Mainly due to health issues I (tried) to give up driving a couple of years ago,but every now and then I would be offered a wee adhoc job, just to keep my hand in and out of the wife’s hair !
This has annoyed the wife moaning that I should be taking it easy / I’m not fit any more /we dont need the money !!
Well today in the mail came a reminder that my tacho card is due to expire, this has brought it home to me, this is it then,
I will be vor, the missus is happy as larry as she ripped up the letter and binned it. I will be properly retired then, a man of leisure, what a weird idea.
unless theres some shunting work going for a couple of days a week…
All the very best for your new life. Never ever regret retiring and look back with longing, you’re not going that way, you’re going forward to enjoy the fruits of your labour.
You have done the right thing, I thought about keeping my hand in and I did for a little while but what’s the point. Enjoy your retirement, It’s fantastic if you can do what you want to do whatever that may be. I have a mate who says he will never stop working. Personally that baffles me but we’re all different. Thank goodness.
quite a few retired drivers i know say they miss it every day…no retired warehousemen,machine operators or office bod’s i know say they miss there old job.one guy i know retired,got fed up being at home went back to hgv’ing still doing it at 72y.o. 4 day’s a week artic tipper.
carryfast-yeti:
quite a few retired drivers i know say they miss it every day…no retired warehousemen,machine operators or office bod’s i know say they miss there old job.one guy i know retired,got fed up being at home went back to hgv’ing still doing it at 72y.o. 4 day’s a week artic tipper.
i retired in june , last week i got my first agency job , 2 days per week and could be a long term position . i live on my own ,summers gone the bike is put away and the (clay) shooting has slowed . i was bored!!
carryfast-yeti:
quite a few retired drivers i know say they miss it every day…no retired warehousemen,machine operators or office bod’s i know say they miss there old job.one guy i know retired,got fed up being at home went back to hgv’ing still doing it at 72y.o. 4 day’s a week artic tipper.
One bloke at my place is 76
A mate of mine who is a tramper at our place turned 76 on his last birthday. He’s worked out of our site for 51 years! He was planning on retiring this Christmas but before he announced it we received our redundancy notices for
December 31st. He’s still on the old Salvesons contract so is receiving a tad over £60k redundancy! Kerching. Fair play to him.
finished 2nd July this year after 38 years of driving class 1 i got to hate the job especially the people who was in charge of the day to day running of it i ad worked for them 20+ years at the same company on 4 on 4 off on my second shift of working i went back to the yard on the Sunday cleaned my lockers out and sent them a email to them saying I’ve finished and don’t bother contacting me i’m 60 next and its been great having summer off etc don’t intend to do anything else my medical is due soon don’t even think i’m going to renew that.
Knocked it on the head 12 years ago,never regretted it. Kept my Licence for the 1st year never used it gave it up. Only time I get up at silly oclock is for an early flight,and thats only if there`s no other flight available
ENJOY RETIREMENT
wolter:
finished 2nd July this year after 38 years of driving class 1 i got to hate the job especially the people who was in charge of the day to day running of it i ad worked for them 20+ years at the same company on 4 on 4 off on my second shift of working i went back to the yard on the Sunday cleaned my lockers out and sent them a email to them saying I’ve finished and don’t bother contacting me i’m 60 next and its been great having summer off etc don’t intend to do anything else my medical is due soon don’t even think i’m going to renew that.
I could have almost wrote this. I was exactly the same only we finished in July the year before. I did my medical at 60 “just in case” but I’ve just decided I’m not doing my remaining 3 CPC’s.
We were going to retire last September but after coming home from holiday, we asked each other, “are we really going back to work”? no chance. Wrote our notices out that evening and never looked back.
We have a motorhome and since retiring we’ve done loads. 2 months in France and Spain, 2 weeks in the Canaries (flying), just returned from a week in Portugal (flying) and we are off to Spain again in 2 weeks for another 6 weeks. Tenerife in January for a week and back to Portugal and Spain next April. We’ve done lots of weekends with friends that we previously couldn’t do. We’ve love it.
Christmas is beginning to become special again. I know I don’t have to tell anyone on here about how much we miss at Christmas because of our industry but now we have time to do all those things with our grandchildren that I never did with our own children. I’m seeing a new world and I couldn’t be happier.
Of course, It’s a learning curve. I found last winter hard work because we couldn’t get out. Constant bad weather means finding other things to occupy your time and mind but mainly because my wife badly fractured her knee.
This winter will be different, more mobility but also more prepared for the long winter days when we’re at home.
I’m mulling over the idea of going part time or cutting back my hours next year when I reach a significant birthday, but I struggle to find things to do when I have several days off atm and cabin fever kicks in. So I can understand why some people return to driving after they reach retirement age
There are plenty of part-time van jobs about - not only on parcels. My neighbour retired a few years ago and now drives a couple of days a week delivering medication for a pharmacy. Most of his deliveries are regulars so he takes twice as long as he should, chatting to them, His employers don’t seem to care.
If you are the type that gets bored when you are not at work you need a hobby or better still two or three. Hopefully one for summer and one for winter.
Mine keep me very busy most of the time and I also thoroughly enjoy them.
Personally that baffles me but we’re all different. Thank goodness. 
