To wonder what retirees do on a grey, wet Tuesday morning

[BeaQuiet]

I'm just a few years from State Pension age but can't imagine giving up work completely (work 28 hours pw at the moment).

Summers like this, yes, I'd be perfectly content but AIBU to ask what retired people do on a wet Tuesday morning in winter. Especially as Wed, Thur, Fri etc are likely to be wet or grey too.

This was raised on a Mel Robbins podcast on ageing and it got me thinking.

Museums, art galleries, a matinée at the theatre, a nice lunch somewhere, dress for the weather and go for a long walk. Write some short stories or a couple of chapters of your novel. Cook a really nice, complicated dinner. Curl up with the cat and a good book.

My dh volunteers on Tuesdays, meets a friend on Wednesdays and seems to be at the end of the runway regularly too (more regularly then he tells me i suspect!) apparently at the end of the runway it’s pretty busy even in rain (go figure!) I go to work

Take a day time course at your local college, learn a new language, how to paint.

Really depends on your interests, surely? In the country, I like wet, grey days as much as sunny days, just in a different way- long walks with the dogs etc actually much easier when it's not boiling hot. In town I would be spending my days in galleries, museums, meeting friends for lunch, concert in the evening etc- weather doesn't make much difference.

We have just opened an art gallery (well, two years), so that is literally my retirement plan..

I’m nowhere near retirement and could quite easily fill every day all year round with different activities and hobbies and interests and volunteering too.

As kids if we moaned we were bored, the response was “only the boring get bored” - might sound old school but it made us think 🤔

I'm glad, OP, that you have a job you enjoy. I used to think that, and all the career stuff, then I got sacked (out of the blue).

The job I do now pays the bills, but I would happily have pizza in the office on my last day, walk out, and never give it another thought.

I am through with spending time, and worry, about someone else's business.

If you are my DF you embark on endless home improvement project (hes always been handy) and then move on to assisting your neighbours do DIY and garden maintenance.
If you are my DM you sit at home watching daytime tv for years on end.
I have an aunt who got really into reenactment, she spends her winters making costumes and her summers at events and doing living history type work.

I take the dogs out, do the daily jobs which need to be completed regularly, listen to the radio, and then when I'm done I'll read. Some days I might even talk to my husband!
It might sound boring but it suits me.

Meet friends for coffee, wrap up and go for a walk, sort out a cupboard, plan the garden, read, paint. Thinking that work is overrated......

Retiree here. Play an outdoor sport (unless it's tipping down). Go to an adult education class, my 8 yr old friend rally builds off road cars and competes, lots and lots of U3A classes near me, well attended.
Trips and lunches, volunteering, lots of sport.

Isn’t the answer…. Whatever the hell they want to?

Meet a friend in a coffee shop, have a friend round for coffee, stay cosy and do an indoors hobby, catch up on some housework, read a book, go out and browse around M & S or your chosen shop, bake a cake, do some batch cooking for the freezer, have a lie in and luxuriate that you don’t have to go to work.

If my gym is anything to go by then they go to Pilates and yoga

Other than some exercise there's no need to do anything.

We can simply be, we don't have to do.

During COVID I worked from home but didn't have much to do work wise, so I improved my French, German and Greek using Duolingo, YouTube and books, painted almost the entire house inside, painted some other things, did more gardening and sewing than usual, learned new knitted methods, learned new recipes for cooking and baking, did some repairs around the house, and listened to BBC World Radio a lot.

The dog doesn't care whether it's wet. She needs a walk regardless.

I rather like @Seagulldancing 's aunt's re-enactment idea.

Plus I do a Pilates class twice weekly. Cook daily. Practice Spanish, also daily. Some gardening.

I get up about 8.00am, go out to check the horses, let the dogs out and feed them. Watch Breakfast TV to catch up on the News while drinking my first cup of tea of the day, get dressed, walk the dogs, maybe go out for lunch at the farmshop and buy some bits there. Volunteer with Riding for the Disabled for 2 hours 5-7.00pm, unless it's raining heavily. Travelling is at least 30 mins x2 and I might call at one of the big supermarkets on the way home. Light meal when I get home.

The best thing about retirement is following your own timetable.

I go to choir practice and then coffee with my fellow singers.

Otherwise I'd paint - I do a weekly art class and finding time to actually do a painting is difficult!

I love gardening and walking too - but you have mentioned a rainy day!

I also write short stories for fun and do a twice-weekly newsletter about one of my interests.

One thing: my puritannical upbringing still means I'm reluctant to sit down and just read until late afternoon (nothing wrong with that - it's just childhood conditioning!) and I find reading in artificial light increasingly difficult these days. So I'll have to learn to chill out about that.

I'm glad, OP, that you have a job you enjoy. I used to think that, and all the career stuff, then I got sacked (out of the blue).

It's not a career and I don't particularly enjoy the job. Some of our many managers are bullies but I have - so far - kept under their radar. Redundancy in a couple of years is a real threat and I dread that.

I do enjoy the structure and social interactions. Plus I wfh 80% of the time.

Reading
sewing
household repairs/maintenance
jigsaws
cooking
pilates
yoga
swimming
sex
learning a language
volunteering
looking after grandchildren
shopping
visiting art galleries
meeting friends
seeing family
cleaning
mumsnetting
clearing out the attic
learning to dance
researching holidays
going on holidays
making photo books
U3A clubs
golf
getting hair cut
beauty treatments
helping with reading at primary school
watching the waves roll onto the beach
creative writing class

Anything and everything you can whilst you are healthy enough to do so.

Cinema

They're wondering around with yoga mats tucked under their arms where I live but that's usually after they've met up with the cold water swimming group. The local line dancing class is well attended by people in their 70's and 80's. They can often be found in walking groups or hanging out in coffee shops. Many put in a couple of shifts a week at a local charity shop. The men seem to hang out at the allotment. They're doing arts, crafts and U3A. Somehow they managed to find time to look after grandchildren and provide unpaid home help to older or unwell neighbours.

Don’t retire- find something to do2 days a week that you enjoy and pays - Waitrose here full of working early 70s and they seem quite jolly too

Grey wet miserable weather doesn't even register with me and DH. We belong to U3A and have/will have signed up for activities during the week. U3A (University of the Third Age) is a fun based self help/learning organisation. Depending on where you live there is normally a group(s) locally. Where I live there are around 50 or 60 different activities a week. You can join in as much or as little as you want. The fees are relatively cheap. We pay £15p.a. plus £1 per group per week. I do Yoga, Line Dancing and Local History. DH does Cycling, Badminton, Local History.

To find out more look up on your computer "U3A Your Town or village name". If your local area one doesn't have what you would like doing, try another area you can get to. You can join more than one area and they are all set up differently just under the U3A umbrella. If there is something you are interested in or skilled in that you want to do and isn't available locally the Committee will normally help you to set that group up. No exams or qualifications are needed or planned.

Have a look and the saying is "Live Laugh Learn".