Consider going eastward, you will see mountains, forests and thousands of lakes, as well as wide rivers and large cities. On the 15th June I set foot off the airplane and into Calgary, Canada. I’ve never been to this side of the world before and I had some strange expectations when I could only see fields and no cityscape in view from my plane window during landing. However, as we got closer and closer to the airport the city came into view.

Phew! I sighed of relief as I’m a real city-goer. We were greeted by my girlfriend’s parents and whisked away to the main city. The large amount of greenery in Calgary’s city makes it a completely different city to visit and I advise if anybody is around this side of the world, it’s surely an interesting visit. It not only brings us good feelings, it also makes you fall in love with this city. Despite all the things we’ve done here, the thing that blew me away the most was the Canadian woodlands and mountains just a few hours outside of Calgary. The highlight for me was risking travelling to the small town of Fernie and hiking into the woods up to a small waterfall where the water was so clear we could just drink straight from the stream.

The time away from the main city had a great holiday feel and gave me time to recover after a busy university year. It’s been a great experience being in the Canadian mountains and woodlands and it taught me the importance of just having some time for yourself! So whatever you guys are doing this summer, make sure you take some time out to relax, rest and recharge. Maybe you will get a much more comfortable trip when you jump out of the busy work.

I started out my career as an editor for a travel magazine. I didn’t really mind the work, but I wanted something more challenging. My sister sent me some details about a content management position in a digital reading company. The job was a seemingly perfect mix of my skills and interests, so I jumped at it.

However, soon after I joined the company, its model changed to focusing on education, and everything about my position changed. I was asked to take on the completely different roles of selling the products to teachers and training people. I had no experience in sales, training or education. On top of that, I’m an introvert (内向的人). I felt more than a little outside my comfort zone.

I knew I wanted to grow as an individual and make a serious impact on the company. I told myself that everything felt overwhelming at first and I should at least try. In a way, I felt like I didn’t have a choice. I knew jumping out of the nest was the right thing for me, even though it felt pretty awful.

I was fortunate to be surrounded by very helpful people, both at work and at home. My best friend reminded me that I had taken huge leaps of faith in the past and told me I would pull through just fine. It also helped that my boss seemed to have more faith in my capabilities than I did. She never asked if I thought I could do it; she only asked if I was interested in trying.

I spent hours researching my company’s products. I asked lots of questions and spoke to so many teachers and there were soon more good experiences than difficult ones. I looked for opportunities to put in extra effort. The more I did, the better I felt.

Over time, I discovered that the job was something I could do and liked doing. It was incredibly rewarding to see the company grow and know that I had something to do with its success. Sure, I made mistakes and took on more than I could handle. But I also learned that it’s important to take risks and accept new opportunities, even when you’re not sure whether you’ll do well. I don’t think there’s anything worse than failing because you refuse to even try. I’m so glad I tried, and know I’ll do it again.

Graduating at 90, as I did this year with a Master of Arts (MA) from the University of Buckingham in inteligence history, might invoke (授用) the expression “late starter”. My higher education formally began when I was in my 60s.

I’ve had no material gain as a result. Due to my Bachelor of Arts (BA) in psychology, there followed a volunteer job as a drugs counsellor. There were significant disadvantages to acquiring my two undergraduate degrees — six years of constant hard work involving the addiction to the course for most of the year is to affect domestic relationships. It did, but we survived.

However, I think the spiritual and intellectual benefits far outweighed the disadvantages. Indeed, I was not really looking forward to attending my first seminar (研讨班). I was worried about what to expect, but I needn’t have been — my fellow students immediately put me at ease. Two nice young ladies moved apart and offered me a chair between them. It was a relief. Friendship between students is well known, and it was very much in evidence here. I made many friends among them, and they seemed to treat me no differently from any other students, except for one big Kenyan boy who insisted on calling me “sir”.

I am not aware of any deep reason for undertaking the MA. Probably a continuing wish to learn exists, and a chance to put at into practice presented itself when my wife showed me an invitation from the University of Buckingham to apply for a master’s course on the history of intelligence with Bletchley Park Studies. She said it seemed right up my street, and that as we had recently discussed the need for a new direction — why not take it? The related background was that my last job was at Hanslope Park (I am a qualified electronics engineer), an organization that took over from Bletchley Park. These circumstances arouse my curiosity again. I applied and was accepted.

So, would I recommend a return to formal learning post retirement? Surely, yes.