Retirement has been, for me at least, a great thing. I’m not doing much of import with the extra time, but I love having switched off an entire source of stress. Everyone is different but I would happily recommend the change, Bhagpuss. If nothing else it gives you more time to work on your blog writing 🙂

I also reduced my working week (to three days in my case) for six months before ultimately finalizing my retirement. I found that reducing my hours first helped a lot in getting used to the differences versus going cold turkey. Not everyone has that luxury of slowing down first, but it was a helpful option to have.

A cancer diagnosis is one of those things that can completely change the path of a life. Irene and I have been extremely fortunate that her treatments have been effective: ‘incurable’ or not, we can anticipate years ahead to bother each other. But it is very shocking to the system to have the big ‘C’ word hanging over every decision.