Another retirement

Both our lives are due to change this year. We are retiring!

But wait a second, didn't this happen once before, somewhere around the time this blog started, a good few years ago? Ah yes, but back then we retired from paid work. This time we are retiring from unpaid work, volunteers as it were, fulfilling roles in running our local community through a sense of commitment and having responsibilities without expecting or receiving reward. But make no mistake this is still work. It has many of the features of work that tend to make it so unpopular - the way it takes over your life if you let it, the pressure to get things done on time, the boss...well no, perhaps not this one. Kate and I have both been linchpins in different community organisations for a good few years, longer than most others would wish, and we have gradually become aware of the impact this has had on our lives. The many hours we spend emailing, telephoning, organising, these are hours that are no longer ours to do with as we want.

This is not to say we regret having taken on these jobs - there are rewards to playing an active role in a small local community, a feeling of satisfaction that such involvement inevitably brings - but we both feel that it is time for us to step aside and for others to step up and fill our shoes. This is not a sudden decision and we know we may experience a certain emptiness once we have taken this step but this will be as nothing, we hope, to the pleasure we shall feel from regaining control of lives.

It is, however, easier said than done, to resign from an organisation when so much of the working knowledge of that organisation is stashed away inside your head. Things you have done at certain times, procedures you have followed as a matter of course without thinking, little bits of knowledge that reside in your head without you realising, this must now be documented so others know what needs to be done and when. For example my position as treasurer of the local community trust has put me in possession of a plethora of passwords which I use to access a range of different online services. Many of these are hidden away, saved by my computer, but I must now remember them all so I can pass them on. And what of all those emails now stored on a server somewhere, addressed not to me but to the organisation I have been representing. Will they ever be read again? Does this matter?

Then there is the physical stuff, papers going back years. Should stuff like this be stored away for future reference? If so, where? Or is this a good moment for a big bonfire? All in all the handing over process seems like it is going to need more thought and consideration than the actual job.

Meanwhile...

A quick march around Carradale bay is always a good boost for the brain cells. So when coming across the only mermaid on the beach we are naturally inclined to stay a while and admire her many attributes. She's a stunner!