The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group The Retiree Albert Vanzet vanzet@melbpc.org.au

During the days of stiff collars and waistcoats retirement meant a call from the boss to his office, a cup of tea with some colleagues and the traditional gold fob watch with chain. The latter worn like a war decoration in front of an extending stomach, evidence of both a faithful life of commitment and dull life of loyalty and subservience.

After a short speech and a kiss from the boss' secretary the retiree collected his meagre belongings from his desk, his work bench or his locker and ended his career with a couple of drinks or more together with his old work mates at the local. That's where they celebrated the end of his working life as a company servant.

As morning dawned and he started the first day of the evening of his life he wondered what he is going to do. For many years he had looked forward to this day when he did not have to get up at the crack of dawn, make his way to the station to catch the 7.24 to the city to start another day of pushing a pen, manipulating some machinery on his work bench or facing the grumpy customers across the counter.

His wife has already hauled the vacuum cleaner from the hallway cupboard and parked it with a sideward glance near the breakfast table where he is still reading the morning paper.

They had warned him, "You're retired mate, but the missus hasn't. You married her for better or for worse, but not for breakfast. So stay out of the way".

He had laughed because he had other plans; he was going to play golf all day, he would share his hours with his mates at the pub. He was going to ...., and he forgot, because it was raining and his mates were still working.

When it stops raining I will get into the garden and mow the lawn and nurse the orchids. Tomorrow I'll play golf, tomorrow ...

Today the economic wealth has spread across the Western world, people are healthier, live longer and are more active. Sixty-five is no longer old, reaching retirement age now means the start of another period in a life that is filled with new developments in science, health and interests. Although poverty still exists, retirement for most is a time of new discoveries, travel, making new friends and starting new hobbies.

The waistcoat has been replaced by a T-shirt and the polished shoes are assigned to the wardrobe for use at weddings and funerals.

The gold fob watch has been replaced by a company pension scheme, savings and investments and a government organisation called Centrelink that treats its beneficiaries as customers.

For the last five to ten years of his working life computers had been part of the new retiree's working environment. The computer had opened a whole new world. "Why not buy one for yourself?" they had said. And he did. At first it was only a simple unit he used as a glorified word processor, but as time went by all those colourful magazines and their free CD-ROM disks inviting him to load up more and more games and programs, things got a bit bewildering. "Join a computer club", a friend who had retired some years earlier had told him. So he joined Melbourne PC User Group. It did not cost much to join, but as he read the group's magazine he soon discovered that his computer definitely needed a major update. Joining Melbourne PC User Group was not so cheap after all. Now he was digging big holes in his savings to get on the Internet and to speed up his computer processor and enlarge the hard drive.

A whole new world had opened up for him. To say that his computer had become his hobby would have been an understatement. Our retired gentleman got busier by the day. No sooner had he excused himself from the breakfast table he had withdrawn himself to his "home office" to log on to the Net and check his e-mail. It had become a daily ritual. The problem was that he did not know many people yet with whom he could exchange those all important early morning messages. He was often disappointed when he found that there were no messages to open.

As his interest in computers grew he started to join more Special Interest Groups. It was only fitting that he first went to the aptly named "RIP", the Retired & Interest Persons group. Not only would he have an excuse to get away from the lurking vacuum cleaner, it would also be the best place to meet other similarly afflicted retirees. He was not disappointed. Not only did he learn how to enhance his computer proficiency, he made some good contacts too. His e-mail address book grew with each visit.

Then there were the grandchildren and the holidays to Bali and Fiji, maybe even that longed for trip to Europe and you could buy things duty-free. Why not buy yourself a video camera? You can record all those wonderful places and you can record the grandchildren and, oh, so much more.

But when the family watched his videos they soon lost interest, they talked among themselves and did not seem to enjoy his videos as much as he had thought they would. Of course he was only an amateur, what did they expect.

"Why don't you join the Video Editing Special Interest Group", they said and he did.

He saw how other members had edited their recordings, was told what to do and what not to do, enjoyed the demonstrations and presentations and enjoyed a night out together with like minded people.

He sometimes wondered how those Special Interest Groups were managed, but when the call came out to participate he felt that he was still too inexperienced to contribute to the management of the group. Apart from that he was too busy anyway, there were so many other things he had to do. Anyhow the meetings were going well without his participation, so he will just go and listen.

But the calls kept coming; it was the same at each group that he visited. After a while he decided to get to the SIG a bit earlier? "Maybe I can help with setting up the chairs and the tables and even help with the computer cables" he told the convener of the SIG.

His face became familiar at those meetings, he was always there lending a hand and he enjoyed it. The comradeship and the feeling that, at least, he did something to help.

Soon he was approached by the convener of the group who asked if he would like to join the SIG's management committee. "Oh, but hang on! I don't know enough about computers yet". "How can I possibly give any input to your meetings?", he said.

The convener put him straight. "We don't want people because they are so good with computers. We want members who can come up with ideas. We want members who can help us manage the organisation of our SIG meetings," he said. "At the moment too much depends on too few people".

"All right", hesitantly our retired administrator replied, "but let me first join as an observer. If you find that my presence is valuable enough I will join your committee. By the way, thanks for your confidence in me".

Before long our new retiree had joined the ranks of those who have found themselves to be active members of that other Special Group that uses the slogan: "I am so busy that I don't know how I ever found time to work."

An active mind and spirit will enhance and extend years to the life of a retired person. The feeling of belonging to a community rewards those who have left their working years behind them. Instead of wearing a gold fob watch chain on his stomach the new retiree now wears a name tag pinned to his chest. It proudly says:

Reprinted from the September 2000 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia

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