Today is payday. Now I thought that I would get my P45 and final payoff today. After all, it’s only three more days! I should have known it wouldn’t be that simple. I was paid until the end of February so I rang Rotterdam to find out when the balance would be paid. At the end of March was the answer. Still, I was able to have a chat with Jeannie the personnel planner. It was great to talk with her without getting a ship! After we’d chatted, she transferred me to payroll. I doubt they have had any British people making it to retirement recently. I explained that the pension administration wait until the final salary before calculating the payments I will receive. They can’t do too much in Rotterdam because I am actually paid through the office of Nedlloyd (Bermuda) Ltd in Gibraltar via P&O (Gibraltar) Ltd. The lines of communication are long to say the least but they promised to inform Gibraltar!
I decided to have a word with the pension administration to let them know the situation. The lady I spoke to was very helpful and promised to get on the case straight away. Pity the stock market took a knock today as well. I could have done with that ISA cashing! I’m sure everything will be sorted eventually but it is the not knowing that gets to me.
Wednesday, 28 February 2007
Tuesday, 27 February 2007
Catching Up (2)
I feared this might happen. I need to put some structure into my routine. I am already playing catch up. I will write about my birthday celebrations and then try and keep up with events as they happen.
Barbara had “made plans” while I was away on my last voyage. Obviously, the Valentine Meal meant that I couldn’t celebrate on the actual day so Sunday the 18th was the next best alternative. My family is quite small and was further reduced by the fact that my brother Derek and his children, Danielle and Duncan, were away playing in the snow. So there were only 10 people available to join Barbara and me at the Mill House Restaurant in Skidby for Sunday lunch.
Not much time to stay in bed tho’ as we had some chopping and baking to do for the other event Barbara had planned, an Open House that evening. I thought it might prove to be too much but everything turned out fine.
First arrivals were Paul my nephew and my Mum. We haven’t seen Paul for a while so it was nice he was able to come and bring Mum across from Pudsey. Next were Phil, our son, and Amanda his wife with Rowan and Kirsten our grandchildren over from East Leeds. Finally, Lisa, our dottir, and Alan her husband came from just round the corner. Barbara and I got a lift with Lisa and Alan once they’d cleared the back seat! And off we went. We met Pauline, Barbara’s sister and Alan her husband at the restaurant at 12.30.
Our family lunch gatherings don’t have a very good record but this time everything went very well indeed. The food was excellent as was the service. The grandchildren behaved impeccably even though we all went through the menu! They chose sausage, chips and the “orange beans not the green ones” for their meal and ate it all up. The sitting finally got to Kirsten but she’s only three and the waitresses managed to body swerve her!
We all returned to our house and the ladies made final preparations for the Open House. That was set for 5pm onwards so we had an hour or so to recover and prepare. Once 5pm came, we had a steady stream of visitors. I should have said no gifts but I suppose most people would still have brought a bottle. Brian and Chris brought a bird call clock. The jury is still out. It is light sensitive so stops during the night but makes me jump when the tawny owl screeches at noon!
The only fault I could find with the Open House concept is that you miss some people. We have two rooms and, of necessity, had to seat people in both. Barbara and I split between the sitting room and dining room and, although we did swap about, occasionally missed people who went the other way for the buffet. Still I greeted most arrivals and said farewell to most departures. However, it wouldn’t have gone as smoothly without Lisa who acted as the hostess with the mostest and made sure everyone had a drink and had their glasses replenished.
Our final guest departed around midnight and we were cleared away and in bed by 1am. A great start to retired life.
Barbara had “made plans” while I was away on my last voyage. Obviously, the Valentine Meal meant that I couldn’t celebrate on the actual day so Sunday the 18th was the next best alternative. My family is quite small and was further reduced by the fact that my brother Derek and his children, Danielle and Duncan, were away playing in the snow. So there were only 10 people available to join Barbara and me at the Mill House Restaurant in Skidby for Sunday lunch.
Not much time to stay in bed tho’ as we had some chopping and baking to do for the other event Barbara had planned, an Open House that evening. I thought it might prove to be too much but everything turned out fine.
First arrivals were Paul my nephew and my Mum. We haven’t seen Paul for a while so it was nice he was able to come and bring Mum across from Pudsey. Next were Phil, our son, and Amanda his wife with Rowan and Kirsten our grandchildren over from East Leeds. Finally, Lisa, our dottir, and Alan her husband came from just round the corner. Barbara and I got a lift with Lisa and Alan once they’d cleared the back seat! And off we went. We met Pauline, Barbara’s sister and Alan her husband at the restaurant at 12.30.
Our family lunch gatherings don’t have a very good record but this time everything went very well indeed. The food was excellent as was the service. The grandchildren behaved impeccably even though we all went through the menu! They chose sausage, chips and the “orange beans not the green ones” for their meal and ate it all up. The sitting finally got to Kirsten but she’s only three and the waitresses managed to body swerve her!
We all returned to our house and the ladies made final preparations for the Open House. That was set for 5pm onwards so we had an hour or so to recover and prepare. Once 5pm came, we had a steady stream of visitors. I should have said no gifts but I suppose most people would still have brought a bottle. Brian and Chris brought a bird call clock. The jury is still out. It is light sensitive so stops during the night but makes me jump when the tawny owl screeches at noon!
The only fault I could find with the Open House concept is that you miss some people. We have two rooms and, of necessity, had to seat people in both. Barbara and I split between the sitting room and dining room and, although we did swap about, occasionally missed people who went the other way for the buffet. Still I greeted most arrivals and said farewell to most departures. However, it wouldn’t have gone as smoothly without Lisa who acted as the hostess with the mostest and made sure everyone had a drink and had their glasses replenished.
Our final guest departed around midnight and we were cleared away and in bed by 1am. A great start to retired life.
Thursday, 22 February 2007
Catching up (1)
My retirement was put on hold until my leave ends, and so was my birthday. The 17th of Feb was the day of the Annual Valentines meal at our Church. It is organised as a fund raising event for the Wives Group project charity. This year, the project is the Children of Choma which is for children in Choma in Zambia who have been orphaned or are disadvantaged because of the AIDS epidemic. It was chosen from last years speakers at the group. It had a great start as the speakers were Rev. Ken and his wife Val. Ken, who is now retired, was our minister quite a few years back and started his ministry in Zambia.
Barbara, my wife, was involved and so was I. Last year, my 60th birthday, we went away for a weekend much to everyone’s disgust! This year, we were asked early and I didn’t even have the possibility that I might be away at sea to fall back on. Still, the event is always a hoot; it’s just the preparation that get to me.
So, the first thing I did on my birthday was chop a couple of kilos of green beans for the meal before going up to the Church. I had arranged a lesson on the multimedia system with Stephen, the son of David the minister. It’s pretty simple but I wanted to be sure. I was given some photos on a disk showing Rev. Ken and Val’s last visit to Zambia. So I helped get all the tables in the hall and then retired to the desk and transferred the photos to PowerPoint and got stuff ready for the evening.
As there was lots of the Wives Group there in the morning, the rooms were soon prepared and we were able to leave just after 1pm. No rest for yours truly as I was making a fruit salad for the sweet trolley. Our dottir walked round for a visit and I took her home just before 5pm. We then loaded the car and collected the veggie dish from Audrey next door and up we went.
I got the slides running and the music playing then went to prepare for the fray. The meal is very well supported even though many of the members at the Church are involved in the preparation etc. We had 82 covers between 6.30 and 8.30. It was all a bit frenetic at first with two large groups. However we managed. Keith, Brian, Ro and I were waiters with Margaret and Val as the sweet trolley hosts and Anne and Barbara D. resetting and helping with the clearing. The kitchen staff performed miracles ably lead by Brenda, Jennie and Jean with Bob on vegetables! Really there are too many people to mention. The one who deserves special mention though is Sue who comes every year and decorates the rooms. The transformation is unbelievable.
The last diners were cleared by 9.40 and we were able to clear the tables then have a bite to eat ourselves. The Plumbers Mates (Bob, Brian, Keith and I) were planning an interlude across at the pub when Barbara came through bearing a cake and I was treated to the assembled helpers and a few diners singing “Happy Birthday” Thankfully there weren’t 61 candles as I had trouble blowing out the 6 there were! That over, were able to beat a retreat to the pub where we meet every Thursday for the quiz.
A couple of pints later we went back to finish off with the clearing up. Most things had been disassembled and we just had to put things away and load up cars. We did pretty well really and were able to leave just after midnight. A splendid evening and I understand the project benefited by the princely sum of £585.
Barbara, my wife, was involved and so was I. Last year, my 60th birthday, we went away for a weekend much to everyone’s disgust! This year, we were asked early and I didn’t even have the possibility that I might be away at sea to fall back on. Still, the event is always a hoot; it’s just the preparation that get to me.
So, the first thing I did on my birthday was chop a couple of kilos of green beans for the meal before going up to the Church. I had arranged a lesson on the multimedia system with Stephen, the son of David the minister. It’s pretty simple but I wanted to be sure. I was given some photos on a disk showing Rev. Ken and Val’s last visit to Zambia. So I helped get all the tables in the hall and then retired to the desk and transferred the photos to PowerPoint and got stuff ready for the evening.
As there was lots of the Wives Group there in the morning, the rooms were soon prepared and we were able to leave just after 1pm. No rest for yours truly as I was making a fruit salad for the sweet trolley. Our dottir walked round for a visit and I took her home just before 5pm. We then loaded the car and collected the veggie dish from Audrey next door and up we went.
I got the slides running and the music playing then went to prepare for the fray. The meal is very well supported even though many of the members at the Church are involved in the preparation etc. We had 82 covers between 6.30 and 8.30. It was all a bit frenetic at first with two large groups. However we managed. Keith, Brian, Ro and I were waiters with Margaret and Val as the sweet trolley hosts and Anne and Barbara D. resetting and helping with the clearing. The kitchen staff performed miracles ably lead by Brenda, Jennie and Jean with Bob on vegetables! Really there are too many people to mention. The one who deserves special mention though is Sue who comes every year and decorates the rooms. The transformation is unbelievable.
The last diners were cleared by 9.40 and we were able to clear the tables then have a bite to eat ourselves. The Plumbers Mates (Bob, Brian, Keith and I) were planning an interlude across at the pub when Barbara came through bearing a cake and I was treated to the assembled helpers and a few diners singing “Happy Birthday” Thankfully there weren’t 61 candles as I had trouble blowing out the 6 there were! That over, were able to beat a retreat to the pub where we meet every Thursday for the quiz.
A couple of pints later we went back to finish off with the clearing up. Most things had been disassembled and we just had to put things away and load up cars. We did pretty well really and were able to leave just after midnight. A splendid evening and I understand the project benefited by the princely sum of £585.
Monday, 19 February 2007
Making a start
I have been asked the question "What will you do when you retire?" many times in the last few weeks. Now the time has finally come, I have decided I would record my experiences of retirement in an occasional diary.
In fact as I write, I am not officially retired. I reached retirement age (61) on the 17th of February. However, I will not cease employment until the 3rd of March. I was, or I suppose I should say, still am an officer in the British Merchant Navy. I was an Electro-technical Officer with Blue Star Ship Management, whose parent company is Maersk. I sailed on their large container ships. My retirement brings to an end to a career which started on fishing trawlers sailing from Hull in 1964. I started as a Radio Officer and clung on through the steady erosion of the British Merchant Marine in various roles finishing as an ETO on a London registered, British officered and Filipino crewed container ship called the "Nedlloyd Hudson" My last voyage was from Europe (Hamburg Germany, Zeebrugge Belgium, Algeciras Spain) through the Suez Canal in Egypt to the Far East (Singapore, Busan Korea, Shanghai China, Hong Kong (my only port ashore), Tanjung Pelepas Malaysia back through Suez to Southampton UK where I completed the trip on the 31st of January 2007. I am now serving the leave that I earned on that trip, hence the late start to my retirement.
It is difficult when people ask how I am enjoying "being retired" My work patterns meant I served anything from 7 to 14 weeks and was home for leaves of between 5 and 10 weeks. Thus it doesn't feel any different from normal. Maybe it will creep up on me! I'll let you know.
In fact as I write, I am not officially retired. I reached retirement age (61) on the 17th of February. However, I will not cease employment until the 3rd of March. I was, or I suppose I should say, still am an officer in the British Merchant Navy. I was an Electro-technical Officer with Blue Star Ship Management, whose parent company is Maersk. I sailed on their large container ships. My retirement brings to an end to a career which started on fishing trawlers sailing from Hull in 1964. I started as a Radio Officer and clung on through the steady erosion of the British Merchant Marine in various roles finishing as an ETO on a London registered, British officered and Filipino crewed container ship called the "Nedlloyd Hudson" My last voyage was from Europe (Hamburg Germany, Zeebrugge Belgium, Algeciras Spain) through the Suez Canal in Egypt to the Far East (Singapore, Busan Korea, Shanghai China, Hong Kong (my only port ashore), Tanjung Pelepas Malaysia back through Suez to Southampton UK where I completed the trip on the 31st of January 2007. I am now serving the leave that I earned on that trip, hence the late start to my retirement.
It is difficult when people ask how I am enjoying "being retired" My work patterns meant I served anything from 7 to 14 weeks and was home for leaves of between 5 and 10 weeks. Thus it doesn't feel any different from normal. Maybe it will creep up on me! I'll let you know.
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