Men in sheds

or other bolt holes

 

Let me advise you, RETIREMENT CREEPS UP ON YOU, TOO BLOODY QUICKLY.

 

Don't let it get you down, the problem stems, I think from the fact that you're not getting up each morning with the day already organised for you. Now, YOU have to organise it for yourself. Luckily for me, for quite a bit of my working life, I was self employed, and so I have

  had to make my own decisions of what I had to do any given day. So nothing much changed for me, but I do meet lots of people who see retirement as the beginning of the end, and let lethargy and worse overwhelm them.

 

Just before I retired, one of my daughters bought me a little book called "Men in sheds", I've always had a shed or at least a bolt hole in almost all of the houses I have lived in (there have been quite a few) I think it probably stems from my father who had a shed at the top of his garden, full of all sorts of rubbish, according to my mother. The only problem that he had with his shed, was that it was in full view of mother whilst she was standing at the kitchen sink, and she could spot the ciggy smoke emanating from windows, as he was having an illicit fag, I could see the poor bugger try to waft away the smoke before mother arrived at the shed with her words of wisdom about some of his pastimes!!

 

Anyway, "Men in sheds" brilliant, full of wonderful and sometimes unusual things men get up to in their "sheds". I have often wondered, do women love sheds ?, or is it just a man thing ? 

 

I am lucky enough to have a shed (more of an outbuilding really) as well as a bolt hole (the loft) here in France. The problem I find with sheds or bolt holes is that they soon get filled up with "INTERESTING THINGS" if like me you have more interesting things than are good for you. I've never been a particularly neat and organised anorak so I'm always looking to expand into other underused spaces in the house. NEVER THROW ANYTHING AWAY if you are a model maker, it will come in useful one day.

 

At the moment I'm in the middle of moving my extensive model railway (every man should have one, cos they are therapeutic) down into what the French call a cave, which in our house is a vaulted tunnel under the house, initially used for storing wine, it's about 20 ft. long and about 8 ft. wide, should make for an interesting new layout. The reason for it being moved is so that I have somewhere to build and store my increasing collection of model aeroplanes and model boats, and the area where the railway is at present, fits he bill perfectly. 

 

I reckon that hobbies, or, and sports, keep the old grey matter active,  My problem is that I just have too many things to cope with at any one time, so I try and organise them seasonally. That's the theory anyway. 

 

SPRING...................... gardening a lot, getting model aeroplanes ready for the good weather.

 

SUMMER....................model flying, boating, cycling, holidays, more gardening.

 

AUTUMN....................more model flying, more gardening, perhaps some stamp collecting (hummm), starting to decide on which models to build next,  model train time.

 

WINTER...................... more of lots of the same, apart from gardening.

 

This, interspersed with house repairs, car repairs, bicycle repairs and model repairs, tends to to keep me gainfully employed and off the streets.   The rest of my time, what little I have remaining, I cook and bake as well as taking photos of what I do for this and other blogs which are normally written in the evening, whilst there is crap on he telly. I have been reliably informed that if you cut the head off a chicken, it runs around in circles. The difference between me and that chicken, is that I still have my head !!!!

 

I do find, that for me, it's nice to belong to a club of like minded anoraks, these are my friends, the people I talk to about all sorts of topics, not just models, it opens up a whole new world in retirement (I think). It certainly works for me.

 

As I have gone to the bother of taking a few pictures of my model chaos, I thought you would like to see them.

 

 

  

 

Loft (playroom) chaos. 

 

 

 

more nearly finished boaty stuff

 

 

 

and finally, a dead model aircraft (the one I planted in the farmer's field) on my half removed model railway. 

 

I love my life, it's good to be an eccentric anorak.