Thank goodness its over.
Just had a week holiday as I had to take the rest days before they vanish on the 01.01.26.
Monday was good, had one or the things to get done, Tuesday too.
Come Wednesday afternoon and I was twiddling my thumbs and posting my usual crap on the internet. Thursday saw me hanging from the rafters out of boredom.
So, how do you do it, how do you, the pensioners in our little community, spend your days.
Lay around waiting for something to happen, bored to tears and just waiting, waiting, waiting. Waiting for the kids to call, waiting for the megre pension money to arrive, waiting for your time on earth to end?
Find sonething to fill your days, whether it makes sense or not just so that there has been something, anything to do and occupy your mind?
Was last week the teaser trailer for the future?
People I know who have retired in recent years (parents in law, work colleagues, etc.) havenāt come to a full stop from one day to the next. Most just drop to 60 or 50% for a while so itās not such a shock to the system.
As for taking a week off - was it impromptu for you? You could have made a plan. If not traveling, some kind of DIY project?
Countinā flowers on the wall, that donāt bother me at all
Playinā solitare til dawn with a deck of 51
Smokinā cigarettes and watching Captain Kangaroo
Now donāt tell me Iāve nothing to doā¦
That all boils down toā¦:
Money!
And there is not a lot of that stuff going around just before Christmas.
I think the problem is this pension thing is coming faster than I want it to, I dont want to have to admit that I am now 65 and that my working career is coming to an end, not with the bang I wanted, but miserably with a whimper, the company I am working for now wont let me advance further and even ten years ago I would have seen the dead end and looked elsewhere, I am under no illusion that I would be able to start anywhere new and now the five years in the contract they have with the government are over, the contract is up for review and the government is looking for somebody to do the job who is cheaper.
Well, having been effectively āretiredā since we moved here 27 years ago I got into playing some video games then via that became a playtester and then moderator for a couple of gaming companies; one small and one much larger. Keeps me busy and itās fun to chat with people from around the world. 
@slammer, what about your art? Those Art Deco pieces are lovely and could give you a little income, too.
Youāre not married! Are you?
Put in your own bid.
Iāve got a todo list as long as my arm. Iām looking forward to being retired so that I have some time to tackle these.
Actually that is one thing I intend to Look into, but the hurdles Seem to he huge.
You should already know the people, talk to them - the hurdles might get lowered.
Unless they already hate you.
My strategy is not to finish things. I have five Netflix series on the go, two books, two DIY projects and a couple of trips in planning that will probably not take place. Adding that to sports, family and social commitments means I just do not have time to tidy the place - retirement bliss.
Mine also
That happens here as well, but Iām ashamed to admit itās not a strategy.
what about becoming a āprivate chefā for special occasions, for āhigh endā German families? (or Brits living in Germany!). Iām sure youād do great!
or learning something completely new ā (to keep up with brain activity 
)
or, get a petā¦ bees, for example 
thatās after you have finished your Vernissage of Art Deco motifs, which you can happily sellā¦
so many thingsā¦so little time!
reminds me of this https://youtu.be/C_uTkUGcHv4
I retired at 52 in 2014 & have no idea how I found time to work. I went skiing today in Chamonix. I have taken 3 flights in the last 6 days, priced between Ā£24 - ā¬49 always stuff to do without spending a fortune.
50ā¬ās is increasingly looking like a fortune.
Walking the dogs
11 euro per month for Kindle unlimited books from Amazon.de
Sleeping in front of the TV
I do all the cooking and ironing
It sounds like hell on earth.