So having been an expat now for 14 months and living in Thailand I still haven’t come to terms with retirement. I am now 62 but struggle to fill my days even though I play tennis, football, walk for an hour, eat in restaurants once or twice per week, watch the odd fillum, listen to music and read the news online I still struggle to fill in my time. What do you guys do. Do you ever get used to it or is it just me

get yourself a dog especially one that needs exercise in the colder part of the day you must get. retirement has been the best job i have ever had and wish it had come about 40 years before it did. hated work but had to go for nothing else but the money.

Learn to play a musical instrument that will take 5 or 6 hours a day out of your life, trust me I can recommend it.

I was issued with a dog and we’re getting a second on Sunday…which actually organises you because you have a responsibility…time wise.
As for retirement in general…I love it.
No more bosses, better still no more idiot bosses…My days are well and truly not long enough.
The trouble with retirement for some people is because they have no interests outside of work or work was their be all and end all…it isn’t and stop looking in it as time to fill, it isn’t, it’s time to be enjoyed.
Try something new…and legal

you can tell those who will take badly to retirement before it comes to them. known a few who spent more time in the canteen than they did when they worked when they retired. goodness knows what they did with all the money they earned being at work night and day as they seemed to have sod all for doing it.

I have been here 10 years, I walk a bit, shopping, reading, watch Sky News in the morning, listen to UK radio on my Alexa very rarely go to bar but I never get bored, forgot always on the Bunker ,one week rolls into another.
Remember you are a long time dead, I have a mate in the U.K. 64 years old diagnosed with terminal cancer might see Christmas, he won’t even collect his State Pension. Leaving behind a wife and 2 kids, he will never get the chance to be bored.

As Accy said get a Dog, But make sure nobody tries to eat it.

Sorry forgot your not living in the town now,

the only times i have been really bored was at work. must be 50 years ago now and am still scared by a sunday rest day shift i got on a 10 minutes up 10 minutes down route i got and could not afford to ring in sick for it which was expected. even a shit pools game has its moments even if its just a bit of gallows humour about.

Don,t know how i had time to work.

I work as a volunteer in a community charity shop with a great bunch of people we have a good laugh and raise money for a worthwhile cause as well so everybody is happy.

Exactly, the wife’s out more times than the gas with her mates, ah the bliss when she says she’s “sorry I’ll be out all day tomorrow”…..feet up time….
You actually exchange your old boss for a new one.
The phrase you must fear from any woman is….”I’ve been thinking, how’s about we…”

Maybe you retired too soon? I admit I like what I do for a living but I carried on working past 65 without giving it a second thought. Maybe I'll finally stop at 75.

Also, I've spent time in some lovely countries with great climates, but I wouldn't want to live in any of them - especially not one where English isn't the native tongue. When I'm in Australia I can connect easily with the local people, politics, sport, culture and all the rest. I could live there - if someone paid me to.

Sounds like you packed in too soon. I’m not there yet but it seems to me that without interest and structure, retirement can plunge you into an ‘on the dole’ type of lifestyle. Not necessarily financially but in terms of life structure. I suspect you need a job, maybe part time or voluntary.

Everyone is different, but I have the same pastimes I’ve always had and you really do have to have something to do other than work.
In a way I’m lucky because most of my jobs were working alone, which some people can’t cope with, but it sets you up for life after work.

Love working alone, My decisions, In my own time, Ecstasy.

"The phrase you must fear from any woman is….”I’ve been thinking, how’s about we…”"


”I’ve been thinking" is more than enough for me.

Correct Snowy, it’s what you did through out your working life and childhood, my Dad was a farm worker, we lived in the sticks so you had to entertain yourself when not at school

I had can’t say I have ever had any real mates apart from workmates, who changed as I moved from contract to contract. I have always been a loner, I never feel uncomfortable walking into a bar, cafe, restaurant etc wherever I might be in the world on my own.
You see people here looking through beer goggles at 10 in the morning staring into space. lots of lonely 50 year old plus men here probably divorced etc thinking it’s utopia but for some it’s a very lonely place.

I retired at 62 basically because no one at the time wanted to employ a ‘pensioner’ in their eyes, hopefully I have enough funds to see me through to whenever. If I do have a proper funeral my song would be ‘ I Was Born Under a Wandering Star’ Lee Marvin form the fillum Paint Your Wagon.

When I was set to retire I was asked to stay on to do the recording of a new project, but after a year it fell though but then moved onto another one but woke up one morning and thought f@#k this…. and jumped ship…never regretted it for one minute.

mentioned dogs earlier and if you are unlucky enough to be without a partner when you retire and male dog walking is at retirement age is the best way of finding another. there seems more women about walking dogs than men and its a good ice breaker. this is from experiance and not guess work. trhere are far more women on there own at say 70 years of age than men.

I've heard you can go to certain car parking spots and you don't even need a dog, nudge nudge.

i would be embarresed though with the cars at my disposal. mind you it would give a new meaning to getting a jump start though.

Sounds like you and PITD know what your talking.

thats between us and our solicitors plus it wasn,t us my lord it was mistaken identity.

The old News of the Screws would have been all over this like a rash.

Thanks for all of the tips. I’m not bored bored. After all I play tennis 2 or 3 times per week, football once or twice . Walk about 2 days per week. Read the news every day about 90 minutes. Eat out once or twice per week. Watch telly 1 hour per week. Mess about on YouTube 45 mins per day. As regards animals I love them. But my gf is allergic to them. I have thought about learning a language again. I like French. Also Italian. As regards music I played the piano a bit in my youth untill I broke 2 fingers falling on black ice in Harrogate. I do admire musicians and wish I could sell. Today I met some fellow expats from USA, Australia, France and UK. We went for a beach walk at 4pm for 45 mins followed by a few cocktails. I enjoyed that. I guess retirement is a work in progress . I’m not complaining. And of course I forgot to mention the bunker, watching pools on national tv or audio and useless England .

I understand your face was not on show

I retired to Spain, never looked back, learning the language, or trying to lol. Never get bored, fly home to see the family evrey couple of months, less than 3 hours on the plane. I love retirement, wish I could have done it sooner.

The wife’s allergic to animals too, admittedly we miss her, but the wife had to go …so there’s always a plus to everything.

I have to agree with this. I would consider some voluntary work, but can't commit the time to it.

I worked until beyond State Pension Age & may well have continued to do so had it not been for Covid, as I got great satisfaction from my job. But going back into the office after the first lockdown was a no-no. I used to commute 4,000 cycling miles a year but have cycled less than 400 miles during the last 28 months as I haven't had the time.
The gardening had been largely neglected for 16 years, so that has taken up much of my time - some fencing & landscaping, growing our own veg & salad, making compost. Trying to walk around 4 miles each day before breakfast, weather permitting.
Some pension consultancy for my former colleagues, who can't get answers or the help they need from the administrators.
Latterly, collecting around 8 tons of felled wood which somebody wanted rid of, & I now have the task of cutting & splitting it into logs for drying, before it can be used in the log-burner.

The good thing about retiring is you are in charge of your life.

I don’t agree with people working past pension age not unless they are not in a financial position to do so, it deprives some one of a job and it could encourage the government to increase the retirement age again if lots of people work past the pension age.

Totally agree, lower retirement age to free up jobs for those leaving education.
Leaving school / uni without jobs being available is the thin edge leading to a lifetime of living on benefits and expectations of something for nothing and / or crime for many.
Would obviously have to be phased with a coordinated drive to increase manufacturing in the UK and worthwhile apprenticeships.

There were financial considerations in my case, but to address the other part of your comment, I was replaced by two managers whose combined pay is 3 times what mine was. No job opportunities for younger employees were lost

Job opportunities are lost when people work past retirement age, you were obviously underpaid and overworked when it took 2 people to replace you.

if you only received unemployment benefits for a single person or couple then that might happen. from the outset my state pension has been much higher than if i was getting benefits for unemployment. that benefit is crap unless you have a few kids to top it all up. Do think for yhose who spent loads of their money when they did work are the ones who find retirement being hard. those who enjoyed doing activities that are free and lucky with their health will be the ones getting most out of it. i am reletively fit especially for my age and would not swap that for being a multi millionaire.

Compromise would be to lower the retirement age and then stop the incentive part of state pension (increased pension in return for deferral of claiming it).
That way the choice is there but I'm sure most would opt to retire earlier, as long as the pension was a reasonable amount.
Out of interest how does Basic State Pensio.compare to Universal Credit?

Up until 2016 you could defer your State Pension and receive a lump sum and and increased pension. The government changed the rules in 2015, the lump sum and the increases were done away with and you are now paid an increased pension, by all accounts it would take years to match the lump sum and pension increases you would have got before 2016.
Don’t forget the U.K. has the lowest or one of the lowest State Pensions in Europe, also some one who never worked and was receiving benefits are entitled to the full pension and probably Pension Credit providing they have no more than £6000 savings.

everyone mentions our state pension against the one in europe. hiw does the individual and the country pay for this. a case of our pot is used for other things more than it is over there i wonder. or can these other countries make there spending pot even bigger than ours,

Not in this post-Covid world where there's always more jobs available than there are people actively looking for work. Why do you think legal migration into the UK has been 1.25 million in the past 2 years? The Tories are tying themselves in knots making pledges they can't keep about reducing migration when the economy needs a bigger work force.

The retirement age is going up because the proportion of economically inactive people keeps growing. There's 11 million retired people in the UK and 9 million working age people who are economically inactive.

the disabled and blind can work and do so in certain jobs. about time benefits are looked like like a safety net and not a way of life for the pretend sick and lazy. if you are out of work then you automatically should be actively looking for work no matter of your situation. only jobs immegrants should be getting are the ones where special skills are needed that we have a shortage of. this has always been the case where we can go abroad to do work and they can come here for other jobs. however i bet this is not the case as many vacancies will be ones where little training is necessary but not to everyones liking. if you find a job you are interested in then thats a bonus and is not there just to like but a way of life everyone should be seeking to do.

A bit way out on your facts, there were over 32.8 million people employed in the United Kingdom in the three months to July 2023 which was the peak for employment during this period.
The cynical reason for the retirement age going up is the government hope you are going to ‘pop your clogs before you reach retirement age.

You don’t automatically receive benefits if you are unemployed, you have to prove you are actively looking for work or your benefits will stop.
As I have mentioned previously around 40% of people receiving benefits are working but don’t get paid enough to live on either because they are only working minimum hours to receive benefits or they are on a low wage.

Oh really? My facts came from the Office for National Statistics for 2019-2022, apart from legal migration which is the government's own projection for the end of this year based on last year's revised figures.

The population of the U.K. is around 66 million your 11 million plus 9 million add up to 21 million, what do the other 45 million do ?

You need a new abacus if 11+9 = 21 [cough]. You mean the other ones who aren't working? Children under 16 and over-16s in full-time education.

All them retirement ads have couples in them who look as Happy as Larry..

Nov,Dec and January over there would do me..still another 6 years to go..if they don't move it.

Bollocks of course….you always see those odd couples who end up with the same outfits and haircuts and always hold hands and have morphed into one person….any couple who’s says they haven’t had ‘a cross word’ are either liars or henpecked.

I feel retired, not worked all year. Me and my mates screen-printing business ceased trading on new years eve. Not driven for 5 years because of epilepsy and any other job I applied for (mainly in supermarkets) I never got a reply. I wake up most mornings not knowing what day it is, they're all the same. Selling CD's & cassettes on Ebay fills up my time in the day, then dog walking also (when the weather is not too crap. I'm 60 in 9 days, so it's like practising for retirement (hopefully).

I rather like the winter months, all the seasons are different…couldn’t stand the idea of being in the sun all year round…I reckon that Danish part of my DNA must have been bloody Vikings