What is a normal day?

    Currently I have a VERY simple life in Turkey (my legs do not allow me to do excessive things)
In Hungary we lived very comfortably in a massive property in a village (good, very good), however my wife (at the end in Hungary) was doing all the work.
Garden, pond, animals, insects and the house is really much.
We now live in apartment (close to Alanya), no insects, but shopping, restaurants, .. Many good things I have to admit, still I miss the vast property in Hungary (much smaller now).

My normal day, I am a very early riser (3.00/4.00 AM Turkish time) looking at emails, going to toilet, playing a computer game (Rise of Nations (Throne version))
Of course I also look at news around 6.00 AM and brief my wife on this (with coffee)

I take my whisky cola (50/50) talk a little bit on the news (special focus on earthquakes)  at around 8.30 AM

My wife is sitting on the terrace, looking at the sea and knitting, for me just looking at news, play chess or strategy games
At around 11.00 I have a small nap and often we go either to a restaurant or my wife cooks (very good by the way)
If at home with Netflix, if a restaurant, just talk, look, ...
At around 17.00 Netflix for an hour or so and at 18.30 (latest) i read until 20.00 latest (sleeping)

The duties for me, clean the dishwasher, dealing with bureaucracy, but honestly I work 1 hour maximum per day. My wife I think 4 hours.
Still it is more like a very very extended holiday.

Whereas I hated the stress and HR issues in my prior job, I still miss activity from time to time.
What is good or not good I do not know (I am 61), getting older is difficult is my view (job or not)
What is important health and finances (even if many people state money is not important)

I have to state for ME, living in Hungary was perfectly fine, OK some shopping, some bureaucracy (especially for my company), driving my wife to Heviz Lakem walking from time to time, BUT nasty neighbours, insects, ....
We made a choice for us to make a boring life (without (garden, animals, big house, nasty neighbours, ...)
Good and my wife go to Russian church (in Turkey!!) quite regularly, always to the market every saturday (I think i did not mention, in Turkey wool is good and cheap, in Hungary not so)

Everywhere pluses and minuses.
   

    -@cdw057

Reading between the lines there, it  sounds like you are a bit bored. 

I'd have thought Turkey had some excellent travel opportunities - many historical and natural sites etc.

You could do some exploring.

You could always start doing a podcast.  I'm amazed people make money doing that.

@fluffy2560

Thanks, I do not need the money, yes I am bored, but walking is painful, where is the balance (joy and pain)?. I am pretty sure I would have been in the situation in Hungary (apart from (in Hungary) driving a car). But walking is painful, In Hungary (Keszthely) there were some concerts, but then again YouTube also provides. What is nice now are visits to restaurants (so, so many in a 500m radius). And honestly I think internet in a way is a lifesaver. (news, reports, chess, and computer games)

Is is always good to recall the good times (but I am afraid they will not come back)

Two VERY good verbs from Netherlands

Every House has their own cross (Luckily I have an understanding, active and physical fit wife)

Grass is not greener on the other side (I should not forget)

    @fluffy2560Thanks, I do not need the money, yes I am bored, but walking is painful, where is the balance (joy and pain)?. I am pretty sure I would have been in the situation in Hungary (apart from (in Hungary) driving a car). But walking is painful, In Hungary (Keszthely) there were some concerts, but then again YouTube also provides. What is nice now are visits to restaurants (so, so many in a 500m radius). And honestly I think internet in a way is a lifesaver. (news, reports, chess, and computer games)Is is always good to recall the good times (but I am afraid they will not come back)Two VERY good verbs from NetherlandsEvery House has their own cross (Luckily I have an understanding, active and physical fit wife)Grass is not greener on the other side (I should not forget)    -@cdw057

Making money was a side comment.  It's an add on benefit from actually doing the podcast.  Or a video blog.

But then again, you could just do it for free.  As you worked in finance, you could explain something about it to those interested.  Podcasts/vblogs in themselves might just be one end result.  Setting up would be 90% of it.  Equipment costs are so low - decent HD camera, good microphone, some free video editing software. Anyone can do it.  Stick it on You Tube.

If you can drive, you can still do stuff.  You could take on a project like photographing Turkish house styles or expat hang outs  you can visit without walking too far.  Whatever.  You could do that from a car window and sitting down.  Your Mrs could drive you around! 

I am still working on my professional jobs and probably will always be doing something as I've been a bit of a spendthrift (i.e. irresponsible financially in many ways).  Never will we have enough money to retire.  But then again, I've spent the money on 4 kids and having a mostly good time. The two younger ones are energy vampires.  The older two are already doing their own thing.

I spend my "off work days" on daft stuff - for example -  I put a camera in our bird nesting box so we could observe the baby birds.  I'm planning to build a birdbath table from stones I took from my FIL/MIL's garden.  My hobby car needs work too. So many things I could be doing if I didn't have to work.  I don't have time to be bored.  And I can always invent more jobs to distract me from the boredom of working.

But I often think of the many years I have spent doing what I do and if i should somehow share the knowledge.   I'm reading someone else's project proposal now and I just think to myself, they should have let me write this in the first place as I've written hundreds of them.  Then I wouldn't have to spend so much time directing them after the event. 

My bro was in the same position. He started doing "business games" where new graduate staff would be given scenarios to work on in teams.  He said it was really fun work mapping it all out and throwing in events to get them off balance. I inherited all his work that he stored digitally.  It still works and always will.

One guy I worked with told me he taught a class at his local University.  He didn't do it for money, just to keep up his knowledge and hand over some skills to a new generation.  He said it put him in contact with many people.  He was well into his 70s when I worked with him. 

I also have another colleague who is just 70 and he's building a model railway  AND still working on developing training courses.   We usually talk about his garden and his railway and WW2.  But he's a marvel on his subject. Even discussed with me how write and deliver a funeral eulogy.  Always so much to do too.

Hmm. cocktails at 8:30 am is something we do as well.

Ours have a different kick however...

Warm water with homemade apple cider vinegar, fresh squeezed lemon juice and a spoonful of ground cinnamon.  An eye opener for sure!

I am no doctor but I'd suggest some PT for the legs and taking magnizium suppliments daily.

Vitamins D-3 and C as well.

I've had wonky knees since I dislocated one at age 12.

I sort of know all the tricks to get moving again. Sometimes it's rest and sometimes it's exercises and suppliments.

Since not working our time is our own but somehow we seem as busy as before.

I was seriously ill the last 2 years, got the all clear from my oncologist and am ready for a new chapter in life.

I don't really sweat the small stuff as much as I used to do.

Being on death's door makes one  think about what is really important.

Not much concerning making money or trying to empress anyone, not even yourself.

61 is really far too young to find yourself in a rut.

At 61 my husband signed up for hangliding lessons here in Hungary.

All fine and dandy until he was blown into a rose bush with mature thorns!

Once you stop trying new things you can fall into a rut.

Our lifestyle as far as daily activities changes like the seasons.

I have a friend from the US who came to Hungary a few years back to teach Englsih in a countryside school in a small village here.

She has gone back to the US but recently moved and retired in Portugal.

She is 65 and I find it very exciting that she would make such a big move like that.

She no longer is teaching but just kicking back and hanging at the beach.

She has grown children in the US and she is a full blooded native American.

So unexpected really for her to get past any cultural ties and do her own thing.

I find that insperational.

Mornings, I usually try to spend some time in deep praise and gratitude with God. Then I get up and do some morning stretches before making breakfast.

My husband wakes up hours before I do and reads, does his star exercises and thinks.

He is a deep thinker which sometimes goes over my head.

His go to book is called, "The Science of Being" written by Baron Eugene Fersen.

Only 5,000 copies were printed and we have an orginal.

Worth several thousand dollars but it is priceless to my husband.

It's a bit new age for me, I have gone back to basics, the KJV of the Bible.

He is new age, I'm old school.

We find every few years we fall into different habits and different things are important while other activities are no longer meaningful to us.

Change is part of life.

What do I do day to day?  Well, I'm now officially retired, I occasionally do some regulatory advisory work, but that gets less and less as my experience base diminishes.  I only ever had 2 proper jobs, the UK military and then a regulatory role working for a company that went through some different iterations before a US multi took us over and really screwed things up; 25 years in each job.  I retired a couple of years ago now.  I was made redundant 1 year before retirement which puzzled me and I guess explained the poor business performance of the company I worked for after I left; they had to pay me 20 years worth of redundancy, which paid off my mortgage, bought me a new car and I retired a year earlier than would have otherwise have been the case.  Do I miss working?  Kind of, it amuses me to read of my former employer's financial woes every quarter, but I don't miss it.  I do miss the military way of life (the job I had before) and I miss working in Aviation and Shipping.

Nowadays, with my wife still working as a NHS nurse and all the kids having left home, there's my dog and I for most of the day.  What do I do ..... erm tidy up, play with the dog, get anything in that we need, I play World of Warcraft (have done since it started), watch YouTube content and Dutch and German TV.  I don't watch UK TV, the entertaining bit doesn't entertain anymore and the news and current affairs have become opinionated chat shows that are becoming more and more politically biased.  If it wasn't for my wife watching Eastenders and Coronation Street, I would cancel my TV licence this afternoon.

Money-wise, we do OK.  We don't have a mortgage or rent to pay; so that plus 3 pensions (2 index-linked), I guess 4 if you count my wife's NHS pension (also index-linked) which she gets despite still working for them on a reduced hours contract (go figure), so she gets a salary and her pension!

@Cynic I respect and appreciate your practical reply. OK very line of business, but in a way the situation was very similar.

@Marilyn Tassy Cocktails in the morning I think it is good (if you do not have to work), drinking in the evening gives me headache.

In the afternoon max 1 (50/50 gin tonic), but I sleep quite well,

I should not say this and doctors of course will disagree, but drinking in the morning is good (better then evening (pehaps you can ask)

I can control myself to a certain extent, max, but really max 0.6 LT of Jameson per day.

Of course too much, far too much by many standards, but then again 3 packages cigarettes per day are also too much. Not taking too much of vitamines is also not good.

I am 61, still alive, I can still go the toilet myself, with 10 years extra I am happy, if it is only 2 years so be it.

My brothers (and sister (all younger)) have some serious issues and from what I see and hear. Prostate cancer, arthitics, mental issiues (sometimes combined).

Do I want this, I am oldest, yes I have my issues, but I live comfortably.

Life is strange, very strange, you can live in a very unhealthy style but you can still be good.

For my case I do not know if it is good or bad, I eat (also in restaurants and at home very perfect (even fat dishes, but with a lot of spices), I am 185 , but only 65/70 kg.

I do not understand all these reports alcohol increase body weight at all. (I try but not succeed:))

With smoking campaigns, I hate that society wants everybody want to 100+ in age (who pays). Just wondering what somebody of 100 will create in cost?

Better if all die with 70

I realize this is off topic and yes I might be a bit drunk.

    @Marilyn Tassy Cocktails in the morning I think it is good (if you do not have to work), drinking in the evening gives me headache.
In the afternoon max 1 (50/50 gin tonic), but I sleep quite well,
I should not say this and doctors of course will disagree, but drinking in the morning is good (better then evening (pehaps you can ask)
I can control myself to a certain extent, max, but really max 0.6 LT of Jameson per day.
Of course too much, far too much by many standards, but then again 3 packages cigarettes per day are also too much. Not taking too much of vitamines is also not good.
I am 61, still alive, I can still go the toilet myself, with 10 years extra I am happy, if it is only 2 years so be it.
My brothers (and sister (all younger)) have some serious issues and from what I see and hear. Prostate cancer, arthitics, mental issiues (sometimes combined).
Do I want this, I am oldest, yes I have my issues, but I live comfortably.
Life is strange, very strange, you can live in a very unhealthy style but you can still be good.
For my case I do not know if it is good or bad, I eat (also in restaurants and at home very perfect (even fat dishes, but with a lot of spices), I am 185 , but only 65/70 kg.

I do not understand all these reports alcohol increase body weight at all. (I try but not succeed:))
With smoking campaigns, I hate that society wants everybody want to 100+ in age (who pays). Just wondering what somebody of 100 will create in cost?
Better if all die with 70

I realize this is off topic and yes I might be a bit drunk.
   
    -@cdw057y is

I am horrified to read this.   

0.6 litres of whiskey per day  is alcoholism.   

And smoking 60 a day is also going to do you in.

I know it's easy for me to say but really, stop drinking and smoking if you want to reach your mid-60s.

I'm not being holier than thou but I also was drinking too much and I was smoking too much. I got fed up with waking up feeling crap.  After a while of being "clean" you realise life can be different and better.   Please think about it or better do it.

I might have one beer a day or may not.

I never touch anything stronger then wine and really don't drink that very often any longer.My husband never drinks anything.

Haven't had a glass of Jameson in years. Tasty stuff but not something to indulge in daily.

I also don't want to seem judgy or holier then thou.

My mom and step-father were main line alcoholics.

My mother had breast cancer and pretty much threw in the towel and gave up seeing her doctors and just went numb with their Black Velvet. I can't even look at the stuff in the store without wanting to scream. It turned my sweet mother into a witch at times.

I understand why my step-father, number 3  husband drank so much.

He had been married 5 times before my mother tried to save him

( You can't save an alocholic, he took her down with him)

He drank after being a 2 time POW . He was in WW11 and Korea.

He saw many of his good buddies being killed and it blew his mind.

He married one wife 2 times. She was the one in the old Black and White tv adds in the US for Chesterfield cigs.

The shortest tap dancer in the add.

It's not a pretty way to go...

Yes, it does make you slim when you get all your energy from drinking.

No alcoholic really eats much.

We had hoped they would of checked into rehab when mom sold her house but alas we didn't know how ill she was and how little she cared about going on with life...

Mom used to for years water down her husbands evening drinks.

She got him to the point where he was able to work and hold down a decent job without drinking all day long. In the end he lost that job after several years. He'd rather stay home, live off my mothers income and just drink all day longand smoke.

He often had 2 cig burning at once, one in his hand and the ther burning a hole in the table.

Some break happened to him before she met him.

He had been a successful business man.

In fact at one time Ronald Regan, the US pres was one of his neighbors up in N. Ca.

He lost it all with drinking, family, his 2 girls and so many wives.

His 2 daughter wouldn't even speak to him even though he put them through law school in Standford uni.

My father introduced my step-dad to my mother. She had lost her second husband to cancer about a year before and was lonely.

Well, hubby no. 3 kept her busy for sure. We still don't know if our father was being cruel or kind introducing them to each other.

I know first hand what alcohol can do to ruin a family and lives.

I have many tales about my mother driving drunk when I was a child and how terrified I was that we would be killed.

How many times she embarrassed me as a teenager being tipsy in public.

Teens are super sensitive anyways being out with their parents.

I will say drinking is as dangerous as drug abuse.

Mom never drank until she was in her mid 40's.She never smoked in her life. She started with wine and moved on to the hard stuff later.

Everything in balance is alright but some people have a weakness and need help.

I'm sorry to be so blunt.

If your wife is Ok with it then really we should mind our own businesss I suppose.

It's just a shame though, you will feel so much better if all that sugar wasn't in your system.

My mother went into a coma, not sure if it was totlaly from her cancer or from her  drinking.We took her off life support because her brain was fried and her liver shot.

No one should go like that.

Having alcoholic parents while growing up is mentally challenging for children. I'm lucky I have my husband of nearly 50 years but all my siblings are a mess at least marriage wise.

Having to grow up and make sure the house isn't on fire isn't the way to grow up. Makes one never trust things. Never knows when the s@@@ will hit the fan. When you might say the wrong thing etc.

Again, no one wishes to judge, we all may be strangers but no one enjoys seeing or hearing about anyone hurting themselves.

It's never too late to change.

This is about as real as I've ever shared here but it is worth it if it helps you think about getting some help. We all feel alone at times but we never really are.

My mistake, my step-fathers wife was the short tap dancer for Old Gold cigs not Chesterfield. Too bad her face was a box of smokes.

Health is a difficult topic, my dad died at 39 (at the time very difficult to make an assessment), but somewhere in the stomach, but than again it was early 70s, My mom is still alive and mind is functioning quitie well, for health of my brothers and sister it is a different story (I will not elaborate but could be better (to say the least)),

I smoke, I drink (both a lot) and I am still not dead, my siblings are trying to keep healthy, but not (always) succesful (sad, very sad)

I really think it is genes, or set of mind. I do not know, life us not honest, one tries and no success, I do not try (at all) and I am alive even if I oldest, sick in a way. I can (and I do) cry.

If I were to have cancer or alike, I would like it come and just accept (good thing we have an appartment of 12th floor so things are easy (not planned, but I do not want to create health worries for families or society)

I smoke, I drink (both a lot) and I am still not dead, my siblings are trying to keep healthy, but not (always) succesful (sad, very sad)
I really think it is genes, or set of mind. I do not know, life us not honest, one tries and no success, I do not try (at all) and I am alive even if I oldest, sick in a way. I can (and I do) cry.
If I were to have cancer or alike, I would like it come and just accept (good thing we have an apartment of 12th floor so things are easy (not planned, but I do not want to create health worries for families or society) -@cdw057
   

I think we all understand the concept of risk. 

It makes sense to eliminate the variables that increase risk factors.

There's no reason to be fatalistic.   Much is within one's control.

    Health is a difficult topic, my dad died at 39 (at the time very difficult to make an assessment), but somewhere in the stomach, but than again it was early 70s, My mom is still alive and mind is functioning quitie well, for health of my brothers and sister it is a different story (I will not elaborate but could be better (to say the least)),I smoke, I drink (both a lot) and I am still not dead, my siblings are trying to keep healthy, but not (always) succesful (sad, very sad)I really think it is genes, or set of mind. I do not know, life us not honest, one tries and no success, I do not try (at all) and I am alive even if I oldest, sick in a way. I can (and I do) cry.If I were to have cancer or alike, I would like it come and just accept (good thing we have an appartment of 12th floor so things are easy (not planned, but I do not want to create health worries for families or society)        -@cdw057

Good golly man, please don't be so negative.

It sounds like you're ready to jump for no reason.

You're too young to be giving up so soon.

Yes, some people die early and some live a long life, we all go sooner or later, that's a fact and worry will not help.

Fear is controlling your emotions.

There should never be any fear in anyones' life.

I just finsihed going through hades with cancer treatments. ( Didn't lose my hair though!!)

I was angry and upset but after a good talk with myself I had no fear, at least not for myself.

I worried about my elderly husband getting on by himself and our son, an only child living far away.

I have been given the news I'm clear but that doesn't mean I'm off the hook 100%. Then again, no one is off the hook.

Anyways, people live for decades with ill health and still enjoy life.

I have more appreciation for the small things then I ever had.

I found it a blessing in many ways to see how strong I can be, how much some people love me and how wonderful God's miracles are.

I was hit out of the blue, can happen to anyone.

Nothing to do with bad genes in my case, it was a virus caused illness that was dormat for many, many decades.

A virus that is carried in about 80 to 90% of the worlds population. They just never knew/know they had /have it or their bodies were able to fight it off. ( HPV virus, which now days they have a vax for if your under age 45) Usually the body fights this type of virus off within 2 years but not always.

That's me, always getting some rare, strange situation in my life!

I see my making bad mistakes in my youth caught up with me. Still one can't look backwards only forward.

Tomorrow is the one year anniversary of my beloved brother's death.

I am missing the memorial being held by family in New Mexico.

It's all good, I'm there in spirit.

My brother passed from the same illness our step-father passed from.

Nothing to do with genes since they were not blood related.

Things just happen and worrying about it before it happens helps nothing.

My brother had faith even when told he was terminal and went to work just 2 days before he died.

He didn't let his fear drive him nuts and I tried not to worry either.

Everything happens as it should in life.

We can make moves and try to be in control but then something unexpected always can happen.

All the fear and worry in the world can't help anything until you face it head on and deal with any issues when and if they arise.

Most times peple worry about things that will never happen.

Waste of time and energy.

It's never to late to make moves and changes for better health and happiness.

To me it seems you and your wife have everything in place to fully enjoy life, don't waste time with what if's.

I had an aunt that died from cancer at age 26, passed just 10 days after giving brith to her 2nd child

I also had a grandfather who lived to be nealry 95.

Roll of the dice.

@cdw057

what a sweet read this is.. yes every place has its plus en minus. we are going to Hungary hopefully end if this year  from Netherlands and at 60 and 70, we feel a new adventure is better than a midlife crisis.

bless you  continue to see the bright side of life wherever you are.

warm regards