The BBC has recently added a new programme for retired
people to its radio schedule. Entitled
“Time of Our Lives,” this weekly show includes studio interviews with retired
people as well as features from external locations about all kinds of activities and pastimes.
The broadcaster’s own description of the programme is
that it is about “life stories, experiences, and ambitions of older people in
Northern Ireland.”
It occupies a prime slot on Sunday afternoons and lasts
for one hour.
Being broadcast on Radio
Ulster, it is accessible globally live on-line.
In addition, programmes from each of the last four weeks can be listened
to again on the station’s i-player.
The programme includes a four-minute section when a
retired person is invited to chat about what retired life has to offer.
A couple of weeks ago, I was fortunate to be
asked to contribute my tuppence worth. [1] The following is a copy of my script.
The joys of retirement
What is there not to like about being retired?
Our pensions may never make us as well-off as modern
sports-stars or as rich as bankers with their bonuses. What we can do, however, is to celebrate the
important things that make life beautiful.
Everybody loves free stuff.
I used my bus pass in March to go by train
from Belfast to Dublin and back for free.
This was to watch Ireland play France in the 6 Nations. I used it previously to travel from Belfast
to attend magnificent free events (the Turner Prize, the Fleadh Cheoil and the Lumière)
in the UK City of Culture.
One of the first things I did after retiring was to buy a
shiny new road bicycle. Expensive? Certainly. Fortunately, my bus pass compensates when I
take the scenic route down the Ards peninsula and my pass gets me across from Strangford
to Portaferry free on the car ferry.
Bonus points are rewarded to the over 60’s for reduced carbon footprint.
When I do have to pay, I rarely have to fork out the full
price. Being retired, I get discounts in
cinemas and likewise to attend orchestral concerts in the Ulster Hall. On such occasions, I tolerate (reluctantly)
the otherwise pejorative term OAP.
Pensioners can attend night-classes at discount rates in
Queens University’s school of open learning, at Stranmillis College and at the
Crescent Arts Centre.
Since retiring, I
have attended classes on a wondrous variety of entrancing topics from
languages, art, the history of jazz, creative writing, the celtic nations, yoga
– and there is a huge chunk that I haven’t even tried yet.
A world of new interests has been opened up thanks to the
knowledge and patience of academics.
·
I have been taught to appreciate the skill of
Matisse and what he could do with a pair of scissors and rolls of coloured
paper making cut-outs;
·
I have learned how to make Cornish pasties;
·
I was able to pick up sufficient Italian to
bluff a few sentences at my daughter’s wedding in Sicily.
·
As a spin-off, I can enjoy the TV detective
series Montelbano far more.
Key life skills for retirement.
Emboldened by renewed linguistic confidence, I studied a
Russian language book and CD set that my wife bought before our recent trip to
Moscow and St Petersburg.
After greeting
our guide with a cheery Hello (Zdrastvoite
in Russian – a difficult tongue twister), I surprised her later when she asked
our group if we had any questions about Red Square.
Up went my hand.
Sez I: - “Kak oo
vas deela.”
“Spaseba
karasho” replied Olga. (How
are you; reply - very well, thank you).
After which she wryly added – "Impressive fluency, Michael, but if you keep speaking to me in Russian
I will lose my job."
The greatest boon of retirement is the twin blessing of independence and time.
We are free to do what we want whenever we
want – within the normal constraints of the law, of course.
When I was a working man, my job (as a town
planner) meant that we were either looking back to conserve the best of the
built heritage; or else looking forward to devise blueprints for regeneration
and a better tomorrow.
In retirement, that
perspective changes. There is no
rush.
It’s time to live in the present.
·
Time for travelling,
visiting family (most of ours live in Scotland and England), staying healthy,
·
doing occasional
voluntary work, and - as important as anything –
·
having the time to read
the weekend newspapers’ supplements with their extensive features about
unmissable holidays, wine, film and book reviews.
·
These can be read
languorously over leisurely breakfasts right through the entire course of the
following week. Bliss.
A couple of years ago, I visited the UNESCO World
Heritage city of Bath.
One thing I learned there was that the Roman
governor was collected each morning and transported from his villa on a
hand-drawn carrier to the Roman baths for his daily pre-work exercise.
So inspiring is this practice that I have adapted
his habit by visiting the gym most mornings and (in the absence of slaves)
transporting myself by bike - before retiring later, re-energised, to other
less strenuous activities.
©Michael McSorley 2015
[1] BBC NI Radio Ulster 14
June 2015 Time of Our Lives http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05ysvxp#auto