Summer in England. What could be better? That is, of course, assuming that the sun is shining, there aren’t any rail strikes and the Brexit fiasco doesn’t cause an economic landslide.
Mid-June 2019 finds us once again camped in London for a few days at the start of another extended holiday/road-trip. Only this time it’s slightly different. We are at the genesis of our new redirected lifestyle, free from the regular routine of paid employment forever. After years of careful planning, lots of thinking and some good fortune we have finally retired and can now concentrate on the rest of our lives together. Over the preceding years we have taken long periods of time out from work to travel the world and this has given us the opportunity to explore what retirement what might look like for us. And travel features prominently in those plans, with lots of experiences and reflections determining how and where these journeys will take us.
Gone are the days of long arduous road trips (too tiring) and staying in dorm rooms (we’re too old for that). Our busy lives, stressful work and sometimes domestic situations for many years have reframed what a good life really looks like. It’s about being rather than doing. Experiences over consumerism. Taking time to relax and absorb a place instead of rushing around trying to see and do everything. Settling into the ebb and flow of life in a new location. Stopping to smell the roses.
Which brings us back to London on a bright, sunny June morning.
We took the non-stop Qantas flight from Perth to London Heathrow, arriving early on Thursday morning. By the afternoon we’d hit the local Waitrose supermarket, stocked up the fridge and larder in our cute little Air BnB flat in Kensington Olympia and were sitting in the Wetherspoon pub at nearby Shepherd’s Bush enjoying our first pint and soaking up the possibilities of our newly gained freedom.
We love England and London and had decided to visit and explore some different areas on this trip. Kew Gardens was our first port of call, the largest botanic gardens in the world, housing impressive Victorian glasshouses and Kew Palace, the home of King George III. A small glass house adjacent to the magnificently restored Temperate House (the world’s biggest Victorian glass house) caught our eye as it contains exhibits exclusively from Western Australia.
In Richmond on another day we walked through the old town centre to the Thames, following the towpath to Twickenham where we took a brief diversion onto Eel Pie Island, an artists’ enclave with a variety of studios occupying old boat houses. “Tat masquerading as art”, said Graham, or as Sue indelicately observed, “Country Women’s Association meets The Magic Roundabout” – not particularly inspiring, but the scenery en -route certainly was. Fields and woods, historic houses such as Ham House and Marble Hill House, riverside pubs, inns and rowing houses. And the view across the Thames Vale from Richmond Hill was worth the short climb.
Having seen all the majesty of grand houses and palaces of old, Sue came over all Downton Abbey, reaching back to some distant role in the recesses of her ancestors’ employment heritage. Or at least that was her excuse for commanding Graham to sup his ale quietly and straighten the buttons on his waistcoat (pronounced “west-cot”)
To add a little practical realism to our London experience, we met up with family; Graham’s ailing aunt and uncle from Kent, a couple of octogenarians who braved the train systems and London’s busy streets for the first time in two years to see us. And we saw friends; a lovely couple who live in London that we met in Argentina in 2015. It’s always a pleasure to reconnect with family and friends on their own turf and once again validates the importance of relationships, a recurring theme in our journey into a more authentic, minimalist lifestyle.
On our final day we wandered around Highgate Cemetery East, a crumbling, partly derelict Victorian garden cemetery and a serious tourist attraction for many. Here we saw the graves of legendary historical figures such as Karl Marx alongside more recent additions including writers George Eliot, Alan Sillitoe and Douglas Adams. A picnic lunch and amble around nearby Hampstead Heath, with a familiar walk back through the beautiful grandeur of Hampstead Village rounded off our brief London sojourn.
But before we leave London, a quick word about Dr Martens. We are both slightly fixated on this iconic British footwear company. It’s products come in wide range of designs and colour schemes. The classic boot has been gracing the feet of young and old alike, from all walks of life (pun intended) across the globe for decades. So naturally we found the Dr Martens shop in Shepherd’s Bush and treated ourselves to a very special pair each of retirement shoes. Did we need them? Most definitely not. Do they meet the requirements of our minimalist lifestyle? Absolutely! Every single pair of our growing collection of shoes and boots sparks joy when worn. Happiness, it seems, can be bought, sometimes (when they’re on sale) for as little as £39 a pair.
Clapmacks Foray into Retirement 