Retirement happened

I got to it! Retired on 30 April.

My special three month two days a week step down to retirement project nearly failed to eventuate as the principals couldn’t seem to get themselves sorted out. Then, in the time honoured fashion, it got legs on the Thursday before Easter. I said I’d go for the ride with them, threw away all notions of working two days a week and worked every day throughout the Easter break and the next week’s Anzac break. Most people took the long holiday created by the two long weekends joining…but our team worked right through at a frantic pace as it was due to be submitted at 12 noon April 29th.

A $34 million application and it was in just as much disarray as a $1M or a $100k one. Most days I only did 3-4 hours work but needed to stay in constant touch so as to pick up the ball when it was passed to me. Mainly editing And proofing but wrote some standard sections, including executive summary, and gave funder style advice. By Tuesday morning it was all mine to push through the portal but of course all sorts of last minute amendments, reconfiguring, getting others in the office to help, eg making a document out of 38 CVs…at one point I felt a surge of panic, blood pressure hit the roof…and then got it in with 5 minutes to spare.  

I found the whole process exhilarating, it’s what I should have been doing all the time at the Research Office, but things got more and more operational and my last few months just wasted my talents and left me annoyed and bored. So it was great to end on a high. Went off to two women,s studies meetings once I’d hit the button, then home to the island and back again for my last  day. Cleaned my desk, trashed a lot of no longer useful files, forwarded myself some emails, then had lunch with the team. My workmates are a really nice bunch of people, that wasn’t the problem.

Then off home, packed for next day’s trip to Melbourne, where I was to spend a week with Claire-Louise. Home again late Thursday evening and Friday was our long awaited women’s studies launch at the Gus Fisher opening of a feminist art exhibition put on in our honour. Over 100 attended. I was one of the speakers, and was overall totally chuffed with it and everyone else had a good time, too. Went out for noodles with the committee afterwards, then dessert on the top floor of the Mercure. Once again, exhilarating.

Then the weekend, and my madcap pace continued, getting everything out of the house for my retirement renos, carpet laying Monday. My life as a retired person really started on Tuesday, it’s now Thursday so I’ve had three days of bliss and peace and quiet and Waiheke and the beach and my books and food I like and computing devices and nice clean warm carpeted house with most of the stuff still outside for gradual sorting at my leisure. Bring it on!