WHEN WORK ENDS Does the fun actually begin?
TWO RETIRED COUPLES SHARE HOW THEY SPEND THEIR DAYS
For Glenda and Hokowhitu Ria, one of the best things about retiring is getting to spend more time together.
The Christchurch couple, who have been together for 42 years and married for 38, didn’t get to see much of each other when they worked full-time.
Glenda was in hospitality and her day often started as early as 6am, while Hoko’s job in roading meant he was at work six days a week at least. He was also a volunteer firefighter.
“Now we get to see each other all the time, which is lovely,” says Glenda. “We are closer than we have ever been.”
Both retired at 70, which was six years ago for Hoko and three for Glenda. They didn’t talk too much about their plans for life after work, although Hoko was always keen to move to the Diana Isaac Retirement Village, something they did last year.
“That was the best move we made,” tells Glenda. “It’s taken a lot of stress out of life.”
The village has lots of activities on offer and the Rias make the most of them, doing an exercise class most mornings, swimming in the pool and going to presentations and shows.
“We give each other room to do our own thing but, to be honest, most of the time, if one of us is off doing something, the other one will be there too,” says Glenda.
She and Hoko have five children between them but no family in Christchurch, so it is nice to be somewhere where they can spend time with others.
“We do socialise, but we also really enjoy each other’s company,” says Glenda. “We have a lot of fun, which I think is important. And we value our time together because you just never know how long you are going to have.”
For Aucklanders David and Christine (who prefer to stay anonymous), retirement hasn’t been quite so rosy. The couple, who celebrate their golden wedding anniversary next year, found that having different expectations of how life would be once they stopped working caused issues. “I was looking forward to doing lots of activities while we’re still fit and healthy,” says Christine who, like David, is in her early seventies.
But David’s busy consulting job meant he travelled a lot for work, both overseas and around New Zealand, so when he retired at 68, all he wanted to do was “park his bum in front of the TV,” says Christine, who concedes that he worked very hard throughout his career, while her job was less taxing.
“To start with I got really frustrated and I’d be nagging him all the time to do stuff. That didn’t go down too well.”
Eventually they came to a compromise. They go on an outing together once a week – such as a drive out of town, to the movies or taking a ferry around Auckland’s harbour – and the rest of the time Christine enjoys other activities with her sister or one of her friends while David stays home.
“That keeps both of us happy,” she admits. “We probably should have talked before we retired about what we wanted to do, it would have saved us some aggro. But we’re good now because we are both doing what we want.”