The Retirement Newsletter: Happy Christmas!
Issue Number: -57 — It can’t be Christmas?
Welcome and Merry Christmas
Welcome to issue -57 — the Christmas edition.
This can’t be right? It can’t be Christmas? It doesn’t seem possible. And this might be my penultimate Christmas in employment.
If you are wondering about this week’s photo, it is of a ‘postbox topper’ in a local village. A what?
Postbox toppers are now a thing in the UK. It is the decoration of a postbox with something knitted. The knitted article usually has something to do with an upcoming event. I have seen them for the Queen’s Jubilee, Halloween, and Remembrance Day this year. The knitter is anonymous, and the toppers appear and disappear on the postboxes in the street.
Merry Christmas
I can’t believe it has been a year since issue -109: Merry Christmas — where I wished you all a Merry Christmas. It doesn’t seem possible that a year has gone by. I am a year closer to my retirement.
This Christmas — Christmas 2022 — if all goes well with my retirement plans, will be my penultimate Christmas in employment. Again, something that doesn’t seem possible.
This time last year, I was celebrating that I had posted all my Christmas cards and presents and didn’t have much left to do. This year, I was even earlier with the cards as postal strikes were looming in the UK, and I still have all the presents to buy and wrapping to do.
So, this is my penultimate Christmas in employment, and I am not sure what I feel about that.
When I started working in academia, we used to have some great Christmas parties, but over the years, these have faded away.
We still have a staff Christmas party, but the days of going out for a meal with the research students have, in my experience, long gone. And it is sad that the parties with the research students have gone, as the parties were a great way of saying thanks for all your hard work and were a great team-building exercise.
Anyway, what will I miss about being in full employment at Christmas?
Not a lot. All the fun seems to have gone out of work Christmas parties in academia. Shame.
I can’t finish on a sad note, so here are three things I suspect I won’t miss from Christmas when I am retired:
1. Marking and auditing assessments
I have already lost this one, but it used to bug me. Marking over the Christmas break and checking exam marks was awful.
We always had a hand-in date for a significant piece of work before the Christmas break, and the work needed to be back to the students in early January. This meant I had years of marking work over the Christmas break.
And for the last few years, I have had to audit exam papers and marks over Christmas.
I won’t miss the marking and the auditing. Well, I know I won’t. It’s already gone.
2. Preparing for the next term
OK, it could be argued that I had all last term to prepare for the next term. But, the problem with that argument was that during the term, I was too busy dealing with the current term to prepare for the next.
I will not miss stressing over the Christmas break about my prep for teaching in the next term.
3. Student emails
I have had students email me on Christmas Day — not to wish me happy Christmas, but to ask about some assessment coming up.
I typically receive over a hundred emails during the Christmas and New Year break and won’t miss returning to a full email inbox.
Retired at Christmas
I think being retired at Christmas will be great.
No pressure from work.
Less pressure on my time to dash around and catch up with everyone. More time for myself, and it will be so much easier to get the Christmas shopping done (on time).
Merry Christmas!
Health — hot water bottles and food poisoning
Last week I wrote about the cold weather in the UK and hot water bottles, and I stressed the importance of checking your hot water bottle.
Did you check it?
If not, you can find the full details in Issue - 58: Would it be possible to turn being a couch potato into a side-hustle?
Please have a look at your hot water bottles.
And, over Christmas, watch out for the flu, COVID-19 (still out there) and food poisoning.
In the Useful Links section below, I have included links to helpful flu, COVID-19, and food poisoning websites.
Nostalgia corner
Last week, I wrote about being a couch — Issue - 58: Would it be possible to turn being a couch potato into a side-hustle? — and now we are in the season of being a couch potato. And I have been practising my couch potato skills by watching a lot of TV.
Ghosts
Why do US TV companies take UK comedy programmes and produce American versions?
The most recent example is the BBC TV comedy Ghosts being remade and shown in the UK as Ghosts US. (In the US, is the UK version of Ghosts called “Ghosts UK”?).
I have been watching Ghosts US, and while I don’t think it is as good as the UK version, it is not bad. And it is interesting to see an American take on the show.
As I sat down to watch the pilot, I did wonder what the US TV company would do with some of the ghost characters in the US show, as there would be no US equivalents.
For example, in the UK show, we have Robin the Caveman — there were no cavemen in North America. The solution, he was replaced with a Viking character that works quite well.
There were also changes to most of the other ghosts, and the plague pit ghosts in the cellar were replaced with cholera pit ghosts.
Overall, the show is different but the same, and it works.
Useful links
OK, so this week, here are some links that might be useful over the festive break.
To help you avoid poisoning yourself and your guests with a poorly cooked turkey:
If you do become ill with food poisoning, COVID-19 or the flu, you may find these health-related websites helpful:
NHS COVID-19 website — numerous links to information on COVID-19
CDC COVID-19 website — many links to information on COVID-19
NHS — Guidance for People with symptoms of a respiratory infection including COVID-19
Next week
Next week, issue -56, Happy New Year, and will I be starting my last full calendar year in employment?
Thanks
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Until next time, Merry Christmas
Nick
PS, If you have something you would like to contribute to the newsletter — a story, advice, anything — please get in touch.