An Introduction……Part 3
So – 1984 and I am working for the Civil Service. It was about this time that we bought our first caravan. I changed Departments a few times, got promoted twice, and the story doesn’t really change much until 2002. My wife had been troubled by arthritis in her knees and hips for a few years but her condition was deteriorating rapidly and the school where she was based was in an old building with many staircases. Her employers, the local authority, were sympathetic but unhelpful. They couldn’t offer her a post in a newer building as there were no vacancies for a teacher with her qualifications. So after some wrangling, in December 2003 she reluctantly took ill health retirement at the age of 52. Having taken a career break when our son was young, meant that even with the customary six-and-two-thirds years enhancement her teacher’s pension was a big drop from her previous salary – and being born in 1951 meant that she would not get her state pension until age 62, another 10 years.
In 2005 our son got married. Despite her worsening condition, my wife was determined to leave her wheelchair at home and stand on her own throughout the day. She managed it, but was ill for a week afterwards. By early 2008 it was clear that her condition meant that she would need constant assistance, so when I had the chance of early retirement in April 2008 I took it. A few weeks before my 57th birthday I left work to become my wife’s full-time carer, and in December 2008 our grandson was born.
We still have a caravan and we use it as often as we can. Each year we spend a month on the Continent in May/June, and a fortnight somewhere in the UK in August practicing our newest hobby of geocaching. In January our son and his wife divorced, fairly amicably (at the moment) and we still see our grandson several times each week. I have taken on all the household chores. I do all the cleaning, the cooking (and I am pretty good at it I think) and most other tasks around the house (except gardening and ironing, both of which I contract out. We have been virtually isolated since mid-February. Our holiday (in Spain) and geocaching tour of Sussex were both cancelled and we have yet to make plans for next year.
So that’s it for now. What does the future hold? Watch this space ?
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Lefthanded , So sorry to hear your wife had to take early retirement and that you now take care of her . Hope things get back to normal and you are able to go traveling again in your Motor Home. I have a friend on S.C. who lives in Manchester and they have been a few places recently but the last trip they took to Wales well they forgot to turn off the gas on their stove and the glass top that cover’s the burner’s cracked and piece’s of glass went onto the floor and they had their back to the stove and did not get hit with any of the glass. So not sure when they will be going traveling again. Probally not anymore this year. Well enjoy your story and hope you will write another one.