I am suffering...

 ...from a distinct lack of motivation to do much today. I hope this isn't going to be a common thing on retirement. If it is, they can shove it and I will kit out the Mazdarati for long-distance touring and take extensive trips into the unknown.

The weather is playing a part in my melancholy, as I had planned on going for a cycle this morning but then it started raining again. We had a big storm last night and 14mm of rain in about an hour between 3 and 4am. Needless to say I was awake for most of it, checking for localised flooding and listening for sounds of the roof trying to tear itself off the walls. It is still quite cool and rain is threatening again.

I also want to finish redecorating the house, but I absolutely abhor/detest/hate/despise painting. Did I mention I don't like painting? It is an exercise in futility. If we move to Sedgefield our next house must be face brick so that it doesn't ever need painting. I am probably 80% done on the house, so I just need to get my finger out my arse and get it finished. If the weather had been better today, I would have carried on with painting the boundary wall. So much for that.

Knowing that I have recently been spending a bit on new cycling gear (shorts, helmet, socks - have to look the part on Meredith), a new PC (the old one was a dog with only 4GB RAM, about 8yrs old and too many programs to function effectively), some other bits and pieces, I took a look at the budgets and that is even more depressing than the weather. So, from now on, the spending will be curbed too. Sucks being a pensioner...

On the bright side, on Tuesday I got the Marauder a new battery and a trickle feeder, charged it up and took the bike for a run over the mountain yesterday...to buy more stuff for Meredith (chain wear measurement tool, chain cleaner, chain lube) and a new pair of biker gloves as my old ones were falling apart. The Marauder still runs like a dream and, even though I am thinking of exchanging her for a BMW GS, I still enjoy the ride on the cruiser. I really do need to get out on her more often. One of our Tuesday drinking team (named TIAB - There Is Always Beer) has a soft tail Harley and goes out regularly for a Sunday run. I'll see if I can join him on a couple of them.

I see the tides are looking good for a throw on Sunday afternoon, but the wind looks like it might be up a bit. Maybe I'll see how the wind goes, then go for a little throw down at a beach close to us. Then again, it also depends on whether I go for a cycle or bike run on Sunday. I like to go for a long cycle on Sunday while SWAMBO goes off to church and a coffee with her cronies.

Right now, my tea has gone cold and SWAMBO is due home in an hour or so, so I think I'll see if I can make myself look busy for when she gets home. It must be a bit demoralising for her to get home and find me lounging about on the couch like a potato while she is out looking after her 94yr old geriatric patient. Still, it gets her out of my hair for a few hours and brings in a bit of an income for her. It will be an adjustment in Sedgefield. not having that few grand every month, but maybe she will be able to find an old dear there to look after. Goodness knows there are enough of them in that village.

Be well, friends...

Ok, so I thought I would write more...

 ...but I haven't recently. Sorry.

There is so much going on at the moment that it is difficult to find the time to post on the blog.

If I had to list the things that are going on, they would be:

- Retirement: Yep, I am now officially retired. Fuuuuck, that means I am old. Thanks to Covid-19 and an unscrupulous owner of the company I used to work for, I am now in forced retirement. At my age (I have a young mind for a 58yr old) and the lack of employment opportunities due to aforementioned virus and the dumbfuck cANCer government's BBBBBBBBEEEEEEEEEE (I've lost count of how many B's and E's there are supposed to be in the acronym) policies, my chances of getting re-employed are virtually nil. So, I opted for early retirement. And now I am wondering/hoping that our retirement funds are going to last until I (or we) finally kick the metal receptacle down the passageway in the direction of the bright white light.

- Lockdown: damn fuckin waste of time, expense and effort. Ban the lockdown, I say. The less said about lockdown, the better.

- Potential relocation: As I am now officially retired, I need to get us "bond-free" to make sure we get the most out of our retirement funds. That might mean relocating, and we have Sedgefield in mind. Other friends of ours are already there, and we like the place. Did I mention there is great fishing?

- Brewing and distilling: I have added distilling to my alcohol-based hobbies. I am still learning a lot and have yet to finish my first product worthy of being bragged about. Right now, I get the alcohol out, but have to teach my taste buds the difference between the good and bad stuff...before I go blind. Beer brewing is a long-time hobby and will always be in the background.

- Cycling: I recently bought a Merida Big9 29er bicycle so that I could get a bit of exercise and, should we move to Sedgefield, to make sure I have a semblance of fitness to keep up with my good mate who is a cycling machine. These days, I try to do a minimum of 25km per ride, even if it means doing thew same route multiple times in a row. There are only so many rideable roads in this part of the world and episodes of riders getting mugged if they venture onto the trails, so I stick to the tar roads for now.

- Redecorating: In anticipation of relocating, and to give the house a new look, I am redecorating the entire house, inside and out. I am about 80% done currently, but am struggling to keep my momentum going, what with everything else that is going on. And painting...who the fuck likes painting anyway? It sucks.

- SWAMBO: She Who Always Must Be Obeyed had a physical done recently and all her tests came back negative, including hyperglycaemia, from which she is supposed to be suffering. Doesn't make sense. Typically, by 8pm she is snoring on the couch, a sign of a spike and drop in her insulin levels. SWAMBO is also slowly losing her memory and sometimes cannot remember things she asked me fifteen seconds earlier. Some time ago she had a session with a neurologist who said that it may be related to the hijacking she went through in 2006, and could be PTSD which can manifest itself many years after the event. Whatever, it is probably affecting my blood pressure.

- Fishing: Or lack thereof, in my case. My crew has just about given up on fishing and it is dangerous to go alone these days. So maybe Sedgefield is a good idea as it is a lot safer out that way and there are more fish in those waters.

- Blood pressure: I also had my first physical exam last week and, to my dismay, the doc told me that I have high blood pressure. It could be as a result of all of the above, but I don't know. Probably. When I spoke to the doc about the results, she said my pressure goes normal at night (understandable, thanks to sleeping) but spikes again through the day. I asked her if it happened around 2pm, and she said yes. I said, okay, I know about that...that's when the missus gets home. No jokes. I have just started medication, which I hate as I don't like putting pharmaceutical substances into my body, but I suppose this is a medical necessity. I would hate to be forced into a heart condition, similar to which took my dad a little over a year ago.

There are probably a couple more items I could add to the above list if I really thought hard enough, but it is time for another cuppa tea. It's a tough life being retired.