Are retired people allowed to have opinions?

Now that I have been retired for two years, I realise that when I was working I was unconsciously biased against retired people. I believed that they should not have opinions about business, politics, or pretty much anything else. There are two reasons for this – retired people have outdated ideas and they no longer contribute to society. And therefore their views have no value and should be ignored.

Now that I am retired it will not surprise you that my beliefs have changed. I like to think my own opinions are relatively progressive, and while my tax contribution may be less than when I was working, I have time to think, perspective and experience. If I were to follow my own stereotype I would also now be believing that young people’s opinions have no value. For instance, how can a 16 year old have the vote (which they do in Scotland) when they have no understanding of life, and are distracted by adolescence?

In reality I am trying hard to balance all my ageist biases with tolerance. Telling everyone which pronouns I want seems odd to me, but I understand that it is fundamental to some. Continuing to rally behind Brexit despite the economic evidence, seems nonsensical to me, but I understand that for some, it is the basis of British sovereignty. Keeping a narrowboat on a 48 hour mooring for a week is against the rules and therefore makes me judgy. But it is January. Does it really matter?

I conclude that retired people like me are allowed opinions. And so are young people, middle aged people, people of different faiths, races; people that are very like me and people that are quite different.

Or is having an opinion so important, I should not be tolerant of the contrary view. What do you think?

January 20, 2023 0

Never too old for a birthday party

Last Saturday I woke up several hours before dawn to drive the long journey from Edinburgh to Haywards Heath. I was doing my son Rob a favour by driving his car down to his flat. For reasons too complicated to explain, he had ended up with two cars in Scotland over Christmas. But the more important reason for the adventure was to join friends and family of my aunt Gillian at her 90th birthday party.

Gillian is my Mum’s sister and has lived in the Haywards Heath area (near Brighton) for over 50 years. For all that time, she has worshiped at a local Baptist Church. The church hosted the party and were so very welcome to us all. Gillian knew about the people from her church but was not aware any family would attend. In the end I think there were about 70 people, so a great turnout to celebrate with her. It was a very special day.

I am not a great one for parties. I find the large group of people a little intimidating and always forget to talk to everyone I should. The Jonah Lewie song says “you will always find me in the kitchen at parties” and that would have been true for me if there were not already many church people busy providing teas and coffees. Instead I snuck upstairs and found a games room where I could play table tennis with a niece and her fiancée. Much more me.

But I am sure that Gillian found it a very special day. Never too old for a party. I look forward to sharing Gillian’s 100th.

Do you love to party or would you rather hide in a corner?

January 13, 2023 0

Never too old for a birthday party

But I am sure that Gillian found it a very special day. Never too old for a party. I look forward to sharing Gillian’s 100th.

Do you love to party or would you rather hide in a corner?

January 13, 2023 0

Why do people not play board games anymore?

Over Christmas we had guests and played quite a lot of games. Charades of course, a tournament of a card game called “sh*thead”, funny rummy, dobble and more. But the only proper board game we played was this Lord of the Rings version of Risk – and even then we ran out of time to finish it.

When I was growing up we played a lot of board games. I was one of four children and over board games we learnt how to be competitive while still friends – most of the time. In particular with my brother Michael, we would spend long afternoons over Monopoly, Cluedo, Wembley, Flutter, Battling Tops. Each Christmas our parents would buy us a new game to share and it became a Christmas morning favourite after Church to play the game while our Mum made the dinner (different times).

When I first met my wife Mandy, we also played a lot of two person games – backgammon, othello, pass the pigs. We have a cupboard stacked high with games which these days are gathering dust. I am not sure why we don’t play them. We still play cards when we have people round. This week we learnt a new card version of golf, where you have 9 or 18 holes (rounds) to minimise your strokes (points on the cards). I guess when we were growing up there were no computer games, and only three channels of black and white TV. I am also aware that I am really speaking for myself. There are millions of dungeons and dragon players across the world that would laugh at my comments.

But I do miss board games. Perhaps I can persuade Mandy today to choose one of the dusty boxes from our cupboard, and we can return to our usual arguments over the rules. For the avoidance of doubt, there is no rule in Monopoly that says all fines should be put onto free parking and picked up by the next player that lands there – even if it is a good idea!

I wish you a very happy and game-full New Year.
Pete

January 6, 2023 0

Does East Lothian have the best coastal walk in Scotland?

On Thursday I had a most wonderful post Christmas walk from Dunbar to Cockburnspath in East Lothian. We managed to find a window between the heavy rains, and the sun was low in the sky, giving a lovely light over the sea.

Scotland has amazing countryside, from mountains and munros to lochs and lakes. Some of my favourite walks are along the coast. The highlands have emptiness and drama. The western isles have the longest white sand beaches. Orkney and Shetland have prehistoric coastal settlements. The north east coast has craggy cliffs. But East Lothian is one of my favourites. The John Muir Way runs right along the edge, past golf courses, a nuclear power station, beautiful towns, classic beaches, cliffs, and rocks. All kinds of coast in one short walk.

Where is your favourite coastal walk?

December 30, 2022 0

Ten reasons Christmas is my favourite day of the year

Christmas is my favourite day of the year. Always has been. I wonder why.

I love the anticipation. Probably more than the day itself, I love the run up – getting things prepared, making plans, organising.
For a little while everyone seems friendly. When I am out walking the dogs, strangers greet me with a “Happy Christmas” instead of ignoring me. People all seem to smile a little more, be more patient.
I like food. I like drink. I realise it can be excessive, especially the Christmas lunch. But there is a generosity in excess that I love.
So many happy memories of Christmases past. As a child excited to find out what Father Christmas had left. As an adult making it just right for my own children.
I love the carols and ceremonies. My Dad was a vicar, and even just the smell of a church at Christmas reminds me of the time when we came out of a midnight service to find snow falling on Christmas Day.
I love the decorations, the tree bedecked with baubles and tinsel, the cards around the rooms, the lights.
I love hearing from distant friends. Even if it is just a note in a Christmas Card once a year, it maintains the connection. We had a visitor from New Zealand this week, who we had only seen once in the past 30 years. But we had stayed in touch at Christmas and it made this week’s visit possible and memorable.
Cold is good. I much prefer cold weather to hot weather. Last week in particular was crisp, bright and very cold. Nothing better than going out for a bracing walk, and then returning to a warm house and a wood burning stove.
I really like Christmas films. I am a real weeper for soppy films and they don’t get much more soppy than at Christmas.
It is all about family. We are fortunate enough to have our sons with us this year, and I am so looking forward to our time together – playing games, eating, drinking, chatting, slobbing.

On the narrowboat, the dogs food is kept in an old Christmas tin, with the label “It’s the most wonderful time of the year”. Hardly a day goes by through the summer, when I don’t hum the song to myself, because for me it is true.

To my blog followers and readers, whatever your faith, I wish you a very merry Christmas and hope you too enjoy a bit of seasonal magic this year.

December 23, 2022 0

Do I need a PA?

I am probably from the last generation of managers that worked with a personal assistant (PA). As I was promoted in my last few years, I found my successors did not get the privilege. Automation and cost cutting meant that PA’s were seen as a thing of the past, like smoking at work, or executive dining rooms.

This week I have been organising a visit to India in February. It is just for a vacation but when I was working this would have always been a job for my PA. And this week I realised quite how hard it is. Getting flights, hotels and meetings all to fit is no easy thing. I think I have managed it but I do wish I had a PA.

You can see how old I am from the fact that I have printed off my confirmations. I can give you the excuse of experience of India airports where you can’t enter the terminal without a printed ticket, but in truth I needed the paperwork to give me confidence that I had everything booked. I think I did OK but I do know that when something goes wrong while I am travelling (which it will) I will want to call my PA and will miss them.

So I want to say thank-you to all my PAs over the years. You were awesome and made me successful.

Can robotics really ever replace a great PA? What do you think?

December 9, 2022 2

Four ways to make customer service terrible

I have had experience this week of great and terrible customer service. The great service was from Highland Park distillery in Orkney. A year ago I bought a coat from them when we were visiting, but it is only this winter that I have started using it. The zip broke on the third time I wore it. I expected a protracted discussion about it being a long time ago, that I would have to return to Orkney, and that the zip could be fixed. Instead they immediately said they would send me a new coat and just asked I give the old one to a local charity shop.

By contrast I have been trying to chase what has happened to my passport. It has had a visa added and has been sent back to me with a delivery firm called DX. It has been an awful experience. I think there are four key reasons.

Automation is great – when it works. I was sent a WhatsApp saying the package was to be delivered on 25th. That was not suitable but with a few clicks I was easily able to rearrange for 29th. Great. Except on 29th nothing arrived.
Webchat is great – when it works. In many ways I prefer webchat to voice calls. I can do other things at the same time, and I usually get a written record of the conversation which can be useful. But DX obviously do not have enough agents because the webchat always goes to “we are sorry but there are no advisers available”.
Phone calls are great – when they work. The website says “use the numbers below to speak to a customer service representative about one of our services”. But when you ring the number you just get an automated system for rearranging deliveries. There is no way to talk to a person, and the system refers you back to webchat.
Complaint support is great – when it works. I have filled in a form with all my details, but no-one ever responds to it.

I am a big fan of automation and robotics. They take out cost and often make life easier for customers. But there should always be a way to deal with exceptions, and a way to talk to a real person. Just like my new friend at Highland Park.

December 2, 2022 3

Is there any point in a static narrowboat?

This week we are back at the narrowboat, moored in a marina near Chester. The weather is very autumnal – strong winds and rain. So we are not travelling. We have the warm stove on, are watching Christmas movies and walking the dogs.

You may wonder what the point is in coming to the boat of we aren’t travelling. Well I don’t really understand why, but when we arrive we immediately relax. Even the dogs find a comfy spot and curl up. Years ago we used to part-own a static caravan and that had much the same feel. It is as if all the worries of the world are left at home and we can chill.

Some canal boaters never move their boats. I heard this week of a new “wide beam” coming to this marina, which is too wide to travel through the bridges from here, so will be marooned. The owners don’t care. They just like staying on the water. The marina owners also recently installed five floating pods which can be hired by anyone. They are booked out at weekends, even at this time of year.

So I do get it. And I am really enjoying this week. But I confess that a little part of me can’t wait till the spring, when we will be off on our travels again. It’s like people that enjoy cruise ships. Some just want to stay on the ship. Others enjoy the facilities but want to see new things, meet new people.

Which would you prefer?

November 25, 2022 0

How important is central heating?

It has been cold this week – around 3°C. Unfortunately our boiler broke down – no heating and no hot water. Fortunately we have a service contract and so were able to call an engineer out. Unfortunately his temporary fix only lasted overnight. Fortunately we have a wood burning stove. Unfortunately it is not working very well because the chimney has not been swept for four years. Fortunately, with new kindling and some TLC we have managed to light it. Unfortunately it does not heat the water or the radiators.

When we are in the house we get very used to utilities always working. You turn on a switch and the lights come on, open a tap and there is fresh clean water, click on your phone and the Internet is available. And without thinking the house is warm when it needs to be, and you can have a shower whenever you like. It is all very easy and when something does not work we get resentful, angry, confused.

It is very different on the narrowboat. There are three ways to heat the boat – the engine, a diesel stove or the Webasto boiler. The reason there are three ways is that often one or two ways are broken or inconvenient to use. The electricity is always on our mind. The solar is great in the summer but not in the dark, cloudy winters. The engine charges the batteries well but only easily when we are travelling. There is a mains hook up where we are moored in a marina, but we have to remember to top it up, or we will be cut off. And water is not always available. We have to remember to find a working canalside tap every couple of days to fill up, and once a year to disinfect the tank. As to the Internet, things are massively better than even a few years ago. We have a mobile powered WiFi router and can also tether to either of our phones which we have deliberately contracted with different networks, to maximise coverage. But it ain’t “always on”.

I wonder, is it better to have the ease and comfort of living in a house, with the consequent panic when something does fail. Or to live off grid on a boat, where it is harder work, but you understand it better. I’m not sure. I just know I don’t like being cold.

Fortunately the engineer is back today with lots of spare parts. And if that does not work, we can go back to the boat.

What is your view? Perhaps you believe that with sufficient layers of clothes, we do not need heating?

November 18, 2022 0