Okay, it's not as alarming as the title may suggest. The alarm referred to is that attached to a clock. Allow me to expand on this.
While I was far, far, far away this time I listened in to a conversation revolving round the subject of retirement. One conversationalist couldn't wait, the other could.
Personally, when I retired, there were no withdrawal symptoms what-so-ever. What I did miss, and still do, are the people I worked with, with very few exceptions, and the camaraderie.
To help those involved in the drilling game, or similar stuff, shortly to retire, or considering retirement, may I offer the one sure trick that'll ease your transition from chaos to calm.
I'll assume your normal day at work starts at 06:00 and ends at 18:00, although you're most likely on twenty four hour call and oh, those calls; at two in the morning, if someone bangs on you cabin door, bursts in and throws the lights on, trust me on this, it's not going to be to cheerily announce, "Hay, wake up!! I've got some really, really good news for ya!!"
Right. The alarm.
When you finally decide to call it Kelly down**, keep your alarm clock set to sound at 05:00. When it rings, reach out, turn it off, laugh for fifteen minutes and go back to sleep.
This is especially satisfying on dark winter mornings when the wind's howling and the rain's battering your bedroom window. At those times your fifteen minutes of laughter can stretch a tad longer and may become slightly hysterical.
**A loooong time ago I worked with a driller, whom I only remember as Nigel, who purchased his dream country cottage to 'do up' ready for retirement and named it Kelly Down. He was forever thereafter affectionately known as Nearly Normal Nigel.
It was also Nearly Normal, on a boisterous crew change, while a bunch of the boys were whooping it up down at the Rose and Crown, when one of the local boys indicated a guy further down the bar and remarked whisperingly, "He's a latent homosexual you know." responded jovially and loudly with, "Well, better latent than never."
Quote; ??
"I retired early for health reasons - my company was sick of me and I was sick of them."
"I’m now as free as the breeze – with roughly the same income."
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