It is a strange feeling having come this far. When one is young or middle age one never thinks that retirement day will come, but it does, to a great majority of the population.
My working life expands a period of 46 years,this must seem very odd to the 8o´s generation. How much pension are these people of today going to accumulate? Not very much, unless working longer years is taken as an option. I for one much prefer to have worked when I was young and had energy in abundance, in later years this source is less efficient and work must be hard going.
I have now retired to Spain, mostly to look after my mother who is 99 years old.
I have now retired to Spain, mostly to look after my mother who is 99 years old.
I consider myself very lucky to have a mother and being retired at the same time. This too is a luxury that one could not have hoped for. She is relatively well and manages a daily walk to the coffee shop "Manolo´s " with great enthusiasm. She also waits with great expectation while either my sister Tina or myself butter her 3 slices of toast and spread with jam for her enjoyment. She prepares her coffee with one sachet of decaffeinated coffee and one sachet of sweetener while we spread the jam as fast as possible for she is ready to tuck into it. Finally she has the added treat of a mini croissant which in this particular coffee shop is truly delicious.
It is early days to describe my feeling about retirement. Life appears to have no meaning and one questions the monotony of three meals a day and snacks in between! When at work, eating has a different meaning, one eats in order to see someone, or to be seen, if in the process you enjoy your lunch it is an added bonus, but now lunch is for real, you prepare it and you seat down to eat it in earnest, nothing happens around it, no emotions are involved in the process, only food in front of you is the target!
This is an education that has to be learnt all over again.
It is early days to describe my feeling about retirement. Life appears to have no meaning and one questions the monotony of three meals a day and snacks in between! When at work, eating has a different meaning, one eats in order to see someone, or to be seen, if in the process you enjoy your lunch it is an added bonus, but now lunch is for real, you prepare it and you seat down to eat it in earnest, nothing happens around it, no emotions are involved in the process, only food in front of you is the target!
This is an education that has to be learnt all over again.
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Cafe Nova Interchange boss Amelia Suarez retires to Spain
Wednesday 28 July 2010
London SE1 website team
Amelia Suarez, who founded and ran the Cafe Nova Interchange social enterprise at Elephant & Castle Shopping Centre, is retiring to Spain.
Simon Hughes MP was among the well-wishers at her farewell event."The Elephant will simply not be the same without Amelia," says Simon Hughes MP.
"She is a fantastic member of our local community and I have always been really impressed with how hard working and determined she is.
"Cafe Nova Interchange has been the venue for many of my advice surgeries over the years and local residents and I have always been most warmly welcomed.
"The community and I will miss her greatly and I wish her the happiest possible retirement."
Madrid-born Amelia, a former catering manager at St Thomas' Hospital, started the business in 1997 as a training scheme for people with learning and physical disabilities.
Since 2001 the business has traded from the first floor of the Elephant & Castle Shopping Centre, and after a recent refit now has a smarter look and feel.
