Those of you who have been reading these retirement blogs since the beginning (over 12 years, yes, really) might remember that perhaps my main mantra in terms of a successful retirement has been the idea of balance. Check out my early thoughts on the matter. In summary the components have been – outdoor activity / exercise in the form of working in our vineyard and walking our dogs; intellectual activity such as playing music, writing this blog and reading. Travel has gone off the menu owing to a combination of ill health, COVID and general indolence other than short trips to the Heanor house and the barn in the Yorkshire Dales.
Generally I am struggling with the other aspects of what you might call a balanced retirement. Physical activity of any kind like hitting these keys (I spend longer correcting my typing mistakes than writing it in the first place) to write this blog or walking the dogs which I do twice a day but much shorter walks than pre-health issues. Fortunately as they’re getting on a bit they don’t seem to mind.
So as we don’t spend as much on travel / holidays we have more disposable income (government permitting) and so I am always looking for ways of compensating for my difficulties by spending my way out of trouble as it is sometimes described. In this blog I will make reference to one such attempt the clue is in the photo at the top.
I bought myself yet another keyboard (I have 4 now but at least that is fewer than the number of guitars I own (20 at the last count and no, I haven’t thought about selling one or two although this has been suggested). This keyboard (above) I bought on line because I find the physical act of shopping such a pain (literally). This is all very well but it means you don’t get the feel of the instrument and that’s critical as musicians among you will know.
Anyway the good news and the reason I bought it is, it’s in the study which is downstairs rather than 3 flights up in the attic. It’s not that I can’t get up to the attic but it’s another pain as before and this served as an excuse for not playing it. Without any kind of music-playing in my week the balance, I spoke so highly of earlier in this blog, does not exist. No music, particularly the kind that involves reading the notes, means one form of intellectual activity is removed and the door to some form of dementia is opened slightly wider. And with every forgotten name / next thought this prospect keeps on knocking at the same door, so I can’t afford to take the risk.
Of course there’s still the physical side of playing and no amount of spending can compensate for this problem but, to end on a more cheerful note, the strategy of making the instrument more accessible has worked and I’m playing two or three times a week mostly jazz and a little revisited 60s / 70s pop. Which is more than I was doing. Of course the guitar playing has suffered (there’s only so much music time in a week) but that’s not so cheerful.