Beginning Retirement

We are two weeks into retirement and now in our cosy Horsham apartment in the south of England. It only took a couple of days for our home contents at Waversesteenweg 149 to be stuffed into a container (thankfully 1 container took the lot) and we felt somewhat liberated waving the container goodbye as it set off for Rotterdam.  Our last morning in Belgium was memorable…inches of snow had fallen overnight making Hoeilaart look very pretty and as we headed for Calais in the car snow was falling heavily.

Leaving Brussels was sad for Gordon and he was touched by the number of calls, visits and messages from ExxonMobil colleagues all over the world - the network had certainly grown over the years.  He had a memorable “last run” in the forest with his good friend Frank; after 9 years of running together every Sunday morning, and as well as regular gym sessions and long distance walking, that was a tough farewell.

The past week in Horsham has brought challenges, mostly for Gordon….getting to grips with technology (new phone and laptop), cooking his first dish from a recipe, learning how to iron.  You might conclude that my life just got a lot easier, but this is not so, as I have become the help desk. But it’s fair to say that Gordon has approached all tasks with gusto.  Much of our time has been spent fine tuning the upcoming holiday in South Africa.  Even though we’ll be in the Cape region a month it’s been hard choosing places to stay.  In preparation for winery visits, for which the Cape is famous, we joined Horsham friends on a one day wine tasting course, but speaking for myself, I’m not sure much information was retained.

We’ve been to see our new house on the outskirts of Horsham, almost the finished article, but it will be mid March before we can take ownership and move in.  It’s a lot smaller than our Hoeilaart home and we cross fingers that the container contents will indeed fit in. We shall see. 

In a week’s time we fly off to South Africa and I think only then will reality of Gordon’s retirement kick in. Travelling between UK and Belgium has been a recurring journey for 16 years and it feels slightly odd that this isn't happening any more.  But we know there are many journeys to take, just different ones.