You would think that being retired would be a permanent holiday but what with hospital appointments and looking after Mum in law we have recently found ourselves feeling a bit burnt out.

With my next operation date set for December 20th, we decided to head off on a ‘Grand Tour’ including visiting family in Leicester and Derby, a stopover with our son and daughter in law in Norfolk and a week in Bury St Edmunds with our eldest daughter Rebecca. It’s been lovely.

We head back to Leicester today for part 3 of the tour which is certain to pile the pounds on as we are eating out every night with different sets of friends!

As we made our preparations to head back to Leicester we started to feel a sense of sadness at leaving Beccy and Bury, we just feel so at home here, but somehow we felt under pressure to go back to Harrogate and Mum in law, but why? She doesn’t thrive alone (despite what she tells everyone and herself) but she does manage.

As retirees, we should have the freedom to go where we please, when we please but somehow have let ourselves become duty bound to MIL. This has led to a moment of clarity, a moment of “sod this”, and we are coming back to Bury St Edmunds for a few weeks after the second part of the Leicester tour.

This simple decision feels like a major revelation, a sudden sense of freedom! Even in retirement it seems, you can get stuck in a rut. Be warned!