As long as Joan Washington-Robb is fit and able she plans to put in a full working week.
And that's a big call when your 71st birthday is just around the corner, but Joan loves work, hard work and she loves the company of the people she works with.
She grew up on a farm and said that means she is no stranger to hard work.
Like many farm children of her generation, there were always jobs to fill the hours between school and bedtime and holidays also meant a long list of chores.
"I did say though I was never going to marry a farmer. They work all the time and my mother had to be out on the farm all the time helping dad."
She works five days a week for the Canterbury District Health Board as a carer, visiting 19 clients each week, helping them keep their homes spic and span.
"I've got no intention of slowing down.
"I'd just get into trouble if I stopped work and really, there's only so much craft work you can do."
She counts herself lucky to love the work she does and to enjoy the company of the oldies she works with.
"As children we were always taught to respect old people and I do. You always know where you are, where you stand with the elderly."
Joan's been in the care business since 1977 and over the years she's made a host of friends among her clients – far more friends than she'd make if she was retired and sitting around home, she says.
Depending on the amount of care they're allocated, she spends between one and two hours with her clients.
She's there to work, but that doesn't mean she can't chat with them as well and provide them with company.
For her, the job might be called housekeeping, but it is much, much more.
It's about friendship and companionship too, for them and for her.
"Most of my clients are 70 plus, but I had one lady who was over 100 and still living in her own home. I still go and visit many of them when they're in resthomes and I do go to a few funerals."
Ask her about her own home, and Joan admits it's pretty spic and span.
She's not a tidiness freak but doesn't like living in a mess. She accepts that a tidy home is not everyone's cup of tea, however.
"You either like housework or you don't. I work because I like working and because I like what I'm doing. If you give up work you lose touch with everything."
Joan's a North Islander, but has lived in the mainland since 1961.
She's a machinist by trade, but admits she rarely sews today. She'd rather be out in the community than sitting at home behind a sewing machine.
"My eyesight's not so good now, it's hard to thread a needle."
When you were raised in a family where hardwork was valued, you don't think too much about your own retirement, Joan said.
Her partner is retired and she suspects he is looking forward to the day when she calls it quits. When that is is anyone's guess, she said.
"I'm not really planning to retire, but it could be next year – maybe.
"Or I might just ease back a bit. You can't work forever, but the extra money does come in really handy when you're on a pension, you can do all the extras."
For her those extras are holidays, trips home to see family in the North Island and best of all, buying a new car.
"When I bought my new Fiesta, I said that will be my last car – maybe."
And that's a big call when your 71st birthday is just around the corner, but Joan loves work, hard work and she loves the company of the people she works with.
She grew up on a farm and said that means she is no stranger to hard work.
Like many farm children of her generation, there were always jobs to fill the hours between school and bedtime and holidays also meant a long list of chores.
"I did say though I was never going to marry a farmer. They work all the time and my mother had to be out on the farm all the time helping dad."
She works five days a week for the Canterbury District Health Board as a carer, visiting 19 clients each week, helping them keep their homes spic and span.
"I've got no intention of slowing down. "I'd just get into trouble if I stopped work and really, there's only so much craft work you can do."
She counts herself lucky to love the work she does and to enjoy the company of the oldies she works with.
"As children we were always taught to respect old people and I do. You always know where you are, where you stand with the elderly."
Joan's been in the care business since 1977 and over the years she's made a host of friends among her clients – far more friends than she'd make if she was retired and sitting around home, she says.
Depending on the amount of care they're allocated, she spends between one and two hours with her clients.
She's there to work, but that doesn't mean she can't chat with them as well and provide them with company.
For her, the job might be called housekeeping, but it is much, much more.
It's about friendship and companionship too, for them and for her.
"Most of my clients are 70 plus, but I had one lady who was over 100 and still living in her own home. I still go and visit many of them when they're in resthomes and I do go to a few funerals."
Ask her about her own home, and Joan admits it's pretty spic and span.
She's not a tidiness freak but doesn't like living in a mess. She accepts that a tidy home is not everyone's cup of tea, however.
"You either like housework or you don't. I work because I like working and because I like what I'm doing. If you give up work you lose touch with everything."
Joan's a North Islander, but has lived in the mainland since 1961.
She's a machinist by trade, but admits she rarely sews today. She'd rather be out in the community than sitting at home behind a sewing machine.
"My eyesight's not so good now, it's hard to thread a needle."
When you were raised in a family where hardwork was valued, you don't think too much about your own retirement, Joan said.
Her partner is retired and she suspects he is looking forward to the day when she calls it quits. When that is is anyone's guess, she said.
"I'm not really planning to retire, but it could be next year – maybe.
"Or I might just ease back a bit. You can't work forever, but the extra money does come in really handy when you're on a pension, you can do all the extras."
For her those extras are holidays, trips home to see family in the North Island and best of all, buying a new car.
"When I bought my new Fiesta, I said that will be my last car – maybe."
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