The End of The Day

Well, here it is. Three o'clock in the afternoon and I have run out of things to do. I've used time with a first-thing shower and then an after-lunch bath. I can state quite positively that there are no Old Mans' Hairs in my nostrils or ears. All my shoes and boots are polished and lined up as for any inspection. Norma has the car today so pointynose and I were reduced to a walk round the park. Gossip with the parky-man. Bit of training with the dog. Papers read from front to back and back again. Soduko sodded. Got my lunch - mackerel. Ate it and washed up. Cruised far and yon on the magic p.c. Hot-synch'd the pda.
I could go on with this much longer. When looked at in cold type, one might think that I have been run off my feet. Back in the days, I would have been proud of a "To Do" list of this length with every little box neatly ticked. Nothing deemed too difficult and pushed to tomorrow either. And yet - I just know that I have really done san fairy anne.
I know what is missing. Meetings; all that fun getting agenda sorted and fitting our appointments together. Well, if it was all so good why did I give the work to my secretary and tell her it was enpowerment for her? Business lunches. They had gone under the new morality that swept through the corporate hostility world in the early 80s. Instead of the three and four hour sessions with fine digestif wines and cigars we were having meetings with crudities on the side. What else did the world of commerce give me? Travel. Yes that was nice so I can add that to the Lost World of John Wood. Scheming and politicking? Ah yes. That is a cert for something no longer present in my life. I now decide quite unilaterally what 'company' car I will have.
So - this is retirement. Old stagers told me that I would be so busy that I would not be able to fit in everything I chose to do. That is patently rubbish. I could work a one day week and do more in real terms. The phrase God's Waiting Room is often associated with this semester of our life - no, strike life and insert existence. I should have made an appointment, organised a meeting, invited the Guy for lunch so as to escape the Waiting Room.
I'm seeing that sign "No reps seen except by Appointment"