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By Angela Kelly

Moving abroad? Do the maths first

WE are now going into the main time of the year when many people in the UK think about living in a sunnier climate. It’s completely understandable, of course, when our wet and chilly Autumn months give way to even colder and icier weather before Spring hits. TV programmes showing the glories of life in the sun around the world are definitely feelgood viewing now. According to a new survey, 54 per cent of us are thinking of living in another country with many citing the cheaper cost of living and others just wanting a better lifestyle and weather. Spain has been named the best retirement destination by UK over50s for the 10th consecutive year while Portugal has overtaken France in distant second place. Italy is fourth with South Eastern Europe (Greece, Romania, Serbia and Cyprus) fifth and the Far East - including China, Tahiland, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Philippines – sixth. America and Australia have all improved their rankings over last year at sevenths and eighth and ninth and 10th places go to New Zealand and Turkey. Anyone over-50 thinking of leaving the UK for warmer climes permanently, though, needs to heed the advice of life insurance company Canada Life. They warn of the importance of checking whether your destination has a reciprocal agreement on the state pension. Otherwise, you may end up missing out financially as it could be frozen at whatever amount it was set at when you first left the UK. While the Government has struck individual deals with some countries – Spain and other EU countries were involved in a state pension rights’ deal during Brexit negotiations – others like Canada, Australia, India and many parts of the Caribbean don’t have deals. Rising inflation might make this area of vital importance. As a spokesman for Canada Life commented: “Retiring abroad is not a step to be taken lightly. The financial considerations are vast, such as thinking about the impact of currency exchange rates, local tax rules and whether state pensions will keep pace with the cost of living.” I’m afraid we may get blinded with the potential sunshine on the matter of finances when those hotspots beckon for a better life as we sit at home in the UK.

Plainly, we need to keep our eyes wide open – and do the maths.

I do …. but only at halftime

SPORT can bring couples and families together but it can also drive them apart. I don’t think the early signs were too good when one young Australian woman caught her new husband watching a rugby match on his phone on their wedding day! He had propped up the phone against their three-tiered wedding cake. Then, adding insult to injury, he did the same thing at her brother’s wedding later. It’s hard to imagine how their married life will go after he’s shown where his real interest in life lies.

I’ve always worried about bridegrooms in particular who insist on planning a wedding around sporting dates. Although everyone is entitled to enjoy their pastimes, you’re getting married to the supposed love of your life, mate, so how about showing a bit of early commitment?

Working from home or hybrid it’s now all change

IF there is one aspect of our lives that has undergone a dramatic makeover in the last couple of years it’s working from home. Prior to 2020, working from home was the exception rather than the rule but, thanks largely to Covid 19, it has undergone a dramatic surge. Before the pandemic, staff went into the office an average of 3.8 days a week but by April, 2020, 46.6 per cent of people in employment did some work at home.

Post-lockdown, many companies wanted to get staff back into the office, sometimes with hybrid working where employees split their work between home and office. And it may now be that this form of flexible working is the way forward; 47 per cent of American workers prefer this model. Productivity is the obvious measure of any method of working and working from home certainly seems to have a positive result for many companies. In fact, many people reported being more productive at home than in the office. However, there are naturally some down-sides. In the same survey, 81 per cent of younger workers said they would feel isolated without more time in the office and 60 per cent reported they felt less connected to colleagues. Loneliness However, the lack of a commute and its possible stress, the relaxed “dress code”, flexible scheduling and the ability to look after family, pets and ageing relatives better were all identified as huge advantages. One interesting side-effect is that many people decided to move house when proximity to work was no longer a requirement. To be realistic, working from home is not for everyone, either because their job could not be run from home efficiently or simply because they prefer to be with other people. It is a fact, though, that we have crossed a line in the working world and it will be fascinating to see where this journey now takes us.

The Queen’s sad farewell

THE very moving time around the Queen’s death and during the mourning period revealed much about both this nation and people in other countries.

The genuine sadness at her passing was hard to miss. People loved her and admired the way she tackled the role of monarch from being a young woman into older age. The affection for her from people of other nations was also heartwarming. Whatever thoughts there are about monarchy, there appeared to be real affection for Her Majesty. What the funeral itself and all the tradition involved also proved is that the way we handle this sort of occasion is unparalleled. The stoic precision of individuals and horses, the grandeur, the sheer spectacle proved once more that Brits really do this best.