I actually stopped "working" in 1993, on that August day (16th?) when the redundancy letters were handed out. My COS handed me the letter with the good news that my application had been accepted, and I handed COS a leave pass which conveniently covered the remaining months until my final day in the RAF
There then followed a few months as a house husband, and facing the first big challenge in those early days - choosing what to wear every morning! It took more than a decade to feel comfortable wearing anything blue
At the beginning of 1994, now officially a civilian, I took on as planned a part-time job as an RAF Sport Secretary and embarked on a house-hunting exercise in anticipation of my wife's redundancy (she had to wait until the 2nd Tranche, as she was far more valuable to the RAF than I had been). And then we moved out of her Quarter and into our 'retirement home'. At which point, in addition to my 2/3 week 'job', we got involved with local politics (obviously not permitted whilst serving). In between sorting out our new home, my 'job' and political activity, over the next few years my leisure contracted to a vanishing point on the horizon ... I found myself busy 6-7 days a week!! I think the same, in one way or another, tends to happen with most Service guys who retire - they end up far busier than they ever were, and the frequent comment is "How could I find time to do all this
and go to work as well?"
Eventually I cried "enough" and downsized the job commitment, which gave me at least a couple of days off most weeks, and in 2000 we started going on holidays!! We had hardly ever bothered over the previous 20 years, not only because of the difficulty getting leave at the same time but also due to my 'time off for sport'!
After 11 years of seemingly non-stop activity, I 'retired' again, and we moved to Jersey ... a bit like Courtney Mil, no family ties in UK any more. Apart from about 6 weeks working for RBL during Poppy Appeal, we now avoiding falling into the voluntary trap again! Instead, we plan/do more and more holidays to make up for all those years we missed ... and that takes a lot of time to research the most economical way of doing it in comfort! Recent years/miles flown ... 2012/25,000, 2013/16,000, 2014/28,000 ... and 2015 already has 41,510 miles already flown or booked
Now please excuse me, I need to get back to researching a couple of warm-climate holidays for next winter