As many of you will know last year I fitted in the travelling while working. I used to start work about 7am and finish at 5pm, go out somewhere and then tidy up the bits I had to finish off at work. At the weekends I used to try and do as few hours work as possible. This year I’m retired, so what difference is it making?

The key thing is I’m a lot less stressed. I used to get so uptight about work, and that would spill over to my non work life. When I was in my 20’s I was very good at shrugging if things didn’t go well, that attitude has definitely returned. I’m sure John must be feeling the benefits of me not working.

What else has changed. Well I rarely set an alarm clock, i think that I have had to set one twice in the 4 months since I have retired. So I guess now I get the sleep I need. I used often to have a quick sleep after work and I thought I would grab a siesta in the afternoon, but I don’t feel tired anymore. Mind you I tend to sleep a solid 9 hours each night!

We move more often and in bigger leaps. We are moving about every 3 days, we have 2 full days at a place and then 1 day where we move. Of course this varies, some places don’t have much to offer us, or have restrictions on how long you can park for, some places have loads to do, or we simply feel like a break from moving and spend a day sat around the van (although we always at least go for a short walk of about 1 hour even if we do nothing). We do more miles when we move, we used to drive for about 45 mins each time we moved, now it’s normally double that, sometimes longer very rarely shorter. Two causes of this, one we have more time to move, but also our cycle rides are longer so if something is within 40K – 50K we will cycle to it. We NEVER check what the internet will be like before we move, that used to be a deciding factor on where we went next. It stopped us going to more remote places last year (until we realised how good Spanish internet coverage was). This year we just move. The other thing we don’t consider when we move is if the “site” has electricity. Using a monitor and laptop all day uses a lot of battery power. Since not working we have been off grid for days on end and the leisure battery doesn’t drop much (we have a solar panel topping it up).

Jobs and chores, these are almost the same as last year, not totally as last year I had to get out the monitor etc and put it away at the end of the day. That monitor now stays in the cupboard apart from the odd time we watch TV. The main difference with jobs and chores is that last year John did at least 90% of them. Often it would take him all morning as it included not only cleaning and washing but going to the supermarket. The washing and cleaning is shared and hence takes half the time. The supermarket is done as we pass one so it takes a lot less time than making a special outing.

Money matters, one of the things we have to be careful off is that we are out and about a lot more than we were last year. It becomes very easy to say, “oh that bar/restaurant looks nice lets stop”. We are doing this on a limited budget, you can’t retire at 55 and expect to have a good income (unless you plan well from 18 and I didn’t, or you acquire money by means other than earning it). This is something we have to watch like a hawk, particularly as it continues to rain a lot in this very green country and bars provide dry spaces, unlike a picnic.

Time is the obvious difference but in reality I still only have 24 hours a day. I brought with me lots of hobbies to do, clarinet, keyboard, family tree, podcasts, learning languages, painting, crochet (yes you read that one correctly, me with wool and a needle!). Lots of books and guide books. Well time is so much harder to control than money. Sometimes I simply have to put the brakes on and stop rushing. Many of the above sit in cupboards untouched!