Me the Pensioner

 

The sheep arrived a week ago for their annual visit and it’s nice to have them back. They make for entertaining viewing from the garden, and from the kitchen window. Nell has stopped barking at them which is a relief for us all.  

You may be pleased, or not so pleased, to hear I am ploughing on with the Much Malarkey Manor Christmas Story 2025. I had a bit of a wobble a couple of days ago when I thought, ‘Nope, I’ve left it too late, there is no way I can cobble something together at this late stage of the month,’ but then I took myself off for a long walk and had a bit of an epiphany regarding plot framework. I think all will be well. It’s surprising what you can write when the spectre of a deadline is hot on your tail. 

On Monday, I shall receive my first teachers’ pension payment! After all those years of seeing chunks of contributions disappearing from my monthly salary slip, they are now coming home to roost very nicely in the bank account. You think, well, I did, that 60 is a long way into the future. But it turns out, it isn’t. It arrives quicker than you might expect. Yet it brings bonuses so it’s not all doom at the passing of time.

On my birthday, four weeks ago, a tax-free pension lump sum landed in the bank with a goodly ‘thunk’ and I’ve treated myself to a few modest bits and pieces in recognition of sticking with a profession that grew increasingly tricky, frustrating and bloody hard work. Most of the money has gone into a savings account, though. No need to rush and spend it. I may have gone a bit mad with Christmas presents, though! 

And the monthly pension sum turns out to be about a third more than I was expecting, a nice surprise when the first statement came in yesterday. I grew up in a home that didn’t have a lot of spare cash, and I learned from a very young age how to budget and to save, but now I find myself not having to worry quite so much about day-to-day spending. It’s an odd feeling and there are life-long ingrained habits that might be hard to break. I joked to my family that I might start shopping in Waitrose now! I certainly shan’t hold back on buying any books I take a fancy to. 

Yesterday, I was going to blog about one of my cacti that is growing out of control, but what happened instead was that I went to fetch something from the freezer and thought, ‘I’ll just sweep up the wisteria leaves,’ and then it was almost two and a half hours later and I’d cleared the leaves, cleaned the courtyard, dismantled and stored the garden furniture for the Winter, chopped back the herbs, pruned the roses, squashed up some more cardboard for recycling, stacked a load of tree branches on the driveway ready to go to the tip or to go in the skip I’m very tempted to hire next week, and organised the woodshed for the load of logs that are arriving on Monday. And all that put me behind time - I hadn’t even brushed my teeth or pushed my face into shape! So Nell got a late walk, then it was lunchtime, then I was story-writing and before I knew it, I was too tired to do anything other than sofa slump! 

I can reveal, though, that a decision has been made on the Christmas Day pudding conundrum. Drum roll please….Plum Duff!! Almost a traditional Christmas Pudding, but not quite. I shall have mine with a splodge of cream. I expect others will want custard. The heathens.