I have occasionally commented, in this retirement blog, how frustrating I find reading the weekend papers. They do not seem to be aimed at people like me, i.e. retired people or people of a ‘certain age’. At my Guardian Masterclass course last Monday night (see building above). I understood why. I’ve been attending these courses…
Category: Learning new skills
Retirement blog updating my musical endeavours
A brief Friday blog in the form of an update about my musical leanings. I haven’t written anything about this aspect of my retirement for quite a while. That might be because I’m not currently playing any live music. My jazz Monday nights finished 3 weeks ago and there will be nothing further in the…
Retirement blog about technology: blessing or curse to the retired person?
I’ve had what you might call a technological week in retirement. It has caused me to ponder whether technology, in whatever form, is a blessing or a curse for the retired person. I suppose there’s no doubt that when you look at such additions to our milieu as wheelchairs, stair lifts, artificial hips, etc, that…
Retirement blog about envy (sort of)
Now here’s a retirement blog I never thought I’d write. It’s a blog about somebody else’s retirement blog. Before I go any further I’d better explain. One of the bits of advice I received from the tutor of the recent ‘blog into a brand’ masterclass that I haven’t passed on (a Freudian slip perchance) was…
Can my retirement blog become a brand?
In my last retirement blog I wrote about our London trip. The ‘excuse’ for this trip was to attend one of the Guardian Masterclasses. The title of which was ‘How to turn your blog into a brand’ by Charly Lester. Charly runs a very successful dating blog and, from what she told us, several other…
Retirement blog about my first jazz gig with new group
I’ve put off writing this retirement blog for a week or so to be sure it has the benefit of perspective. It was all quite emotive for me and I wanted to get it right. Whether I have is debatable but here it is. I’m going to start this blog with a couple of quotes…
Retirement blog and back to the jazz
After several retirement blogs about first our Scottish holiday and then, straight into grape picking and all that went with it, it feels like time to reflect on a different aspect of my retirement, namely my jazz piano ambitions. A couple of weeks ago the Guardian colour supplement carried an article entitled, Dive In :…
Yet more reflections on retirement and jazz summer school
Who’d have thought retirement life could be so complicated or, more accurately, that a person could make it so complicated. I wasn’t sure I had anything different to write about jazz summer school after the 2016 and 2017 versions but on our morning walk the day after the summer school finished and trying to make…
Retirement and jazz summer school number 3
Maybe it’s time for a more upbeat view of retirement after a recent blog about being a dented seventy-year old car. I’ve offered a fairly consistent view of what makes for a successful retirement in these blogs and I’m going to repeat a couple of bits of advice that I think have stood the test…
Learning goals in retirement, the spirit is still strong
It’s been a while since I wrote about one of my key retirement goals, that of continued or life-long learning. Looking back over my blogs for my latest blog book project, more of which later, I realise how many of my learning blogs have been about trying to play jazz and even more about music…