The obvious options – like helping with grandchildren, travel, volunteering, gardening, a hobby – just don’t grab me.

My kids are great and my grandchildren are delightful but, much as I love them and enjoy their company, turning them into a full-time occupation is a creepy idea.

Traveling for the sake of traveling doesn’t appeal – the thought of going on a cruise gives me the willies.

I’ve volunteered – and still volunteer – and meet some great people, but no matter how worthy the cause or useful the work, it leaves me wanting more.

My garden is a pleasure and a refuge, but it’s not a life.

And I’m not sure I get the idea of hobby. If you google the definition of “hobby” you get words like “diversion”, “distraction”, “sideline”. In other words a pastime – something to fill in time.

Which sums up the problem. To this active, healthy little old lady the usual activities deemed suitable for little old ladies sound like filling in useless time, waiting for death.

Um. No. No thanks. That doesn’t suit me; I want something more positive, more creative, more satisfying, more active. Something I can get a kick out of, the sense of a job well done, a life well lived!