THE WOMAN who has paid into Spain's State pension pot the longest has finally announced her decision to retire.
Dolores Agra Rodríguez, 78, or 'Loli' to friends and family, started work aged 14, meaning she has been contributing to her stamp for 64 years.
She runs a nightwear and underwear shop in the Galicia city of A Coruña, Lencería Marta - named after her daughter, a retired bank worker - and which now has a sign in the window reading, 'Liquidation due to retirement'.
But she will not give up work until all the stock is sold off.
After that, her son, Ricardo, will carry on running the business.
She does not plan to give up work altogether until February 2020, a year after starting the 'liquidation' sale, because, she says, 'there's a lot to sell off' and she has always considered she was 'needed' in the store.
It is likely to feel strange for Loli, handing over the reins to her son, given that she opened the shop at the start of the 1980s, having worked in similar retail premises most of her life.
Loli's first job, aged 14, paid her 12 pesetas a week cash in hand, but later in another premises, she would go on to earn 150 pesetas a week - about 90 euro cents.
She spent her days selling thread, buttons, lace, thimbles, and 'lots of other little things', because 'in those days, people used to sew a great deal'.
"I needed the money - it was very much lacking in my house," Loli explains.
"But now I want to enjoy the little pleasures in life - sitting with a coffee and doing nothing. I don't plan to travel, though, because I've always done plenty of that. When my children were small we went to Paris every year; in fact, my eldest granddaughter is living and working there now."
After having been working for 61 years, Loli was awarded the Silver Medal for Merit at Work - a prestigious distinction granted by A Coruña city hall in recognition of her long service to the state.
The medal hangs up in her shop, but unlikely the nightclothes, dressing gowns, socks and underwear alongside it, it is not for sale.
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