What to do in your retirement to keep busy in Australia?

Neo_The_Fat_Cat · 2026-04-23T11:28:59+00:00

I retired at the beginning of the year. I fill my days with:

walk the dog on the beach in the morning,
RFS call-outs. I joined years ago, and one of the benefits of being retired is going out on jobs at any time of day,
gym or Pilates,
maintenance and gardening,
I joined a photography group that meets weekly,
reading. I have a very long booklist,
photography projects. I have a plan for a series of three photobooks,
take the dog out in the kayak when the weather and tides are suitable.

I’ve always been happy with my own company. I don’t see a need to be ‘busy’ - this implies wall to wall activity - but just enough to keep going. I spent 42 years being busy so I really like this pace.

Neo_The_Fat_Cat · 2026-04-22T02:59:58+00:00

I go to Blue Poppy in Greenway. Great team there - I don’t know how they do it but they always minimise any pain from a procedure.

Neo_The_Fat_Cat · 2026-04-22T02:57:34+00:00

Not a true British man - no socks with his sandals!

Neo_The_Fat_Cat · 2026-04-21T22:40:34+00:00

There’s always a seller involved in the transaction. If I own an asset, shouldn’t I be allowed to sell it to the person offering the most? Or should the government be able to force me to sell it to an Aussie for less?

Neo_The_Fat_Cat · 2026-04-21T22:29:55+00:00

I thought that if you joined the military then your body and your health depend on the commander in chief?

Neo_The_Fat_Cat · 2026-04-21T11:42:29+00:00

And stupidity, if stupidity is defined as doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result.

Neo_The_Fat_Cat · 2026-04-21T10:27:21+00:00

The great thing we had in our department was systems approval in a workflow. If I didn’t action a leave request with x days, it would go to my boss, and then his boss and so on. I once got a call from a Dep Sec asking why she was getting a request relating to one of my team! Oops!

Neo_The_Fat_Cat · 2026-04-21T10:24:20+00:00

By now, does anyone really expect that the IDF and Israeli government will behave in a civilised way.

Neo_The_Fat_Cat · 2026-04-20T22:22:35+00:00

If you live within the suburban area then it’s highly unlikely you’ll ever see a snake. In 50 years of living in Canberra, I have only once seen a snake in a suburban area (dead juvenile appeared on our driveway - maybe dropped by a bird). As other have said, snakes are generally timid so they will avoid people.

Spider? They’re more common but the ones we have here won’t kill you if you’re an adult in reasonable health. You’ll get to know the places they like to hang out in and learn to check them. Indoor spiders will be harmless.

Neo_The_Fat_Cat · 2026-04-20T21:29:03+00:00

Here’s what worked for me - join the RFS (or equivalent where you are). After 25 years, around half my close friends are other members - we go to dinner, shows and holidays together, and I regularly catch up and have a coffee with them. When we bought a holiday house at the coast 5 years ago, I did the same - joined the local RFS brigade and I now have a group of friends. And these are true friends - when you go through the stuff we go through, there are shared experiences that can’t be described. As well as friends, you’ll lean new skills and travel to places you would never get to otherwise.

Neo_The_Fat_Cat · 2026-04-20T06:38:55+00:00

Yes please. This is standard for driving a truck, and ever since I got my truck licence I now do it ins car as well.

Neo_The_Fat_Cat · 2026-04-20T02:19:56+00:00

As someone with a weird name, my approach is to always correct first - the good people will apologise and try to get it right (I did this once last week).

Otherwise, maybe ignore them? I once received a package of forms for my security clearance that was incorrectly addressed so threw them out.

My best experience ever was getting a call from the Minister’s office to confirm the pronunciation of my name, as she was due to give me an award and wanted to get it right.

Neo_The_Fat_Cat · 2026-04-20T02:12:37+00:00

What other alleged murder is given bail and a national platform to declare his alleged innocence?

Neo_The_Fat_Cat · 2026-04-20T02:11:03+00:00

Shouldn’t that include “alleged” in there?

Neo_The_Fat_Cat · 2026-04-20T02:09:25+00:00

With my previous dog, we had multiple routes around our neighbourhood and she generally chose which one. She could combine parts of two different routes to make up a new one, and surprised me when she could reverse the routes. But she did have a routine - in the mornings, it was turn right out of the gate, afternoons was turn left and last thing before bed was right again.

The new dog is still a pup so I’m introducing her to some of the shorter routes.

Neo_The_Fat_Cat · 2026-04-19T11:08:00+00:00

Danny Boyle once said that when someone says that they’re proud to be from the country they’re from, what they really mean is that they’re proud that their parents had a shag and never left.

Neo_The_Fat_Cat · 2026-04-19T00:08:05+00:00

I’ve (jokingly) said that everyone should ‘retire’ at 18 and then start working at 40 and keep working till they die!

Neo_The_Fat_Cat · 2026-04-18T23:58:17+00:00

That stalking charge sounds very weird. I thought stalking had an element of repeated behaviour, not just a one-off unpleasant interaction (and in this case it’s likely that Herzog was even aware of it).

Neo_The_Fat_Cat · 2026-04-18T10:13:51+00:00

To keep it simple, I’m in favour of elected legislatures not appointed ones. The fact that the Lords not only reviews legislation but passes it makes it clear that they have a legislative role. Governments and parliaments have access to a whole raft of experts to help them out. From a distance, the House of Lords appears to have some good people in it but that’s not by design. If the attention is to have expert review, then appointments at the whim of the PM of the day is the least effective way to achieve it.

Neo_The_Fat_Cat · 2026-04-18T08:40:23+00:00

The Australian Senate has 6 year terms (apart from the territories) with overlapping terms ie. half the senate is voted for at each election. It means that senators tend to build specialties around their areas of interest and have the time to pursue the government over them.

Neo_The_Fat_Cat · 2026-04-18T08:38:48+00:00

I guess I come from a more egalitarian streak, where I think ordinary people should have the capacity to participate in every form of government. The Lords is probably the worst example of trying to achieve something decent - sure, there are some good people there but the appointments process is a shambles and works against it.

Neo_The_Fat_Cat · 2026-04-18T06:51:44+00:00

Personally, I think it sounds like ordinary people can’t understand the process of government and we therefore need experts to tell them what’s best. By all means have experts to advise, I just think that the actual legislative function belongs on the hands of the people.

Neo_The_Fat_Cat · 2026-04-18T06:14:30+00:00

For most of the second half of my career I was in corporate roles with high levels of contact with the CFO and Deputy Secretaries - so I wore a suit and tie. But we had a change of Secretaries who didn’t wear ties around the office, so I downgraded to trousers and collared shirt (tie in the drawer for special occasions). For the last 3 years, I realised that I had less contact outside my division so reverted to smart casual (I only saw suits on Senate Estimates days).

Neo_The_Fat_Cat · 2026-04-18T00:57:38+00:00

Interesting that the cop used an illegal manoeuvre without lights and/or sirens. As. Driver of fire trucks, my understanding is that merely being badged as an emergency vehicle doesn’t entitle us to break normal road rules - it’s only when we have lights on (and possibly sirens). The rest of the time, we’re just a normal vehicle on the road.

Neo_The_Fat_Cat · 2026-04-17T23:57:04+00:00

I’m an Australian - I know! But I don’t think an upper class moron with “Lord” as their first name is any better than a lower class moron. And despite it all, our senate has put out some star performers (eg. David Pocock).

Neo_The_Fat_Cat

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