Retirement Life In The Week Ended 9 February 2025
Things are looking up! Mum came out of hospital this week after a bout of hyponatremia. That’s low blood sodium in common parlance. From the amount of salt that she’s putting on her dinner, she has no intention of going back anytime soon. I’m starting to escape from my life of full-time caring. I’m now making plans and having some fun.
What We’re Planning
I mentioned the other day that I had zilch in my calendar for the future. Well with my parent’s purchase date of their bungalow closing in and the fact that we have care arranged for them my confidence around planning ahead is increasing. We’re looking at a trip around Brittany in the motorhome in May and we’ve also booked a short break away with friends in November.
We visited Porto once before on a daytrip from our motorhome. Here’s a snap that I took in the Livraria Lello, billed as one of the most beautiful bookstores in the world. We were enamoured by the city, especially the port area which we only had a wee bit of time to explore. And now we’re going back and staying in the wine cellars of Sandeman’s one of the most famous port wine producers. I’m excited!
What I’m Doing Differently
Goodness here’s a blast from the past. It’s a picture of my son Louis shopping for the tuck stall for the school disco. Rest assured that I didn’t normally buy this amount of crisps and sweeties.
My caring responsibilities are still quite intense and go alongside buying and selling homes on my parent’s behalf. So I’ve been trying to think of ways to lighten the load. One of my timesaving ideas was getting our weekly shop online and forgoing that supermarket trolley dash. It’s something that I’ve been doing for my parents for about a year but I never considered it for our family shop. Normally I get most of my groceries at Aldi but they don’t deliver here.
I also need to factor in Mum’s coeliac disease. The range of gluten free products at Sainsbury’s is more comprehensive so I’m ordering our shopping from there. I reserve the cheaper saver slots with a four hour window rather than the standard one hour. After all in a life without conventional work I had afford to hang around a bit. At the most I’ve paid £2 for the delivery. That’s got to be an absolute bargain considering the time and diesel that I’m saving.
It’s going swimmingly Unpacking and putting away takes no time after being delivered to the door. . One or two items are unavailable each week but I can live with that. Any items that the store have substituted can be rejected on the doorstep but they’re normally okay so I choose to keep them. . If they’re a higher price than the item I originally ordered I get a voucher for the difference to spend on a later shop.
What’s Growing
My rhubarb at both my allotment plots is re-emerging from its winter hibernation. It might be a bit early to say but it’s looking like we’ll have a hearty crop this year. Yum!
It feels like a good time to recommend a book that I enjoyed reading last year. Animal, Vegetable Miracle: Our Year of Seasonal Eating tells the story of how the author Barbara Kingsolver lived off locally sourced food for a year. Rhubarb was the first fruit of the season that satisfied her family’s craving for something sweet.
What I’ve Been Making
Finally I carved out a moment this week to crack on with the bee themed house number that’s going on the gate of Mum and Dad’s bungalow when they move in. I can normally finish a mosaic of this size in about a week. I started this one back in November. At this rate it should be completed some time in 2028!
What I’ve Bought
And still on the topic of the little furry yellow and black critters I was inspired by a couple who narrowly missed out on an investment in the Dragon’s Den this week. I’m not normally an impulsive purchase unless a product catches my fancy but the revival kits from Beevive did. I bought a couple, one to gift. My nature loving friend and I will both be able to revive bees with little vials of ambrosia held in a keyring.
What I Found Out
I’ve put in a claim for Carer’s Allowance. I didn’t think that I was eligible but it turns out that my NHS pension doesn’t count as earned income. So if the men in grey suits agree I’ll get £81.90 a week. What’s more backdated for three months. With my current levels of care being around twelve hours a day I’m being paid just under a pound an hour for my services. It’s pretty shocking that’s the value put on this intensive work. But it’s the equivalent to what I’ve been drawing down from savings while I’ve been looking after Mum and Dad so I’m pretty happy.
What I’ll Inherit
I popped to my friend’s house for a cup of tea. A few months ago this would have been an event that would have gone without attention. But now this is monumental. It’s probably been three months since I’ve been able to been able to participate in normal life. But things are now looking up. Slowly Mum’s health is improving and I’m able to leave my parents for short periods of time. I even managed a coffee and cake in town as well.
This picture on my friend’s wall is a favourite of mine that he bought on travels to Vietnam. Because he know that I love it so much he’s left it to me in his will. May it stay in his home for many years to come.
Disclaimer
This post contains links to companies and organisations just because I’m happy with the products or services that they supply or I’m spreading the word about what they do. There may also be affiliate links to Amazon for books and other items that I am personally recommending. If you decide to make a purchase from them, I might get a little bit of commission at no cost to you.