I was in Tesco this morning about 11.00am. The cafe was full of retired people, mostly couples, having coffee. Shortly afterwards I went to B&Q and it was also full of retired people. This time on small errands, such as buying packs of screws or bags of compost. I was so jealous. I love being in the shops mid week. This got me thinking about another one of my weird theories. Why don’t we change our working lives a bit. Here’s how it goes.
Currently, nobody really starts work until they’re about 20ish. Then they work until they’re 65 or even older. Then they have a few years drinking coffee in Tesco and running trivial errands before they die. In between there’s frequently a family to raise and several mid life crisis to go through, probably a divorce or two as well.
My theory says that by the time a person gets to 50 or so they’ve got over the struggles of life and are often very happy with who they are and where they’re going. Rather than wait until they reach 65, by which time it’s frequently too late for any meaningful adventure or physical challenge, why don’t we work from 20ish until 50, retire until 65 then return to work older and wiser and work until we drop. That way we can make something meaningful out of the last third.
I’m happy to give it a go if someone could just provide the funds for me to live…!