The Retirement Newsletter: End of summer and the start of a new academic year
Issue Number: 171 (24) — things are changing
Welcome
Welcome to issue 172 (24) — the end of summer.
Where did the summer go? It whizzed by — well, it did for me.
The end of summer
The seasons move on.
I can’t believe summer is about over, and we are heading into autumn. In metrological terms, the 1st of September is the beginning of autumn in the UK.
We were heading into spring and early summer when I started my retirement. My thoughts were of warm, sunny days stretching out before me.
It’s been an odd summer — my first one of retirement and not working. Has it been like I expected? Well, yes and no.
I was expecting a summer of long, warm days with nothing much to do. I expected my summer to be like the ones I remember from childhood. Sadly, I didn’t get this. Adult life got in the way. There were chores around the house, repairs, and things to fix. There were lawns to mow and flower beds to weed. I was busy. And that’s not including all my decluttering work and side hustles.
And yet, the summer was as I hoped. I can’t recall being so relaxed. I can’t remember the last time I experienced the level of freedom I had. It was great. I want more of it.
I went for long mid-week walks and explored parts of the local countryside I hadn’t visited in years. It was great fun. I got to work on things and do things I wanted to do.
Retirement is fantastic; it’s the best decision I have made in a long time.
How was your summer? Please let me know in the comments.
The start of the new academic year
For the last 25 years, the start of the new academic year has loomed large in my life. It was a watershed moment in my calendar year.
As a kid and a student, the start of the academic year was the time to go back to school or university and return to the classroom.
For a brief period, the academic year had no meaning. Even though I worked at a university, I had no contact with students. I was hidden away in the lab. The only time I saw undergraduates was when I walked across campus and when they turned up in the lab to do their final-year projects.
Then, I became a lecturer, and as September rolled around, I started worrying about my teaching. Was my timetable OK? Were my materials prepared? Had I updated my teaching materials? Were there any changes I didn’t know about or had forgotten?
As I progressed through my career, I became responsible for running modules and, ultimately, the course. This meant I now also worried about other people’s teaching, not just my own. Had I got their timetables right? Were things set up as needed? Were all the staff aware of their teaching? Did we have enough students?
This year — nothing to worry and stress about. Or so I hoped.
August arrived, and I found myself worrying about getting my teaching ready for the new academic year. Then I remembered I had no teaching.
As I moved through August, I kept getting ‘flashes’ of needing to get ready for the start of term. Had I checked the timetable one last time? Had I spoken to the teaching techs about the labs? Had I prepared the online material? How was student recruitment going?
A lot of what I have experienced, I guess, could be classed as pre-term anxiety (and I don’t consider myself an anxious person). And I was surprised by how often my thoughts turned to preparing for the coming academic year. I was surprised by how integrated the academic year was in my daily life.
Letting go of my working life is proving to be more challenging than I expected.
Did you experience such things when you retired? If you are approaching retirement, are you expecting issues like mine, or will you be able to make a clean break? Please let me know in the comments below.
This week in the Retirement Hustle
This week in The Retirement Side Hustle, I look at how much money I made in August 2024.
In the video, I give a breakdown of my income on my:
Medium Pension Blog (a repeat of the newsletter you are currently reading)
Nick’s Wanderings Blog (my new site for my travel stories)
Substack Pension Newsletter (you are reading it)
eBooks
The Retirement Side Hustle Newsletter is subscription-based. However, each video comes with a free minute or so that allows you to confirm the content, and if you take out a free subscription, you get full access to one edition.
Travel — Nostalgia Corner
This week, I start to round out and finish my stories from Cambodia:
Cambodia — A summary of my four-day guided tour of the Siem Reap area, Cambodia — Was the four-day tour worth the expense?
Cambodia — Angkor National Museum, Siem Reap, Cambodia— A visit to the museum. It might have been a good idea to visit the museum before I went to the temples.
Cambodia — Wat Thmey Killing Field Memorial, Siem Reap, Cambodia — A chilling visit.
Cambodia — CafCentral, Siem Reap, Cambodia — Time for a coffee.
Cambodia — Central Market, Siem Reap, Cambodia — Searching for the Central Market — does it still exist?
Next week, the last of my stories from Cambodia.
Next week
Next week, in issue 172 (25) — my 15 biggest surprises from no longer working.
Thanks
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Until next time,
Nick
PS: If you would like to contribute a story, give advice, or provide anything else to the newsletter, please get in touch.
two more working days to go and then I'm free!