Back in 2016, I mused here on the difficulties of being a carer for an elderly relative, especially when something unusual happens. Then, it was a planned surgical procedure: last week, it was an entirely unplanned disaster scenario, when my mother somehow fell in her own flat on the day before her 90th birthday party… Continue reading Caring: when it all gets worse
Tag: retirement
Retirement/retiring, 18 months in… an update
day in a library no longer feels wicked, like it's been stolen from teaching activities. OK, it never should have felt like that, since research was allegedly part of the job, but ...
Retirement, four months in: it’s all a blur
I think it's time for another stock-taking blog post. This retirement thing is complicated, and I know I have followers who are thinking of taking the same path and want to know what it looks like, although their paths may turn out to be quite different. So, four months of retirement: what has happened so… Continue reading Retirement, four months in: it’s all a blur
Approaching the exit door
So, I'm entering the final stages of the official side of the process. My P45 has arrived (for non-UK readers, that's the form which ends an employment and states the tax paid in it, so that if you were moving to a new job they could see your tax status) and tomorrow I have my… Continue reading Approaching the exit door
Stages of withdrawal
It's an odd process, this retiring business. Last week, I filled in the form stating how I want the percentage allocation of the lump sum and the pension to be managed, and posted it: that felt like a very serious step. But there are all sorts of other, tiny, steps happening and it seemed like… Continue reading Stages of withdrawal
Caring
Readers of this blog may be wondering how the course on 'How to retire' went. I don't know: I wasn't there! My mother (87) had a day-case operation on her eyelids (the problem, for those of a medical inclination, was entropion) and although the recovery seems to be fine, it has had knock-on effects on… Continue reading Caring
Starting to retire
so I'm going to retire - and I need to think this through.
The retiring academic 