Stephen Rees's blog

When I first saw the photo challenge this week, I thought that I had already done it. That’s because the first time I responded was using a photo of a reflection in a puddle for the challenge “shine”. And the picture I used then looks  a lot like the one the challenger used this week. So when I went looking in my archive, instead of working from most recent backwards, I started at the oldest of the images that happen to reside in Apple photos. This one dates back to April 2009, when I was working on the swing bridge at Annacis Island, and it was unusually still.

Or perhaps not that unusual since there are 104 pictures of mine in a flickr group called “Favorite Water Reflections“. I just happen to like the look of this one. And the fact that it allows me to take the idea of reflections just a bit further.

I do not regret retiring. But I do often reflect on my experiences when I was working – and indeed you can see the result of that often in this blog. The job of a bridge tender is not exactly demanding most of the time. You have to be there to listen to the radio and be ready to open the bridge if a boat calls. The rest of the time you fill as best you can. Taking pictures – or trawling through the interwebs. Which, of course, is pretty much how I spend a lot of my time now. I am just not at anyone’s beck and call, and can make up my own mind about what to do, and when to do nothing at all. The very small pay cheque I got as a bridge tender is not nearly enough to make me want to go back to that. And recently we were talking about the sort of jobs you can get in retirement – like working on the census or as an election official. I have done both in my time, so it is not an experience I feel much need to repeat. And since there are plenty of people who do need both the experience and the pay cheque more than I do, I do not feel any need to apply for such positions, and wish them all the best. Indeed I do think that more people of my generation (the baby boomers) need to get out of the way of those who really need jobs – or a promotion in their present career.