Reminds me of the good old days in the HM Prison Service when uniformed Screws could retire at 55 (decent pension for all those recruited prior to Fresh Start in 1987 ish). (Normally at least Senior Officer/Principle Officer Rank, i.e. giving the Basic Grade Officers, OSG's, and other less mortals SH1T jobs such as vehicle vehicle escorts etc).I intend to retire from the police when I reach 60, some 3 and a half years hence. The Army pension, police pension and lack of mortgage means I'll be working purely for the little luxuries. I intend to get something, either connected to the Job (speed camera van operator or front office person ) or something completely different, Tesco vans or the like. Half a regular working week leaving time for golf and stuff but enough to avoid me committing the gravest offence in the eyes of the Sainted Mrs Devex, to whit, 'Being in the way'.
They would spent thier last 6 months by giving it the big one, days to do getting few etc, once I am out I am out, looking for a Villa in Espania, pre-release type course, taking outstanding leave/TOIL, lack of interest in the job going through the motions etc etc etc.
The Monday following thier retirement on the Friday you would see them stagging on as Operational Support Grade (OSG) doing the vehicle escorts and other SH1T jobs!!!!! (Some would forget that once they retired so did thier previous held rank!!!!!).
When asked why the response was 'Missing the job, just toping up the pension, need to spend some time away from the Wifey etc'. 'Thank F*ck, I was given my marching orders when I was 45 so I could not hang on if I wanted to'.