Time to be sociable

I hope there will be many more days like today. I’ve previously said that I’m retiring at the end of September, returning to work two days a week from the beginning of November. Well, with the holiday owing to me, Wednesday was my last day as a full-time employee. I suppose I’ll get used to it, but today felt slightly odd: a weekday when I was under no pressure to do anything. Several opportunities to be sociable presented themselves and I’m pleased to say I took them all.

Mid-morning, I ambled to the library to get some light reading for the holiday which is coming up. It was on the way back that the encounters started. Here they are.

• Met someone who I used to work with but hadn’t seen for quite a while. No hurry, so we chatted for several minutes. He’d been through the semi-retired phase I’m just beginning and had enjoyed it. Encouraging.
• Bumped into a guy who left the local Labour Party in disgust even before I did ten years ago. We hadn’t spoken in more than a decade but took this morning’s opportunity to deplore the government and generally put the world to rights. Invigorating!
• Soon after getting back, a family friend whom I hadn’t seen for a few weeks rang the door bell on the off-chance of finding someone at home. In she came for a chat over a cuppa. Good to catch up.
• One of our next-door neighbours came round to give me more detail about a serious traffic accident at the end of our road yesterday. A shocking story, but interesting to get a first-hand account from someone who was on the scene before the emergency services.
• The phone rang and it was a good friend from across the road, wanting to make arrangements for keeping an eye on each other’s houses while we’re away in the next few weeks. Another pleasant opportunity to chat and cement a friendship.
• After picking more damsons than we can use in the next couple of days, I took some to our other next-door neighbour because I know he likes them. “Do you want to come in?” I’m in no rush so, yeah, why not? Twenty minutes nattering over a coffee, by the end of which I know what his grandsons are up to and I’ve filled him in on the problems which our (and his) broadband and cable TV provider fixed yesterday. He promises eggs in return for the damsons when his daughter-in-law’s hens are laying again. Very kind of him.

As someone who has had a busy career and – when the children were at home – an exhausting family life, a day like today was unusual. Of course it often happens that there are chances to chat with people in the neighbourhood, but I’m used to passing up or limiting some of these opportunities because of the need I’ve felt to move on to the next task. Today I said “yes” to them all. I’m glad.