ALIVE AND CREAKING

Where has the time gone?

Four weeks ago I set off on this adventure and have had an amazing time. I have seen some fantastic sights, spent special time with some special people and – really important for a Pom – I have enjoyed sunshine and heat.

I’ve missed the snow, freezing temperatures and floods of the last month in the UK, and being in Adelaide I have been lucky enough to miss the bush fires and floods other parts of Oz have been experiencing. Adelaide has a strange climate – one day it can be 44 degrees and everyone stays inside with the aircon on, and the next day it can be 24!

Too relaxed to blog!

So here I am, 3 weeks into my holiday in Oz and I haven’t blogged once.

It has been a fantastic trip so far. My Qantas flight from London to Singapore was superb – but then I had treated myself to Business Class! Then a wonderful couple of days at the Conrad Hilton where I was treated royally.

Singapore is an amazing city – full of high rise buildings and busy roads, but the main roads are all tree and flower-lined and you have a sense of space – and cleanliness – that you don’t get in many large cities. The building with a rooftop like a surfboard sums up a laid back attitude in a bustling business city.

And then on to Australia and Adelaide, and a reunion with a very special family. I think that deserves a separate blog…

Where I belong..

Taken at Mouana beach in South Australia and epitomises my sense of freedom and joy

The start of an adventure

Next week I am going to Australia for a month to stay with some very special people.

This won’t be my first visit to Oz as I lived there for a year in 1977/78. Then I lived in Queensland, first in Surfers Paradise and later on Lindeman Island on the Barrier Reef. It was a wonderful year and I fell in love with the country. Now as I plan my return – this time to Adelaide in South Australia – I wonder how different it will be after 35 years!

I plan to try and blog my journey which starts at Heathrow, then a couple of days in Singapore before heading off to Adelaide via Melbourne. Hopefully I will meet some interesting people en route, have some exciting new adventures and, most attractive at the moment, some SUNSHINE!

2844-10 — Where I started my year in Australia

Time to think

I spent this evening with good friends in a meditation group. I came late to meditating – always too busy doing stuff (usually work) to take time to think.

Since I became a Reiki healer I have taken more time to stop and reflect on all sorts of things – and sometimes nothing! Meditating is a great way to switch your brain off the day to day nonsense that we insist on filling it with, and instead focussing on random stuff that pops in to our consciousness.

Tonight we went on a guided walk in a forest and I found it immensely peaceful and energising at the same time. It’s brought me back to what I want to do with the rest of my life and restored some of the motivation that seemed to be drifting. Tomorrow I have much to do – and hope the motivation is still with me in the morning. Carpe Deum and all that jazz!

Am I morphing into my father?

Do you automatically turn into one of your parents when you are 65?

I’ve noticed lately that I seem to have developed a couple of habits that really annoyed me in my father. He used to walk around the house whistling tunelessly, in fact silently. More of a blowing than a whistling – and it was really irritating!

The other day I was with some friends and was getting cross about something when one of them said ‘We can tell you’re not happy because you’re sort of whistling silently’. I was mortified and am now totally paranoid when I suddenly notice that I am doing just that if I’m concentrating or doing something difficult.

Uncertain times

I’m still not sure whether I’m doing this thing right, but I’ll crack on anyway.

It’s been an emotional few days as I have seen some old friends / work colleagues who have all been asking me about bow it feels to be moving on. Truth is – I don’t really know because I don’t think I really know what on earth I am going to do. So suddenly I feel scared. What the hell AM I going to do?

Friends who have ‘retired’ say ‘I don’t know how I managed to find time to work, I’m so busy’ Bollocks! I think they are just looking for things to fill the time between 9 and 5 that they used to fill by doing a job of work.

I am NOT retiring. I want to do something meaningful not just a series of part-time activities that other people think I ought to try.

So – let’s hope I can get my act together over the next few weeks so I don’t end up just filling the hours..

Here goes!

So, it’s June 26 2012 and in a couple of months I’ll be 65. What does that mean? Do I suddenly stop being part of the human race? Am I to be put out to grass? Should I take up knitting? Look for a warden controlled bungalow? Start wearing tweed skirts? Invest in a mobility scooter?

Well, I’ve got news for you all – I don’t intend to do any of the above. I remember my Dad singing a song about life beginning at 40, but these days 60 seems to be the new 40 and in my case it’s going to be 65.

On 1 January I was in St Lucia and I started the new year by zip-lining in the rain forest and decided then and there that my new motto will be ‘I will’ – not ‘I can’ or ‘I might’ but ‘I will’

I have worked full time all my life and in just over 6 weeks time I will be leaving a job I have held for the last 15 years. In some ways this will be sad, but whenever there is an ending there has to be a beginning, and I choose to make this my new beginning.

This blog will record how I cope with this major change in my life and if anyone cares to read it, they can share the challenges with me – and maybe even give me some advice if I have the occasional wobble.

Please be advised however that this will NOT be a heavy soul-searching blog but – I hope – a humourous look at how a 65 year old woman tries new things.