Older retired Australians can do things normally considered to be the preserve of the young. I'm a retired writer and academic, and I'm now a singer/songwriter working the clubs in Sydney, taught myself keyboard, write my own songs - blues or ballads - about love, life and so on ("young" topics) and I'm having a ball and making a contribution. The need to overcome performance nerves has been a stimulant for me. Things reserved for oldies, like catching a train with a glass roof across the Canadian Rockies, are too boring.

Clem Gorman

Clem you are a talented exception and I would love to catch your act.

But just to play devil’s advocate, what of the un talented and non credentialed, the one who held down a job raised the kids in the suburbs and whose destiny relied on a buoyant job market, most of us in fact. I can recall a time when a manager of any kind was an older person, and when you came across a young person in that role more often than not they were a close relative of the owner. I can only suppose that generation had a glass ceiling on the young whether they were fit for the duty or not.

A 45 year old mate of mine who is credentialed and talented could not get another position after his company pulled up stakes and went back OS. I told him that I could not fathom it as he is talented and experienced. His response was I have 20 years experience but 10 are enough if the other candidate is 35, and there are a load of them out there.

He like you Clem started his own vocation but it is not the same as having a compulsory super nest egg growing , annual leave, sick pay, company benefits, and the knowledge that you are playing with someone else’s money.

The only positive thing about getting on is that just as in your youth every day is a profit.

Hi Sonofgloin,
Older people of today (including me), used to have a strong work ethic,
respected each others position in the job, and did a fair days work for a fair days pay.
My Husband and myself retired at 55y.o. and moved down to the SouthEast coast of W.A.
After a well deserved rest, we started up two businesses and had an absolute ball, we met many people, and felt a lot of self worth, whilst we finally let go of both businesses, we are busy doing what we want to do instead of what we have to do......we are both studying on-line Uni.
I have taken up art on a self-taught basis, same with photography, my other half has finished two post-graduate diplomas, life might begin at 40, but we are having a great time at 69 & 66 respectively. To get up in the morning and do what we want to do instead of what we have to do is a great bonus. Cheers
NSB

Hello Noisy

I’m sorry about any tetchiness between us previously.

I’m a mad birdo. I remember one of my most significant birding experiences as trying to get a look at an Atricornis clamosus (noisy scrub bird) near Two Peoples Bay and getting to within about a metre of the blighter, but I just could not get a glimpse. It was singing its head off, regardless of my proximity, with an ear-piercingly loud call.

I’m trying very hard to retire at 55, just three years down the track.

The southeast coast of WA. Would that be beautiful Esperance by any chance?

What are you studying at uni?

Dear Noisy I came in near the end of the baby boom era, so I'm one of you, but there is over 15 years between us. When it comes to the character traits of a generation I have found that my elder siblings are much more in line with our parents morals and standards than I am. Not particularly on what is generally accepted as responsible social behavior but on the basic tenets that they think our Australian society should reflect, old fashioned for want of a term. Considering today’s society you could sum up their thought process as the direct opposite of Political Correctness.

The work ethic was instilled in them because work brought the assurance of security and home ownership, and the availability of employment meant that if you wanted to work you could; we had the largest home ownership rate in the first world. Today’s young do not have the options for employment, and so day to day rather than lifelong plans occupy them. When we were buying our first house a combined income of $600 per week paid for a suburban Sydney house that cost $36,000. Today’s kids are looking at that same house in that same suburb for $580,000 and their combined income is $1600 per week. Wages went up 300% and the home went up 1500%.

The X and Y gen is a product of a first world global agenda to “dumb down” their reasoning capacity and at the same time make them socially aware of issue that suit the agenda setters. We baby boomers may well be the last free thinking Australians this nation has bred. I might join grey power because I could be sure that common sense over spin prevails in that corium. So when it comes to management implementation and value of return for investment we baby boomers are intrinsically more capable of getting an ongoing success than those who came after us. I give you ALL sides of politics as an example, we need to fill the parliament with pensioners.

Noisy I forgot to ask, what are you going to do with the degree?

You lot have all got it wrong.

When I was nearing 30, I saw a joke somewhere. This personal manager, [remember them], was telling a pimply face youth, "you'll like our retirement program John". "We retire you from 30 to 40, then you come back & work till you die".

That sounded pretty good to me, so I shot through, sailing around the Pacific islands, where I actually made a quite reasonable living, building jetties, & odd jobbing around the place.

I even kept the contract, returning & going back to work for many years. It was only after the third heart attack that I reneged on the deal, & retired again.

I'm having a ball, playing with my old cars & stuff, but it's not a patch on the fun I had during my early retirement.

So retire young, & often, it's more fun. It is no use saving up to do that trip down Route 66 after you retire, if you can't get travel insurance to do it, because you're too old, & a bad risk.

Hello Ludwig,
All is forgiven, and I might seek forgiveness for some of my passionate posts. Yes, my friend, I live in that beautiful place called Esperance.
Everyday when I either walk or drive into town I wonder at the beauty of the place, and how lucky we are to live here.
We have turned our sand hill of a block into an eco garden, and enjoying the many species of birds which visit us every day, everything from the Noisy minor birds, to red-capped parrots, black cockatoos,silver eyed wrens, new holland honey eaters, wattle birds both big and small,even a rescued rainbow honey eater found on the road near Norseman, magpies coming to feed, just to name a few, oh! and a sacred Ibis which ate my goldfish.............grrrr.
Frogs, and three generations of bobtails., our garden is like a jungle, full of natives, bird baths, feeding trays, you name it. It grieves me to see the big McMansions which are devoid of vegetaion for our little critters to enjoy. btw Ludwig, are you a WA guy?, and have you visited Esperance.
Cheers my friend,
NSB (aka Wendy)

Dear Ludwig, & Sonof
I am studying to achieve two things, a diploma in Education and (mainly to keep the grey matter healthy), if I am up for it I hope to get a degree in Australian History. Having a Father in the British Royal Marines, I attended 15 schools 11 of which were Primary, the rest were Secondary, education was fragmented, and on my 15th Birthday I was dragged out of school to get a job,(by this time we had arrived in Aus.) it was expected in those days that the girls got a job, and the boys went to Uni. But that was part of the social structure in those days.
Thanks for the interest
NSB

Dear Ludwig,
Two People's Bay?, would that be at Albany per chance?
Noisy

Hi Sonof,
I agree with you that todays' generation does it tough regarding the
the cost of housing etc, but are their housing aspirations too high for achievment?, just as my Father advised me (hundreds of years ago when I was a teenager), to set myself achievable goals, we have advised our kids to do the same, to cut a long story short, they all purchased ex-state housing houses, slapped on some paint and did repairs, new carpet etc. now over the years, they have been able to each buy a better house at an affordable price. We must live in one of the smallest houses in our Street, as the sun is blocked out in the afternoon thanks to the mansions being built. I have to wonder, who, in their right minds would want to have a mansion to clean in their later years?.
Cheers my friend.
NSB

Hey Hasbeen, good on you my friend. btw, what sort of boat did you cruise in?, our first boat was home built, for the kids, we then graduated to some-one else's home built yacht, then a Court 650, a compass 28, then a Plymouth Pilot, we cruised around Esperance and parts of the Recherche Archipelago, local yachties reckon that if one can sail in the Southern Ocean, one can sail anywhere, after many frights and added grey hair, I would agree with them all....we now lack the agility we once enjoyed, but my hobby now is learning to paint Marine pictures, including the boats ('tis easier to sail them)
NSB

High Noisy, although not quite as infamous as the Horn, & Good Hope, your area was feared by the old square rig sailors, back in the day, so I have to agree with those locals of yours. The coral sea can get nasty too, but at least it's not as cold as the southern ocean, when it crashes down onto you from a great height.

I do seem to have an ability to do things differently. I had a moderately large comfortable heavy displacement cruising yacht, that I lived on, & sailed around Sydney Harbour, a task it was not that suited to.

Wanting to have more fun, I bought a very fast stripped out inshore/harbor racer. It had a grog locker, & a couple of bunks to sit on, to drink the grog, but nothing else. No engine, galley, no lockers, but it sailed very fast in the lightest zephyr. It was 40Ft, but very narrow, with a huge rig. She had been used to train one of our Americas Cup crews. As no one wanted this type of boat any longer, she had the advantage of being cheap.

Of course it was then I decided to go cruising. I threw in a bit of a galley, some lockers, & a 6 HP engine, & shot through. It is fair to say she was a work in progress for the next 18 years. I had almost finished setting her up, when I gave in to civilisation sold her. I met my lady during all this, & our eldest daughter had done 2000 nautical miles at sea, before her first birthday.

She did give me a hard time a couple of times, when I could not get her to go as slowly as the conditions required, but her sailing ability got me out of a few stuff ups too.

The little engine was useless at sea, except for battery charging, but the boat was very easy to sail.

I did 53,000 nautical miles, in 6 years, with 13,000 single handed, & still miss her dreadfully some times.

Dear Hasbeen,
Well done, I used to do a lot of sailing on Pittwater with some Dutch friends of mine, in my fearless youth, I used to sail with them in the annual Easter Sydney to Swansea cruise, they sailed a Dragon., it was an annual pilgrimage for them, until the racing law-enforcers decided that the Dragon was to have safety rails installed if she was going to participate again in the race, the argument there was of course, that Dragons are a class boat, and the design did not include safety rails,so we used to sail up 'unofficialy'. Would I do it now? No!
Cheers,
NSB

Noisy, I agree; Esperance is a wonderful place.

I'm fairly familiar with it. Love that rugged coast, especially the big dinosaur rock at Twilight Cove, and Cape Le Grande National Park.

Lots of western wattlebirds there, as well as red wattlebirds, and a great variety of others, as you mentioned. You'd have yellow-throated miners, not noisy miners. But they are just as noisy and rambunctious as noisy miners!!

Yes Two peoples Bay is near Albany.

I grew up in WA, then moved to north Queensland. I've spent the last 28 years in Townsville, but I make lots of trips back to the southwest.

I did lots of botanical exploration all along the south coast back in the late 70s / early 80s. I'm currently cruising around the central wheatbelt, looking at birds and plants.

Good luck with your studies. Wow, it sounds like you've got it happening just beautifully - retired, living in paradise and doing just what you want to do.

Oh, bring on retirement!

Cheers from Cunderdin.

Hi Ludwig,
What a great life you appear to be having, I am sure that your retirement will come around just a quickly as ours did., it was no accident, we had planned to retire when we did, we had already secured a block of land and built a moderate house, when we left Kalgoorlie, we sold our house there, and had enough money to payout the new house in Esperance, we have no regrets that is for sure. Whereabouts do you hope to retire?
Thanks for the correction on the Mickey Minor birds, strangely I have a bird phobia, I love to watch them and feed them, but if they invade my personal space, I freak out....I may have been dropped on my head as a baby....no, don't answer that one.
My eldest daughter attended Cunderdin Ag. School, she enjoyed being there.Keep on Bird watching my friend, and wear a big hat when the Black cockatoos' are around.
NSB

Aren't all rule makers a nuisance Noisy. When I was in Rabaul PNG there was a Dragon there. The owner got an old one, no longer competitive in Sydney, fitted a small cabin, & gone cruising. He still didn't have rails, just used a harness, & had over 5000 nautical miles under his keel.

There were a couple of very sound, well found yachts lost, on the trip back to Sydney from the lake one year. Safety is not always where you, or authorities, think it is.

Ludwig I'm afraid I have news for you, & it's not good. While some people get bored in retirement, I have found you just get busier. I have so much to do, now in retirement propper, that I can't imagine how I ever found time to go to work.

Like me, & Noisy by the sounds of it, I don't think you will find retirement a time for meditation, I think you'll be one of those who is far to busy.

Hasbeen, I reckon I’ll be very busy in retirement. I’m not one to just kick back and meditate. I’m far too fascinated in plants, birds, rocks, landscapes, photography, environmental issues and currant affairs to ever get bored. I just wanna do largely what I’m doing now, minus the damn nuisance of having to go to work.

So yes Noisy, I guess I do have a great life, ‘cept for that damn requirement to make money in order to keep doin’ what I’m doin’!

CURRANT affairs??

Pfffffff!

Noisy

<< …strangely I have a bird phobia, I love to watch them and feed them, but if they invade my personal space, I freak out....I may have been dropped on my head as a baby....no, don't answer that one. >>

Hahahah. Oh dear!

<< …wear a big hat when the Black cockatoos' are around >>

Ok, will do. Plenty of red-tailed black cockies at home in Townsville. I’m often in close proximity to them. Haven’t been pooped on yet!

I’ve seen a few around Perth too, along with white-tailed black cockies (Carnaby's black cockatoo), but apparently they are pretty rare here.

<< So retire young, & often, it's more fun. >>

Sounds good to me!

I’m workin on it, Hasbeen. Thinking of chuckin the job in, sellin the house and just choofin off into the sunset for a couple of years!

Then back to slavery. And retire again a few more years down the track.

<< Of course it was then I decided to go cruising. I threw in a bit of a galley, some lockers, & a 6 HP engine, & shot through. It is fair to say she was a work in progress for the next 18 years. I had almost finished setting her up, when I gave in to civilisation sold her. I met my lady during all this, & our eldest daughter had done 2000 nautical miles at sea, before her first birthday. >>

Wonderful stuff ( :>)