When I'm not researching or writing, I use Northumberland as a playground. This is Simonside, near Rothbury.
When I tell people I took early retirement from the NHS (even before the earliest date I was really supposed to, but that's another story) to become a full-time researcher and writer, they usually ask if I miss full-time working.
When I stop laughing half-an-hour later, I tell them "no". There's nothing about the job I did that I now miss. If I'd been asked the same thing two years previously, then it would have been the people I worked with - but I'd worked from home since November 2020 when I was finally banished from the office and therefore those bonds with colleagues slowly disappeared. Helping and supporting folks when you're sitting together is great, and you get so much back in return. It just wasn't the same at the end of a Microsoft Teams call, especially when no-one wanted to put their cameras on any more. Presumably half of them were still in their pyjamas....
I've now got the time to do things at the drop of a hat - wake up and it's great weather? Strap the boots on and go for a ten mile walk. Can't see out of the window because it's foggy or raining? Stay inside and write a bit more. Learning to stay motivated is the key - so far, so good.
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