Where to retire to?

[Smeagol]

After a few years, for various reasons, decided to return to the UK and settled on Norfolk. Affordable housing, good schools, near the sea, low crime etc.

Don't regret it at all.

I have had a residence in Norfolk for over 4o years and whilst it has not been a bad place to live Mrs S has never liked it so the plan is to move to Cornwall in the next year or so.

Horses for courses I guess.

[TheGreenGoblin]

A genteel retirement home in Bath where you ladies with cut glass English accents, and nary a pair of suspenders in sight, help an old codger, like me, feel at home...

Mr Connery was a wee bit younger (Ok a lot) than I am now here but whatever...

[ricardian]

I retired in 2003 and we decided to move from Scarborough (N Yorks) to somewhere quieter. Eventually settled on Stronsay, Orkney. Never regretted it. Now edit the island's monthly magazine and until covid-19 forced the kirk to close I was the organist. Now I'm a widower and it's just me and the cat.

[PHXPhlyer]

it's just me and the cat.
And all of us!

PP

[TheGreenGoblin]

I retired in 2003 and we decided to move from Scarborough (N Yorks) to somewhere quieter. Eventually settled on Stronsay, Orkney. Never regretted it. Now edit the island's monthly magazine and until covid-19 forced the kirk to close I was the organist. Now I'm a widower and it's just me and the cat.

I suspect you have found a place closer to heaven and a more decent place on earth than most of us will ever find, sadly without your good lady wife now but with a plethora of good memories no doubt and a pacific cat.I trust that the cat is a peaceful one? We don't want to be like Uncle Monty. One of my better halve's cats took against me, they can be evil creatures. It shat in my boots...

Monty, of course, had a house in Cumbria. My surname is Cumbrian. I like the lakes but the perennial rain and the row of the tourists would soon pall and make even Wordsworth sound wooden...

[PHXPhlyer]

Some here might avail themselves if they had access to your boots.

PP

[TheGreenGoblin]

Some here might avail themselves if they had access to your boots.

PP

No doubt...



Witches all of them...

[Undried Plum]

[TheGreenGoblin]

Have you found a runcible spoon?

[ricardian]

I retired in 2003 and we decided to move from Scarborough (N Yorks) to somewhere quieter. Eventually settled on Stronsay, Orkney. Never regretted it. Now edit the island's monthly magazine and until covid-19 forced the kirk to close I was the organist. Now I'm a widower and it's just me and the cat.

I suspect you have found a place closer to heaven and a more decent place on earth than most of us will ever find, sadly without your good lady wife now but with a plethora of good memories no doubt and a pacific cat.I trust that the cat is a peaceful one? We don't want to be like Uncle Monty. One of my better halve's cats took against me, they can be evil creatures. It shat in my boots...

My green-eyed, pure white cat is now 16 years old and sleeps most of the time, rising only to eat, drink or attend to the wants of nature in her litter tray; she does spend a lot of time lying in front of the patio doors, keeping an eye on the pigeons, sparrows, starlings and sundry other avians. She was named Surrey by the late Mrs R. Nothing to do with the county but with Richard III's horse; Richard's alleged order to his attendants to "Saddle white Surrey [Syrie] for the field tomorrow" is just a bit of dramatic licence by Shakespeare. The late Mrs R was a keen Ricardian!
If you're interested in Stronsay then do take a look at this website or this online magazine

[OFSO]

Problem is retirement locale changes over time. Peaceful cheap low-taxation Spain, 25 years again, isn't any more. And all our friends died or moved back to home countries. Germans especially don't want to get old in Spain. Currently in this Urbanisation, it's "Last one out please turn off the lights."

[TheGreenGoblin]

My green-eyed, pure white cat is now 16 years old and sleeps most of the time, rising only to eat, drink or attend to the wants of nature in her litter tray; she does spend a lot of time lying in front of the patio doors, keeping an eye on the pigeons, sparrows, starlings and sundry other avians. She was named Surrey by the late Mrs R. Nothing to do with the county but with Richard III's horse; Richard's alleged order to his attendants to "Saddle white Surrey [Syrie] for the field tomorrow" is just a bit of dramatic licence by Shakespeare. The late Mrs R was a keen Ricardian!
If you're interested in Stronsay then do take a look at this website or this online magazine

My 17 year old dog (having outlived her sister) is lying pretty doing pretty much the same as your cat. She only really becomes animated when she sees the postman or a workman in a high visibility jacket. Her retirement involves her ringing a bell (or the doggy equivalent which is a querulous bark) like some crotchety old dowager for her servant, demanding that I fetch food, move her basket to a sunnier spot and so on.

Many thanks for those very interesting links.

[Undried Plum]

Have you found a runcible spoon?

I own one! It's a forked wooden spoon.

I occasionally take favoured houseguests on a walking tour around the old town of Embra. At the outer curve of upper Coburn Street I whip it out (the spoon, that is, nothing else) and show my guests the stone carvings high on one of the tenements of an owl and a cat. I recite the poem, pointing to the sculptures with the spoon.

I'll happily bet that most Edimburgians are utterly unaware of those sculptings. Even our greatly respected Magnus here may not know of that unlikely pair on that building.

[TheGreenGoblin]

Have you found a runcible spoon?

I own one! It's a forked wooden spoon.

I occasionally take favoured houseguests on a walking tour around the old town of Embra. At the outer curve of upper Coburn Street I whip it out (the spoon, that is, nothing else) and show my guests the stone carvings high on one of the tenements of an owl and a cat. I recite the poem, pointing to the sculpture with the spoon.

I'll happily bet that most Edimburgians are utterly unaware of those sculptings. Even our greatly respected Magnus here may not know of that unlikely pair on that building.

Most of the natives of all the great cities of the world, of which Edinburgh, is most assuredly one, are often very ignorant of the history, humour, myths, legends and truths that surround them. Shame on me, I have never been to Embra. I shall dally on these thoughts whenever I next eat a pea green soup...

[unifoxos]

I own one! It's a forked wooden spoon.

I have a set of such implements, buffets for the purpose of. But I remember somebody asking the question in school 60+ years ago and I remember the teacher stating that runcible meant "stainless". Mine are both forked spoons and stainless.

As to the original question - I obviously don't have the resources of some of you guys with houses all over the world. The late SWMBO and I bought (and I have extended and upgraded) a bungalow here in a Staffordshire village where we had lived happily for years. Our intention was to use the equity from the sale of the house to purchase an apartment in the caribbean for winter occupation and rent it out when we were not there. Since she has now departed I have no longer any interest in that and I will probably just waste the money on things like flights in Spitfires etc.

[ian16th]

Wasn't this Runcible guy an Archbishop?

When planning your retirement home, remember it is where you are most likely to die.

So think of the financial implications of death duties et al, in the different jurisdictions.
European countries have some funny laws about inheritance, that over-ride whatever you might want and/or put in your will.

[fin]

I bought a hilltop place at the Southern end of St Kitts. Lovely climate year-round and it has the advantage that having 'invested' more than a million in the country I can take up citizenship any time I wish. My intent was to use that place in the Omani summer and to rent it out short term in the N hemisphere winter.

St Kitts is a lovely place. The only problems are that the pot-holed roads are as bad as the worst in Scotland; and that there is some poverty in the North of the island which results in a lot of petty crime up there. My place is in a gated community with a 24x7 guard. I rented it out on short term lets for a while, but found that most renters are arseholes, so I now let it out on annually renewable semi-long-term leases to very carefully vetted tenants.

If I go there this February, let me know if you'd like some current photos.

[OFSO]

If you have a dying feeling, just pop away over the border and do it there. At least two villas in our Spanish road are owned by dead foreigners. No obligation to declare the death in Spain if you didn't die there.

[John Hill]

I tell people with some truth that I never did a day's work since I left school at least my career in the technical side of aviation made it not feel like work. We had a nice two story house on a cliff overlocking the Pacific Ocean but access had its challenges, it was almost impractical to walk to the site and the upper floor living required everything to be carried up stairs. Then I was struck with cancer and we decided we needed a place with ground level living and various features as may be required for old folks.

We sold our house and had another built in a small(ish) town, inland but with a view of the Southern Alps. I now have a home workshop like I could never have dreamed of and we can drive right up to the kitchen door. We even have a special room for our LEGO trains! A small parcel of land with a few plants and enough lawn to give a bit of exercise.

I now frequent the local Ashburton Aviation Museum, about two or three days a week. We have new friends and a few friends from my school days as I was born in this town.

[boing]

Take a look at South Vietnam. The people are gentle and friendly and you could get a nice pad on the coast with housekeeper for relatively little. Food excellent and good bars in Saigon are as refined as their French counterparts.

.