What does retirement mean for academics?

When I retired my life continued as before except that I was not teaching students. My regret was that I was leaving behind a university sector that had become cold, lacking empathy towards its staff, and concerned with self preservation at the expense of care for the students. This has got so bad combined with excessive expenses that students have to pay, that not only are future applicants choosing alternative routes, but existing lecturers who are overburdened with this unfeeling bureaucracy are leaving the profession in droves.

To have loved your career is to not want to ever part with it. To not want to ever part with it is to overstay one's welcome

My experience does not tally with the reports above. As a female academic aged 56, a Reader, recently made redundant, but having spent the last few years intensively teaching but not given the space for research, I do not recognise the picture above. There is no "revolving door" for myself and my colleagues who do not reach Professorial status and I have certainly seen the aggressive and successful removal of middle aged women from academic departments. I would like to know if others share my perspective?

@ #3 Yes, seen that in several institutions I'm afraid. Workload allocation can be full of biases and stereotyping. Favours get done for 'mates' (e.g. they are given lots of cushy admin roles which have high allocated hours but few actual demands). Perceived 'mummy types' get loaded up with lots of draining face-to-face teaching (e.g. given the largest generic 1st year undergrad classes with the most marking but no extra hours as compared to, say, a highly specialized masters module with less than 10 students - which usually gets allocated to the 'mates'). I've seen female colleagues with the most difficult personal circumstances (e.g. multiple caring roles of sick children and terminally ill relatives) put into 'special measures' at their annual appraisal for not publishing anything for a 12 month.