I learnt an awful lot from my building works in the early 80's, lots of our work came from a local estate agent and often consisted of wealthy retirement couples hoping to enjoy there last days in Bexhill, one in particular comes to mind and was soon to become a regular norm, give or take a bit, this Guy was a top notch high flying trouble shooter for a multinational very well known company, spent many years travelling the world,spending a year or so in one country sorting out the factory production till it was back in profit, then off to another for similar, so their offspring were educated in various countries until they all got married and fended for them selves, need less to say they did not see very much of their kids or extended family as they were always jetting round the world, then they retired and came to Bexhill, bought a 7 bed 4 bath large property that was in need of a refurb, this was where I came in, tens of thousands later and it was spick and span ready for the kids to visit together with grand kids etc, as they had never had a garden this property had a very large one, which was tended with great enthusiasm, and "H" became a great friend as well as a very good customer, my partner and I would often call in on a Friday late afternoon when we were done for a scotch or two, and also get few pointers as to how to improve our business, so the upshot is golf became a washout, the garden became too much due to poor health and had to employ a gardener, and great big house rarely had more than two people in it, I saw this guy go down hill so fast it was untrue, when he first retired he was on stand by and was due to go to Argentina on a trouble shoot job, but the Falklands war put paid to that, had he gone to Argentina I am sure things would have turned out very differently as he would have eased into retirement, as it was he felt dumped and useless, we did try to encourage him to join a rotary club or some such where his organising skills could have been put to good use, but as 30 odd year old's we did not feel good trying to tell a 70 year old hi-flyer what best to do with his life, anyway they decided to move nearer to one of their offspring in Lincoln, nice place swimming pool and all, Looked in on them once but they made a bad choice as Lincoln has high calcium content in the water, the very opposite of what "H" needed, and clearly they were on a fast downward run, never heard from them again, very sad, point is for most people in employment retirement is the last thing you need, the thought of being able to play golf every day soon wanes as does tending a large garden cos you have never had one, one reason we shied away from buying a full live aboard narrow boat, because as you get older you need medics more and that is not so easy when continuously cruising, message here someplace but heat and scotch taking its toll, regards Rick
