Shy…

…and retiring?

Those who frequent these pages – or indeed those who have not yet figured out how to unsubscribe from the email digest (just joking folks… I would much prefer that you didn’t do that!) – will know from this post from earlier this year that The Girl has finally (?) re-joined the ranks of the retired. Who can tell at this point if this will prove to be final outcome for her, or if she will find herself tempted back into some form of employment as time passes.

That leaves me; the one who originally expected to be fully retired upon arrival from the UK, but who has found a renewed sense of purpose in teaching part-time at a post-secondary college here in Victoria. Over the past seven or so years the Chair of my department has enquired of me on a number of occasions whether (or not) I was yet contemplating hanging up my boots. I have found myself, to this point, always just gazing just a little further into the future. The last time that she asked I told her that seventy five seemed like a good point at which to call it quits…

…and that might have remained my target – had not everything changed last year. Last year the federal government radically altered the regulations governing international students coming to Canada to study in Canadian colleges. This from the Government of Canada website:

“Ottawa, January 24, 2025—Over the last year, Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has made important changes to better prepare international students for life in Canada, strengthen our programs and address the changing needs of our country.

In 2024, IRCC capped the number of study permit applications that could be accepted for processing to keep our program strong and help ease the strain on housing, health care and other services. This measure has reduced the number of international students coming to Canada by about 40% and also eased pressures in rental markets with high student populations.

Building on these changes, provincial and territorial allocations for 2025 have now been finalized. For 2025, IRCC plans to issue a total of 437,000 study permits, which represents a 10% decrease from the 2024 cap”.

These unexpected changes caused havoc in many of the educational establishments that had relied heavily on international students to balance their books. You will be unsurprised to hear that the college at which I have been teaching found itself in a perilous financial situation. I am not going to go into exact detail concerning the college’s contentious plan to re-organise and cost-cut its way out of trouble but – needless to say – those (such as I) who have been employed on term contracts found themselves first to be in line for cost-saving cuts.

The long and the short of all this is that – with the end of the term just finished – I may well have involuntarily been ‘retired’ again.

On the assumption that this will indeed be the case I now have to consider trying to find something else to do. At my age – and given my experience (or lack thereof) I suspect that may not be an easy thing to do.

At this point I know very little of how the future will unfold. This, however, I do know; as long as The Girl and I are together and able to support each other – everything will be well. I am adopting as my mantra this quote from Eleanor Roosevelt:

“Life was meant to be lived, and curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn one’s back on life.”
Eleanor Roosevelt