The comment was well meant.

Maybe it was me being too prickly or defensive.

Or perhaps there’s a wider issue here about how to describe people in my position.

You see, I was at a drinks gathering with former colleagues last night and someone asked me: ‘how’s retirement going?”

I snapped: “I’m not retired!”

They accepted the declaration of my status and tried again.

“OK. How’s semi-retirement going?” they asked.

I snapped back: “I’m not semi-retired!”

I explained what I had been doing in the three months since my redundancy and how busy I was with other projects and plans.

I explained how happy I was in certain aspects of my life including no longer commuting to work.

I explained the rewards I was getting from volunteering, meeting new people and learning new things.

So, yes, I no longer have a full-time paid job but that doesn’t equate to retirement.

I don’t draw a pension, I’m still looking for paid work, I still have skills and experience to offer.

Many other people have written about the use of the word “retirement”, have told their own tales of being confronted with the word and have proposed various other ways to describe their status.

Underlying all of them is a sense of anger that there isn’t an accepted positive word to use. Even “active retirement” doesn’t fit the bill.

I’m in a new phase of my life. I’m adjusting to the change in circumstances. I’m still engaged every day in meaningful activity – including writing this blog.

As the “About” section of my blog says, quoting Shakespeare from As You Like It, “one man in his lifetime plays many parts”.

The part I’m playing now is very different from the one I’ve played for the last 35 years while in full-time employment.

The curtain may have come down on my career at my previous employer but I’m still on the stage.

Retirement is not in my vocabulary.