I don’t know if you’d consider me a high achiever but I certainly wouldn’t. I did however achieve many goals I had set for myself throughout my working life despite not achieving anything at school. But when I came close to retirement I realised I was afraid that I’d wither and die if I didn’t find something to do. Firstly, I continued working past my retirement age of 60 years. Then I jumped at the idea of doing something completely different which would challenge me physically and mentally. 

I’m sorry to say that my husband Richard didn’t really come into my decision making process. Fortunately he agreed with the solution. This was to accept an offer made by his sister to live with her in the south of France and help her realise her dream of creating an eco-village and training centre.

In preparation for this I attended workshops and training courses in subjects I had an interest in which would align with life in the countryside. I took courses in; beekeeping, permaculture, goat husbandry and organic gardening whilst I was still working. One thing I hadn’t done was to learn French so when we moved to France I had very little to say. I’m so pleased I did this as I continued to feel wanted and needed and I learnt so much more working with younger people. 

After nine years working seven days a week in a very large old tannery, at 73 years of age, the heavy work and all the stairs were beginning to wear on us. So we decided to move to another village into a bungalow. This was another challenge as I still didn’t speak much french although I could understand a little. When we arrived at our new home, we discovered that we were the only English speakers in the village and became known as les Anglais. In order to meet people we decided to join the village retirement club, as we had done in Montolieu. Unfortunately there wasn’t one. The mayor’s deputy asked if we’d like to create one with her help and we agreed. Meanwhile as we had brought our hens with us, we had lots of excess eggs and I thought that giving a small box of four to each of our new neighbours was a good way of introducing ourselves. They were accepted with great enthusiasm. 

Having got agreement at a meeting of about twenty villagers at the town hall, we proceeded to create an association called Les Seniors Leucois. In order to do this I had to agree to be president! 

To find out more about our adventures in our ‘retirement’ you’ll need to read my book; Change is Good by Pat Romain available on Amazon in French or in English.