had the use of ‘her’ car for the past three weeks and wants to start a booking system. I immediately realise that this is where I come in, I was a project manager you remember, Christine will obviously need my help getting this off the ground. I give her the Black Book to use to create the plans for the booking system and offer to create a spreadsheet to be completed weekly by everyone using the car. She again looks at the book with distain and writes on the calendar that she wants the car on Thursday. I am not sure everyone reads the calendar, we will wait and see. Fortunately, if it goes wrong, I can again press the necessity of using the Black Book.


Anyway, going for the paint.....
I need to join the queue of traffic moving slowly towards Beverley and filter into the queue on the main road. The driver of the car behind displays his annoyance that I have pushed in front with a display of flashed headlights. He will now reach Beverley a full 15 seconds later than he would have if I had stayed in the garden room reading James Patterson. And suddenly it all comes back: the traffic queues, the angry drivers, the whole going to work bit, all it needs is the mobile phone to ring and I’ll be looking for a sausage roll to eat whilst I’m driving along.


But I have to feel sympathy with these guys, it’s Monday morning, they are only just starting their week at work and already they are stressed, the stress will only increase until Friday night when they can have two days at home and then start it all over again.

Meanwhile for me, I’ll sit in the garden room, write this blog, maybe paint a window and at about 4.00pm, the chilled bottle of Sancere will be opened and Christine and I will sit in the garden room and wait for the family to return. And what’s more, tomorrow will be very similar. Will we get bored? No!


I immediately de-stress, I let the car behind with the flashing lights overtake me so he is now happy to be sat behind a different car and I know it doesn’t matter to me if I get to Focus at 8.45am or 9.00am. It will make no significant change to my day.


And what a day, beautiful again, I have had nothing but shorts and T-shirts on for a few weeks now and this only helps to make retirement all the more worth while. No suit, no shirt, no tie. In fact this is turning into a very good summer, it’s almost like being back in The Bahamas tough unfortunately, without Luciano’s in Nassau to visit for lunch.


There can't be a better setting for a restaurant anywhere and the food is excellent, we're looking forward to eating there later in the year. But in the meantime I notice Christine is in the kitchen preparing lunch, it looks like salmon and cucumber sandwiches with strawberries and cream. I think I’ll mix a jug of Pimms - it’s a hard life. Keep working guys, someone has to pay for my pension!