The event was similar to a rendezvous of three Cunard ships in 2008, but this time the new Queen Elizabeth, which was launched last year, replaced the Queen Elizabeth 2, which was retired to become a hotel in Dubai.
In 1986, a life-size figure of Sylvia Earle was installed in Hydrolab, which was being retired to the Smithsonian Institution, in Washington.
And, unlike in the States, where the yule log appears only at Christmas, the cake is served through the New Year in France, after which it is retired to make room for the galettes des rois, the king cakes that celebrate Epiphany.
The horse was retired to stud last year after a 2013 which yielded three successes at the top Group One level.
When he abandoned politics in August 1997, the former National Party leader said he was retiring to pen a work which would place events in South Africa "in their correct perspective".
Competitors have asked her when she is going to retire, to which she replies, "I'm not even thinking about that".
During a Q&A for his new Western, Tarantino suggested he was not far from retiring, to which cast member Samuel L. Jackson questioned what he will do if not working in cinema.
But flying Virgin to Tokyo felt like travelling on an old plane ready to be retired – which is exactly what is about to happen.
Coke officials promise that the old Tab isn't going to be retired, which is good news for Edelstein.
After releasing "The Black Album," in 2003, Jay-Z claimed to be retiring from rapping, which seemed to mean that he would keep rapping all the time.
