I turned 66 this week, and if I was in the UK I would be able to retire……. mind you I might have been skint. Not sure what I would have done if I had stayed in Scotland. The good thing is that I can still apply for the British
pension because I worked there for more than 10 years, which is the minimum requirement to receive it.

I’ll send off the application tomorrow by post and if all goes to plan then I should get some cash by Christmas……Nice!

In Australia the retirement age is 67, of course you can stop work before that if you have the funds, however I have been on a Sabbatical for most of my time here and I don’t have the cash. So, one more year of driving the bus and hopefully fitting in a few overseas trips before I can put my feet up. Mind you I think I’ll still do a couple of days a week because I still like driving the old bus, just not every day

It’s winter currently, however it’s not really cold. One night it got down to 6C and then the next night it was back up to 17C due to the cloud cover. Winter is not really winter as I knew it as a kid and so I like to go down to Armidale for a few days to experience a more winter landscape. This year it’s been very pleasant, lovely blue skies, very little wind, which does make a hell of a difference.

Well Armidale did not disappoint, it was cold and crisp and virtually no wind. It was absolutely perfect. It was good to catch up with Stuart and Catherine and have a chat, some good booze and good food. Mind you I did have one hell of a sore head the day after I arrived. Possibly jet lag from the drive, wine and the single malt.

I enjoyed the drive and it was great to stretch me olde Ford’s legs and eat lots of food that I would not normally have. Stopping at a cafe in a small country town and ordering a bacon and egg roll with coffee was marvelous.

Looking forward to the next jaunt into the wilderness….