Elsie Dickson was 68 when she retired after four decades of teaching the history of art at Stockholm University. She kept herself busy at first, catching up on chores and spending time with her children and grandchildren. Being Swedish, she also did a spot of “death cleaning”, a form of decluttering traditionally undertaken by older people.
Then she decided it was time to go back to work. Now 77, Dickson has spent the past seven years selling train tickets and helping passengers at Stockholm’s main railway station. She typically works six or seven-hour shifts, sometimes until 2am, two or more days a week, most of it spent standing up. Her university pension is more than enough to live on, though the extra 17,000 kroner (£1,350)
