I had an email yesterday from my Mum, saying that my Dad is finally retiring. I say finally, because he's 66, he had the option to retire about a decade ago, and we had a big "Yay! You're retiring!" celebration a year ago, after which he failed to retire.

It's about time. My Dad started working at 15, and has been working continuously ever since (save for a short break to do his National Service in the RAF when he was 18). For the last 22 years he's been working for a company that sends him all over the world on business trips several times a year (he's based at Heathrow, but his 'patch' was the Middle East, India, Pakistan, those sorts of areas). He's one of these guys with a "Superman complex", which means he rarely takes any holidays and hasn't been to see a doctor for years (at least, I don't remember him see ing a doctor in my lifetime). He's old. He's worn out. It's about bloody time he stopped working.

Since my Mum 'retired' (not that she really worked) 3 years ago, I'll shortly have retired parents. I'm going to find that quite strange, considering what a workaholic my Dad is/was. They're both well set up for retirement. I have no idea what my Dad is actually going to do, though - he has no hobbies, few friends, few interests other than cars and planes and DIY. And to be frank, he's too old to be doing any major DIY things (but I doubt that'll stop him). I think the next few years are going to involve Dad getting under Mum's feet and driving her crazy.

I also think they should sell their house. It's a fairly large 4-bed 3-reception house with nearly half an acre. Just the two of them live there, with 3 cats. My Mum has a lady come in once a week to help her with the housework, and they've just employed a gardener to sort out the jungle in the back. The house is too big for them. But I doubt they'll move, because my parents are all about "keeping up with the Joneses", and to have a smaller house would probably be too embarassing for them.

Oh, and they're going to have to sell one or two of their 4 cars.

Why yes, I am from over-privileged Surrey stock. Need you ask?

I suppose another big thing about my Dad retiring is that it's another thing bringing my parents' mortality into focus. After my Mum had her 'heart attack' (that wasn't quite a heart attack, but more a fit of pique accompanied by heart palpitations) a couple of years ago I started to realise that they won't be around forever. Now my Dad's 66, retiring, and probably in bad health (if only he'd go see a doctor so we could determone what sort of health he's in!!). Sometimes I think that I 'shouldn't' have to be thinking about stuff like this at my age, that people in their mid-20s usually only have to deal with aging grandparents, not parents. But then I remember that I have a 40 year old brother.

I'm not annoyed with my parents for being 'older' - I'm glad they had a chance to do things when they were younger. Well, my Dad had another marriage and family, but my Mum travelled a lot (which was unusual for someone of her 'class' and lack of education to do). They met in Saigon during the Vietnam War, you know. Pretty damn cool! And year, the fact that they were older meant I grew up in a more financially secure home, and had the chance to go to University (which no-one in my family had done before).

Anyway... According to my Mum's email, my Dad is waiting for his replacement to arrive from the US, and then he's going to retire. No date fixed yet, but apparently when he was in Toulouse last week some of his senior bosses gave him a retirement gift. So it's in the pipeline. And then we're going to have another "Yay! You're retiring!" party.

Oh, and... Mum finished her email with a "Shall I buy a hat?" comment. I guess now that C is working, she's decided to start up on that again. C reckons I should just come clean and tell her that marriage isn't on the cards for me - or us - but I'm too damn chicken. Pathetic I know. But I can at least use the fact that Dad's retiring as an excuse not to rain on her parade... ;-)