Hi, there!
To plunge in with some basics... I have had two moderate-term relationships with very different men which both brought me great joy - and great pain when they ended. I have a daughter from the first: she is married with two children, a boy of nine and a girl of five, who live locally, though now that she has returned to full-time work, and almost instant promotion, I don't see them very often.
My own career was undistinguished but enjoyable. I spent most of it as a scientific editor working on publications destined for Africa. Latterly, much of this work involved tracking down and gathering together abstracts and news items for a multifunded information journal. Since retiring, I have retained the habit of information gathering, using it to give the occasional talk to groups I belong to. (It has also proved useful in making up for the diagnostic and treatment deficiencies of the NHS!)
Music is very important to me (Radio 3 mostly). I sing in an amateur choir which gives regular concerts of the standard repertoire (but not enough Bach!).
I love walking, especially in mountainous areas. The Lake District is a home-from-home since holidays there from early childhood: a place I go to especially when life presents difficult challenges. Climbing to the top of a mountain seems an almost spiritual experience, and seeing the world from the summit certainly helps to put things into perspective.
I had intended to do a lot of travelling when I retired, and started well, celebrating my sixtieth birthday in China, cruising through the Yangtse Three Gorges. Since then, though, various events have thrown me off course, though I did manage a trip to South India in 2011.
Perhaps I should mention religious beliefs... I think T S Eliot described himself as a 'high church atheist' and that could describe me too. I feel attracted to Buddhism and have meditated on and off (mostly off) for many years, never becoming established.
