Dear LPG,

Younger people often see staying young as making sure that you relax and enjoy the evenings and weekends when you are not involved with whatever it is that you do vocationally.  I have to say that, as I observe the friends and family around me that are still on the work merry-go-round, I think that the stress that often is part of that world has become even worse during the fifteen or so years since I jumped off; and all that in spite of the covid-19 home-working society that we have become.   

Pre lock-down, I remember when I finally reached the official stage of old age and experienced that year or so when you really appreciate not having that stress around for a while, but then I started to feel quite old and out of the loop for a time; perhaps all the more because I live alone.     It is then that you have no choice but to find your new niche in life because all the people you worked with are usually still working and thus much too busy to help you to occupy all that extra time you find yourself with.

I found it was necessary to make a few new friends to fill in the gaps, and I discovered that the older neighbours that I used to only have time to say a quick hello to, as I was running down the road to catch the train in the mornings, suddenly became more than just the couple that lived over the road because, like them, I had time to chat and learn more about them.  

Interestingly enough I found that a few of my neighbours that have been pensioners for a while longer than me sort of showed me the ropes as I found out a bit more about what they did with their time.  It was a bit like learning a whole lot of new things often from older people who know the ropes when it comes to enjoying their retirement.  I also found that there were quite a few things that we could do for each other, the most important being finding the time to pop in for a cup of tea. 

When I first retired I was fixated on the work colleagues I left behind and the fast paced world of work that I felt too old for, which made my general outlook on life a bit unsettling, but perhaps the most important lesson that I learned from my older neighbours was that, from their point of view, I was young and still had a lot to learn.

I have no doubt that most of the LPG readers of my message will have already learned this lesson by now but, as life goes back to post-lockdown normal, it is a lesson that we now somewhat established pensioners need to pass on to our neighbours as they cross over from being an old worker to becoming a young pensioner.

RT, Bellingham