Is retirement a really long holiday?
Hans Hooghart says a resounding yes. He stopped working eight years ago and certainly has no regrets; he was 58 at the time. We interviewed him about this for this edition of Life & Pension.
Hans completed his final assignment at TNO in 2013: organizing meetings for the Dutch Key Register of the Subsurface, which he really enjoyed doing. There then followed a reorganization. The combination of these two events set Hans thinking about what he would like to do when he stopped working.
How was the start of your retirement?
‘I was looking forward to the transition to retirement as I would have more time for my hobbies. The reorganization included a good financial arrangement and I wanted to use that. It was actually partly because of my niece. She’d walked the Camino and said that would be really something for you. So I decided to do it too. I started training in the first months after I stopped working. During the walks from the Pyrenees to Santiago de Compostella I also started thinking about what else I’d like to do. The first pass was snowed in and I was visiting my sister. She lives to the north of Bordeaux. Her husband was preparing a philosophy presentation and one thing led to another. I started studying philosophy at high school level at VAVO Rijnmond College. I also started other subjects and my wife Wilma and I recently took our final high school history exam. I’m really enjoying it. It’s fantastic, especially in the winter months.’
‘For me, retirement feels like I’m always on holiday. I can decide for myself what I do.’
Did retirement bring you what you’d hoped for?
Hans is very clear about that. He enjoys the freedom. ‘For me, retirement feels like I’m always on holiday. I can decide for myself what I do.’ Hans does a lot of voluntary work where he lives. ‘Barendrecht has a 500-year-old church with a beautiful churchyard. It’s in a fantastic part of old Barendrecht. They were looking for someone who could prune trees and hedges.’ In winter, Hans also knots willows in the duck decoy along the Oude Maas. And that’s not all. When I was still working, I met with Natuurmonumenten on Tiengemeten island in Haringvliet to see if I could do something on the island. Speelnatuur opened there some ten years ago. I used to pass there a lot with my boat. It’s a very wild nature reserve and children can play there and do things like slide down mud slides in mud pools. I became a volunteer there.’
And there are also so many hobbies. First of all sailing; Hans’ biggest passion. ‘I enjoy skating in the winter too, but I do that less now because I have trouble with my hips. Rollerblading in the summer also became too uncomfortable, so I switched to the racing bike. I also cycle a lot with Wilma. She has an electric bike and we go on lots of bike trips together. I hang around behind Wilma if there’s a strong headwind. They also bought a caravan when Wilma retired. ‘We can easily just head off somewhere with the caravan and we can take our bikes too. We just love having a week away in the Netherlands or longer in places like France. We were just in Groesbeek, cycling every day. We also found the surroundings of Hilversum surprising.’
‘I’d like everyone to have the life I have now.’
What are your plans or wishes for the future?
‘We don’t have any major wishes. Just to stay healthy and do what we’re doing now: a bit of roaming around with the caravan or sailing in Zeeland. We’ll be heading off to France for four weeks soon and then we’ll come back for our grandchildren. In August last year, one of our sons had a daughter. In February, our other son had a daughter, who we’ll be looking after regularly from July. The grandchildren are just fantastic. You really build up a bond with them through babysitting. We’re also going to study history of art next year but all the other things will mainly stay the same. I’d like everyone to have the life I have now. People are dying all around me but the only thing bothering me right now is a worn-out hip. I’ve stopped playing tennis but I can still do almost everything else. I’m really lucky.’
Finally, Hans has a personal tip for colleagues who are approaching retirement, as well as a tip for young TNO staff. Curious? You can read them below.