Muristek
A new start after 60: ‘I went from graphic designer to delivery driver – now every day is an adventure!’
When Barry Harris retired after 40 years, his wife told him to find something new. Driving gave him fun, freedom and friendship – and the spur to start changing his life
After Barry Harris retired, he was “hanging around the house, slipping into the daytime telly routine”. His wife, a midwife, must have felt troubled by that, because she told him: “Just find something to do! Volunteer or something.”
Harris had spent 40 years as a graphic designer, working his way up from a paste-up artist after graduating from art school till he retired as a freelance in the packaging sector. All that time he lived in Warrington, Cheshire, where the couple’s four children were born. It’s a long time in one place and one profession, and perhaps why, when pushed to act, he popped into a local job agency. “I just asked: ‘What have you got?’ And they said: ‘Can you drive?’”
Tell us: has your life taken a new direction after the age of 60?
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