Is retirement boring?

ColdIron

Loving retirement 😜

zagubov

I'd second learning a new language (as @michaels has already mentioned duolingo). When I was at school we were helped to learn French via big cartoon books like Asterix and Tintin. Obviously subtitled movies are better than dubbed ones as well.

Later on found that graphic novels are another good way of keeping your understanding fresh. Some claim that Marvel is better than DC but that might just be personal taste. Trick is to find a good cheap source of French-language cartoon books here in Blighty.

Ages ago a poster talked about a village in Spain where Brits could go to help business students learn English by immersion (i.e.e. the Brits just speak English to them all the time until the students become more fluent and confident). For the life of me I couldn't quite get what was in it for the Brits as they were out of pocket for travel costs.

george_jetson

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82047862#Comment_82047862

Yes I would second this. Also I perhaps naively assumed that most organisations/charities would snap up any offer of free labour - not a bit of it. I found when I started looking that a lot of places either had no vacancies or would take your details in case something suitable comes up.

So don't think you're going to retire and walk into a volunteer role as a stem cell courier, or working on a heritage steam train.

I did find something suitable and local to me but it took about six months of "keeping my eyes open" for a role that fits. And now I've started I've been surprised by the distances that some of the other volunteers travel - I thought most volunteers would be local, not "commuting" 1+ hr in many cases…

HenrySay

Well I am amazed to say that, somehow, last month, I have completed and published my first ever book called: Juniper Street E.1. aged nearly 77 years old.I honestly never thought I would do something like this in retirement and would like to thank everybody who helped and inspired me to finish my labour of love. It was a wonderful experience gaining new skills such as formatting book and learning about new software. As the title suggests, it's about growing up in that infamous street and surrounding area in the East End of London, from birth, 76 years ago, all the way through to when they demolished everything. Places and landmarks many of you may now appear throughout the book: Cable Street, The Highway, King David Lane, Glamis Road, School, the Back Yard, Meredith & Drew and much, much more besides.I was invited onto the BBC Radio London show with Robert Elms in May, to talk about the book and the old East End memories behind it. There is a copy of the recording on BBC Sounds, if you are interested. Thank you again for all the help and kind messages to those who helped me. I was amazed that it reached No. 32 on Amazons History best sellers… 2 ahead of Boris Johnson! If you would like to have a look at the book, it's available on Amazon as you might expect.Or paste this in your search bar: https://juniperstreete1.carrd.co/

horsewithnoname

Not wishing to be rude, but maybe the question to be asked is Am I Boring?

The only places I’ve ever been bored was school and work 😂

Intoodeep

No it is not ,I am saying after 19 Months of "it"

Like most things it is what you make out of it.

The best thing is NO Alarm Clock (unless on trips away getting up for Breakfast)

eastcorkram

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82048646#Comment_82048646

I'm definitely boring, and happily so!

Yorkie1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82042700#Comment_82042700

That sounds really interesting. Was it a work course?

Yorkie1

@Roger175 that;s an interesting comment to reflect upon, for sure!

my take on it is that if you're bored by life whilst in work, you will be in retirement.

sheslookinhot

Work when you retire . What’s that all about ?
Semi-retired; if your working your not “retired” you might be part-time, but not retired.

I’ve got nothing to do and all day to do it in.

Seriously, 2 yr old granddaughter 1 day per week, sometimes 2 days, holidays, travel, cycling, walking caminos, gardening, gym in the morning. Breakfast club with fellow retirees, Afternoon socials. It’s great. Or as above, nothing when I feel like it.