22/01/2021
Life is full of milestones, some of them more welcome than others. The most recent for me tidies up a faint timing niggle. Did I retire too soon?
Actually, the answer is “no”. I think COVID is the main reason for thinking this. I can’t fully imagine how difficult it must be to try to hold down a responsible job whilst dealing with the joint demands of employers who want you in the office, and a government which wants you at home. I think of this once a month when the government chap comes to my door as part of the ONS survey, and hands me a COVID test kit. One of the standard questions, asked at each visit, is “What is your employment status?” I reply “Retired” and the appropriate box is ticked, but internally I’m screaming “… and can you put in the comments box that I don’t have to be retired, I just choose to be.”
But now I’ve reached the appropriate age and the government has smiled its approval by turning on the state pension tap. I no longer feel the need to explain my retirement. But there is also an outwardly visible sign of this acknowledgement, something I could wave about as a badge, a symbol of my status.
My wife, Ann, is 32 days older than me and she applied for her bus pass slightly before her birthday; I applied slightly after mine. Of course, we had Christmas, and the COVID-ravaged postal service, and BREXIT, so I don’t know why we were surprised that we should have to wait a while. In fact, we waited for ages, and then two came together. How appropriate!
We have magnificent plans for our bus passes. We can take a bus out to one of the local villages and then walk home with a picnic. We can go into Oxford, perhaps taking in a lunchtime concert or one of the museums. We could even contemplate building a holiday around Land’s End to John O’ Groats on local buses (actually quite a tedious thought). And when we’re truly old enough, we can catch a bus into town clutching a plastic carrier bag for our miniscule bit of shopping. But as we watch the empty buses passing us each day, we realise that none of this is actually possible at the moment. It’s still a pipe dream. All dressed up and nowhere to go.
04/03/2024
I suppose it’s only fair to give an update on the bus pass – one of my most treasured possessions. We use our passes a great deal – even basing a holiday on the Isle of Wight on the use of public transport from our central location in Newport. For me, there are two great advantages to having one of these passes. One is that all journeys are free. That’s a great advantage. But also, I don’t have to tell the driver where I’m going when I get on.
Often I don’t know.