Go to computer/Internet classes and get control of the thing while you still have the marbles. Yes, fine, but suppose they don't have them in your area? According to Michael Gorman - who knows about these things - you just get a group of like-minded people together, say 12, and then go to your local adult education centre and ask for a class. You'll get one.
Your Advice
This month's book tokens go to . . .
IT WAS Ingrid Bergman who said the secret of happiness in later life is good health and a short memory. So get ready for 20 great years that no one tells us about. (I write as I approach my 80th birthday).
The short memory should apply to all the excess emotional baggage that most of us carry around. All those regrets, guilts, ancient grudges, etc. As W.H. Auden puts it:
"Sighs for folly said and done,
Twist our narrow days."
So put an end to them, they are over and finished with and you are entering a new phase with a clean slate.
Sheila Bradshaw, Sandymount, Dublin 4
Dear Big Jolly Writer, I speak not from my own experience but from that of those retirees and experts I have talked with over the past six weeks for a radio series on retirement. Three observations:
Retirement is not a Stop sign, nor even a Yield sign. It is a Go sign, liberating you to go in whatever direction you wish, in your own good time and at your own pace. Delete should/ought/must from your vocabulary.
Don't "paint yourself into a corner". Paint yourself out of a corner! - either literally by taking up the watercolours you always fancied, or if not, by drawing up a list of the pursuits and interests you once fancied - until your career intervened . . . And you can draw or paint. Jack Black, the personal development guru, swears by a book called Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards.
In the words of our own Nobel Laureate:
"Let go, let fly, forget,
You've listened long enough.
Now strike your note!"
John Quinn, Big Not-Half-as-Jolly Radio Producer, RTE
I SUSPECT that for you, "retirement" will seem very much like a continuation of your present life. OK, so you're a bit tired at present; that's very natural after what you've been through with the hip. So have a holiday and charge the batteries. Pretty soon the muse will be whispering again and pretty soon you'll be at the keyboard again, doing the thing you - and we - love best.
Personally, at 73 I find the day's not nearly long enough to fit in all the things I like doing. Try getting to grips with a spreadsheet on your computer; it's great fun when you take the plunge. Someone I knew learnt a verse of poetry every day, just to keep the old brain ticking over. Or try translating Cuirt an MheanOiche!
And, though I know it's difficult and unpleasant, for exercise try pushing the table away before those delicious desserts come round! I've managed to lose 20lbs, and I feel a whole lot better for it.
David Sowby, Dublin 18
THE CHOICE we have as older people is to open up to the changing world or to withdraw into isolation. Retirement is a time of new liberty, an opportunity to rediscover one's self.
In the US, where one in three Internet users are senior citizens, the Internet has been described as an elixir for older people, helping to overcome isolation and loneliness, boredom, the sense of helplessness which comes from the lack of a social role and the decline in mental skills as others do the thinking for you.
As you get older your horizons inevitably close in unless you keep re-inventing yourself . . . The computer is the ideal way to voyage out into the future on a continuous journey of discovery. You can cut yourself off or, with a computer and a few easily acquired skills, become part of a world without limits.
There's a future of extraordinary richness awaiting those who are willing to make the effort. After all, if four-year-olds can manage a computer, what are you waiting for?
Michael Gorman, Sandymount, Dublin 4
I TOO, was a workaholic until I retired from hospital practice 12 years ago. It is true, you will go mad because it will be impossible, at least at first, to handle free time. But if you learn to occupy yourself usefully, you will find retirement a joy. You will be busy, but you will not be stressed by tight schedules and by the mundane obligations of making a living.
I still cannot sit and do nothing, but I do not have time to do nothing. Get rid of your watch. This will help you to overcome your obsession about time and punctuality. Join the Irish Tree Society and enjoy their numerous outings here, in the North and occasionally elsewhere. Join Birdwatch Ireland. Get more involved in environmental or charitable work. Keep in touch to avoid social isolation.
What about Bridge? Read more, particularly in special areas of interest, or even read your own books! They can be quite amusing and diverting at times, and are a useful subject for chat.
Above all, plan an eclectic exercise programme, including walking (there are lots of walking clubs, including possibly an ex-authors' club!), cycling, gentle hill climbing, doubles tennis and gardening. Travel if you like it and do not be afraid to spend a little of your ill-gotten gains on yourself before you go to your reward. Travel first class. If not, your heirs will.
Risteard Mulcahy, Dublin 14
What you have to determine is whether you would be happier working or retired. Having said that, I would have to ask the question, when did you last hear of a writer retiring? You read about the deaths of writers, philosophers, scientists, mathematicians, etc. but not about their retirements. It is civil servants and the other "nine-to-fivers" who retire.
My advice? Slow down. Reorganise to suit yourself more. Determine what would make you a happier person and do it. In the circumstances a masterpiece might emerge! Once a writer, always a writer.
Joe Brophy, Dublin 14
MY ADVICE is the same as Mr Punch's to those about to marry: Don't. But do find and explore a new world that is mentally and/or physically demanding. Learn to ride a horse, sail a boat, fly a plane (I've had a 66-year-old make their first solo flight). Look for a new challenge, plunge in, and let the novels come as they will.
The writing bug is for life - I'm 20 years older than you and still an active wordsmith. You won't be able to stop!
Daphne Pochin Mould, Aherla, Co Cork