Resolutions.....

[BENIDORM]

Here we go, my first effort for awhile with a new topic....

Only a few days away from the annual New Years Resolutions, now is the time to plan methinks

I wonder how many members still attempt to make Resolutions ?
Last year my resolutions didn't kick in for a few months, I know.......bad, bad boy.....
However I did redeem myself and really got down to a few lifestyle changes, for instance giving up Alcohol.....
Blimey , I never thought I'd hear you say that Gordon, ...
Well I did and honestly I haven't touched a drop for 9 months, and I surprised myself at how easy I found it to change a habit of a lifetime.
And why did I take this drastic action ?
My greatest motivation was that I became aware that I must be more alert and try to keep in good health to help Pauline who has been affected a lot with her memory loss problems.

Yes.... I have to say that I do feel in better health and I've lost weight, 3 sizes lower around my waist
And of course my wallet is a little heavier and I don't have to take as many trips to the recycling bin with my empties.
We still make regular trips to our local bars and I quite enjoy my now regular couple of bottles of tostada 00 beer, Pauline is following me gradually and now drinks non-alcohol wine mainly from Salobrena, grape juice , but even I like a few glasses.
Of course it also helps my appetite , I've actually cut down the portions by using smaller plates to fool myself and I hardly eat white bread, just integral etc.
I've given a lot of thought to my lifestyle changes and I really do recommend others to consider making a few changes....

So has anyone got resolutions lined up for next week ?

Regards ,
Slimline Gordon

[olive]

I admire your resolution.

I have just been talking to a friend. His resolution - well aim, is to make 86.He has made some lifestyle changes too.

My resolution for 25? Get rid of stuff and downsize to a more manageable property. We are in Scarborough and have brought a car load of tat. My hifi separates, a sackful of Denbyware and my coin collection ( who knew) to name a few. Quite cathartic. The trick is not to take more tat back. Must go, havent been on Vinted! For at least 30 minutes…………

[Wicksey]

We want a bigger house, not more rooms so much as more spacious ones, and an extra bathroom. Been looking around for ages and hope that maybe 2025 will be the year that something happens. We're not getting any younger

I already try to eat healthily and I will not be giving up alcohol. We are modest drinkers, usually having 3 or 4 days alcohol free anyway, and I would miss my G&Ts in the summer and Guiness in the winter too much . I want to do more exercise, my once a week class is not enough, but I am limited by back and leg problems but resolve to do something in the new year. Whilst we are on this hillside my walking is very limited (another reason to move away or at least spend part of the year elsewhere). When away on my cruise last month I walked 102,000 steps in a week .... only possible because I visited cities that were not built on 7 hills . So, it would be a good resolution for me to walk more.

[El Cid]

My resolution is to spend more years being retired than I have spent working. 6 months to go!

Sid

[IreneD]

My resolution is to appreciate being back in the UK. Ooh, that's going to be hard! We moved back 19 months ago and I miss our old life so much. But it was the right decision for us, in our old age, I do know that, so it's a start!

[Wicksey]

My resolution is to spend more years being retired than I have spent working. 6 months to go!

Sid

We've already beaten that. We worked for 20 years and have lived abroad 24!

[gerryh]

I worked for 30 years and been retired for 32 years.
Cheers
Gerry

[El Cid]

It’s not so easy now to achieve retirement goals like we could in the past with the changes to pension rules and retirement age.

Sid

[markwilding]

I would need to live to be over 110 to achieve that goal. I consider myself retired even though I am still working for 3 hours 3 days a week from home.
I have never actually made any new year resolutions so I can honestly say I have never broken one.

[gerryh]

I was lucky to have been offered a very good deal to take early retirement when I was 48.
Those sorts of deals do not exist anymore.
Cheers
Gerry

[Wicksey]

It’s not so easy now to achieve retirement goals like we could in the past with the changes to pension rules and retirement age.

Sid

I was 42 when I gave up work. We were avid savers when we lived and worked in the UK and managed to buy rental properties before moving here to fund our 'retirement'. I am only just official pension age now. We are 'DINK's which of course helped.

We've never regretted our move here (and to France for a while) and couldn't have afforded to give up work if we'd stayed in England. The most important thing though is having good health which money can't buy, and that's always our wish for the coming year.

[El Cid]

Giving up work isn’t what I would regard as retirement. When you retire you get a pension. Retirement is when you get paid not to work. Policemen still have one of the best deals around (I wasn’t one).

Sid

[Wicksey]

The definition of retirement ..... "is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life." That kind of sums up my life when I moved here hence, my interpretation of being retired. I had an unearned income so had withdrawn from working life, not receiving my first pension until aged 55.

[Pamela1]

Alochol has never been a problem, we weren't brought up with alcohol in our home. I don't think anyone was to be honest. It was a thing around Christmas and New Year, perhaps Weddings, Birthdays, but never a daily, weekly or monthly habit...I guess that changed when UK people stopped going out to socialise in favour of videos, takeaways and bottles of wine, (wine was never fashionable in the UK until the age of video recorders.) I don't do New Year resolutions, they fail anyway...My only wish is that my family will be well and healthy, that's all i want.

[Pamela1]

Retirement is for those who wish to retire......Not everyone does...I retired when i was around 58 and that was too soon...i took care of my grandchildren, without them i didn't feel i had a purpose anymore. There was only so many outings i could go on and hobbies didn't fill the void..Feeling useful is what keeps me going, not being at home.. Hubby needs to work because that is what he is about... he would go bonkers otherwise. he does have hobbies which he doesn't have enough time for, he plays football at 66yrs old and loves every min, other than that he loves going over to our home in Spain but never stops working while he is there, it gives him satisfaction. Each to their own,what is good for one person is different for another.

[BENIDORM]

Great to hear all of your thoughts , all different.

Giving up drinking , as I mentioned ,was easy for me, I was a regular drinker but only small quantities and only beer or wine, I was brought up in a non drinking household and my parents only bought a selection of drinks at Christmas, for visitors.
But as for retiring I really don't want to think about it, I need to work, not for remuneration , but to give me a good reason to get out of bed on a morning otherwise I'm sure that I would go to seed.

Irene , I remember your visit to our house, I recall Pauline saying what a lovely couple you were , and I'm glad that we did get chance to meet up, if only the once.
Must go now, museum visitors expected in a few minutes, every day over Christmas we've been busy and what lovely interesting people they've been , from as far away as Mexico and lots from Madrid and Barcelona.
Regards,
Gordon the curator...

[KKKaty]

No resolutions for me. Happy as I am. No changes.