How do you occupy your time when you are retired?

Oh no Michael I didn't say I had finished it, I don't think we can ever finish our family trees really!! I've gone back as far as is feasible for me to do, most of our family are from London and that was fairly easy to get confirmation on records as we're only a hour's train journey away and I could travel up and explore records and get birth/ marriage and death certificates and also London had it's own records that are more easily accessible that the National ones. I've even stayed up there with relatives for holiday breaks and had great fun searching out the addresses. London based records were easy to get hold of up to a certain point in time....then of course a lot got lost due to the war and homes and roads wiped out by bombs.
I have written up each individual's life...including all the available documentations, birth, marriage, war ,death. Researched into their occupations, even found an old black and white pic of a pub my great, great grandparents had in London......sadly long gone now. Have Census printouts and in some cases actual photos of the houses as they are now.
Found myself down some really narrow alleyways that led to some very dingy buildings that are uninhabitable now as dwellings but were homes to many family members back in the 1700 and 1800's.
I walked around Blackfriars and found one address and remember feeling a cold shiver as I thought about my family living with the fear of Jack The Ripper.
There were sad discoveries too, many early infant deaths, rapes, workhouses and dying as paupers and buried in unmarked graves.

London was a tough place to survive in for the less wealthy. More prosperous relatives took in the children of others , in the hope they would give them a better start in life than their poorer parents had.

I followed my great grandma Sara's life with both admiration and great sadness. She was widowed at just 28 and had 5 children.She managed to keep the family together by working all hours ,in a pub in Hackney in the evenings and cleaning and doing laundry for the well off by day, no mean feat for a woman in the 1800's!!
I also have very old newspaper cuttings, some advertising the self employment of realatives...from builders to Drs. Some with the court case outcomes of the naughty ones. Plus some bereavement announcements and wills.

I have sourced some really old London maps, going back to when it was made up of lots of villages, and have pinpointed the roads where many lived.
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No, mine isn't a list of names either , it's the people behind the names that interest me too.

As I discovered by going further and further back in time our relatives originated from Norfolk and surrounding areas and by now there were no real recorded record keeping to search through easily. The only option ,as you have no doubt discovered ,is to visit the areas to carry out searches but for me with family and working that was not so easily done .So I decided to draw a line at the 1600''s.

My Uncle was already retired and sadly widowed when he did the other side of our family, so was willing and able to dedicate a lot of his time to researching. When he too hit the era of the family being more widespread he was able to visit all the various places and search the local graveyards and church held records...that's really the only way to go as reliable ( if in fact any) records and census info gathering had yet to be started.

Now I have more time but sadly I've had / got new commitments ....my Dad ,now sadly departed and my brother who is not only disabled but also has Alziheners and lives alone, but very nearby.

I too love discovering the history of places....and have delved far back in time to learn about the area we live in now.

Good luck with your future hunting.

 

wow, 100 countries, so your to blame for all this climate change..

 

Never really thought what I will do when I retire, until now. Knowing my luck, I probably would only get a 24hr freebie at a Blackpool beach hut with a day pass on the tram thrown in.

 

I'm sorry @Upsydaisy you said you'd 'compiled' your family tree but I read it as 'completed' , I need new glasses
You've done a lot of work on it and it's very interesting. I can't begin to tell you about mine, it would take too long, but I am not stopping at a certain date, and I'm doing all the branches on both sides and Beryl's both sides too. I'm in no hurry to finish it, I want it to last the rest of my life so that I've got something to do in the winters.
The furthest I've gone back is 1401.
I've been in the past like you are now, with people to care for (elderly parents and disabled partner) and that makes it more difficult to do the things you want. But I have all the time in the world now

 

No worries @Michael Hewett . I would love to be able to carry on as I loved doing it but it would be far too time consuming to have to travel to each area now to do the necessary research....shame.

I'm envious of you...have fun.

I even considered at one point of offering to do other people's family trees....but since realised time and travelling here ,there and everywhere wouldn't be possible. If I could go back in time then it would definitely be top of my list as a career choice.

 

How do I occupy my time since retiring? What time? Nowadays, I dont know how I found time to work!

A lot depends on the time of year. Summer will see me in the garden, of course. Added to that I'll go out on the motorbike somewhere, or take a trip with the motorhome. Do some outdoor house repairs, or other things that require good weather.

Winters will see me doing other things. A lot on here know that I do a bit of woodwork, or perhaps metalwork. Although its more or less at an end now, I'll do a bit more restoration work on my classic car. Then again I do some family research, not that I can do much more of that now, as I've got back to 1087...

All year round I will practice my guitar playing as well...

There are still things that I have probably forgotten and not mentioned, such as irritating you lot on here!

 

Retired? I'm only partially retired and I have no problem filling my non work days.

I do a lot of my own repairs to the house, sewing machinery, appliances- at least until there is no hope of revival.

I do my own wiring and plumbing outside. I make a lot of my own clothes. I bake my own bread and some for neighbours.

Gardening is almost year round. Outside from April/May to October/November, and then inside from December 26th up until I'm back outside again. November/December are spent getting ready for holidays.

Like most here, I don't have a cleaning lady or laundress or chef so there aren't many idle hours left during the daylight no matter what time of year.

And I have lots of friends and family close, or whenever possible, within 6 feet of me!

 

This is a truly inspiring and interesting topic, makes a fascinating read. Thank you lovely folks for sharing!

Personally I have loads of interests but unfortunately am a seriously lazy person. I dread my retirement (thankfully, it is approximately 178 years away according to my latest pension statement) as I'm afraid I will just mooch about and not get anything started. A typical day off for me sees me getting up early and then spending 6 straight hours reading, occasionally transferring my location between the dining table, bed and the sofa.

My friends often describe their day in words such as "I never sat down until 9pm" whereas my bottom seems to be my most used asset during my waking hours. Reading, internetting, doing puzzles...

This topic has so very inspiring stories on family tree investigations that I may finally take that up. My Dad and my Godfather have done a lot, reaching 1600s', but I'm particularly interested in the human stories behind the numbers. There are some real thrillers, and also the quiet lives that ended sadly that need to be told in a way that they will not just dust away in some corner.

 

Funny thing @Upsydaisy I also once thought of doing that as a career, when I was fed up with the one I had, but never did anything about it because of the travelling.
I don't know if I'll ever be able to do as much research as I would like because some of my ancestors were from Devon and Lancashire ... well a quarter of them were Devonshire people actually (maternal grandfather) ... and I can't travel much now due to being rather agoraphobic on times and unable to leave the house some days, so I keep to the Welsh ones

 

I'm trying to think of something I do that is different, but I've got to be honest I just spend my time in the garden, greenhouse, allotment when the weather is good, winter and summer.

In bad weather I've been trying to redecorate the house, but I really hate decorating, I wish I was back at work when I have to do that, its like torture.

I sat around a lot after Christmas last and put on a few pounds, so was hoping to come up with something I like doing that keeps me reasonably active for next winter.

But cant think of anything.

I'm not a sports type person and marathon running has never been my thing, I did used to like walking but my legs dont work as well as they should so that is out.

 

That's the trouble I seem to be having lately Pete, horticulture seems to be becoming such an all-consuming passion that I hardly have time for anything else! And when I'm not gardening, I'm mostly reading about gardening and foruming about gardening! And the worst of it is, I'm supposed to be a low-maintenance gardener! How the bloody hell am I supposed to tell normal people I'm into low-maintenance gardening and then tell them I do about 20 hours of gardening a week, that doesn't even make any flipping sense!

Nick

 

That's all right, you are Swedish so we understand

 

When I retire, I'd like to spend more time working on my old mustang. I'd like to take off all the inner door panels and clean and service the parts. Ditto for all of the dash board.

I'd like to have time (and money) to put up strapping on my cellar walls, get wires run for outlets and lighting and in preparation for an electrician to hook up. And then put up the wall board - got 78 sheets down there!

I like to explore interesting things within a hundred mile radius. When covid stops confining, I'll get back at that.

Just never enough time!