Since a year or two Postnord (our postal service) only delivers mail two or three days a week: Either Monday, Wednesday and Friday; or Tuesday and Thursday. This year, my birthday happened to fall on a Monday in a Tuesday/Thursday week; which kind of extended my "celebrations" to last another day... As I just texted to a friend whose letter didn't arrived until today: Never mind, it will take me a while to get used to being 67 anyway! ;-)
Somehow 67 sounds much older to me than 66 - at least when applied to myself. Not sure why. One might think that the Big Change should have been at 65, as that's when I automatically went from 'early' (disability) retirement to 'Old Age' pension. But in some ways that was mixed with a feeling of liberation - because in many contexts, I found that being a 65+ pensioner meant less 'explanations and excuses' needed.
Strictly speaking, I suppose I could go on just calling myself 65+ for the rest of my life. ;-)
However, this year, a month or so before my birthday, I received an unexpected letter informing me that because I was now about to turn 67, I would be receiving an extra occupational pension from this month onward. Not a very large sum, but making a bit of a difference all the same. It just puzzles me that I can't recall ever having heard about this 'extra' pension until now. No one informed me about it when I turned 65; so I was convinced I was already receiving all the occupational pension I was entitled to. But it seems this addition comes from having worked where I did during a certain period of time (back in the 80s/90s). I was still with the same employer after that, though; so some political reform must have been involved as well. (I do know there has been one or two of those.) Ah well... I guess I must just be grateful that Big Brother kept track for me!
My actual birthday (yesterday) was a quiet affair, "celebrated" mostly on Facebook and Messenger, plus a couple of voice calls. To do something "unusual", I also chose that day to go and vote in advance for our general election coming up 11 September. (Pretty sure I won't be changing my mind!) My main reason to vote in advance was really that on the actual day, I'd have to go to a polling station rather "out of the way" for me, while voting in advance could be done at a location closer to home, and probably with less queuing. And as yesterday was sunny but pleasantly cool (we seem to have left the heatwave behind now), I felt like walking into town anyway. So that's what I did, with just a minor detour to vote.
Then I went on to the bookshop downtown, hoping to find a couple of books that I had decided to buy for myself. (The remaining two in a trilogy of which I already have the middle one in hardcover.) Turned out they didn't have them, though - so I decided to go back home and order them online instead. (Probably cheaper, anyway!) I also wanted to buy myself some flowers - but found the bouquets in the city flower shop unreasonably expensive (considering they won't last long). So went for another detour to the supermarket, and bought myself two orchids instead (which will hopefully last longer).
And then some online shopping from home in the afternoon... ;-)
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| Some more cards dropped in today... ;-) |
8 comments:
Happy Birthday! And I wish you many, many more years of fun and healthy blogging! your cards are beautiful. Thank you so much for the postcard. and as usual, even the stamps are gorgeous!
Belated Happy Birthday! What a lovely selection of cards - I'm particularly drawn to the one on the left of the bottom picture. It's so pretty.
I love orchids but have never had much luck with them, yet a friend has grown them in her garden. At the moment the climate is just right - warm and horribly humid! Perhaps I should try again!
Happy Birthday, dear Monica! You did make it a special day in some ways, and I am glad you had good walking weather. Like the cards and the orchids, and is that a pair of very pretty pale blue socks in front of the cards?
Funny they would not assign people to voting places closest to their homes; that's how elections are organised here at least.
Here, pension schemes (both stately and by various institutions and companies) keep changing, and I don't expect to get much out of any of them by the time I will be of retiring age - whenever that will be! So, yes, it is good of them to have kept track of you and send a little extra your way now :-)
Thanks Ginny! :)
Thanks CG. That card came from England (as did a couple of the others)! The orchids I bought are of course for indoors rather than outdoors. I have been lucky with some in the past. I have a couple of 'old' ones still looking fresh and green as well - but not showing any sign of intending to produce flowers at the moment. One never knows, though! I usually keep them as long as the the plant itself looks healthy.
Thanks Meike. Yes, one friend sent me those socks with her card. And they happen to match a pair of summer trousers that I have :-)
As for the election, the city is divided into a number of districts. The premises for voting in my district have varied over the years I've been living here. This time for the Big Day they've chosen a new school which from MY point of view is at the "wrong" (opposite) end of the district. I suppose there are lots of factors to weigh in - and this time, a pandemic still lurking in the background as well. Maybe it's a good place to receive many people at the same time without too much queuing? (I don't know, as I've never been there.) As there were other places open for voting in advance, more convenient for me, I just decided to do that instead, this time.
Monday I will flip from 77 to 78 which means I know how the extra year feels. that is what I do, shop for myself. I rather do that than get a gift because no one knows my taste. also I rather get the five dollars spent on a card or 30 dollars on a cake in cash to buy what I want. we will probably eat lunch out on my birthday, not for the food but for the I DON"T HAVE TO COOK part of it. Happy Birthday!
Sandra, yes, doing the shopping oneself has its advantages... I also like getting mail, though! :-)
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