I jokingly asked the question yesterday 'Why did I retire' and on reflection I think I was suffering from 'The Good Old Days' syndrome.


The problem everyone faces is that we always think that what we were doing before is better than what we are doing now. The Good Old Days. In reality, ordering whatever you want in the hotel sounds nice but after a long period sitting by yourself in a different hotel each night was not a lot of fun. Couple that with the 800 miles a week on motorways in the dark and the additional 40 hours work and I suddenly remember why I retired.


So I decided to look back to the Good Old Days and took 20 years ago as a starter. We had just moved into our current cottage but it had two differences:
1. It was about a third of the size it is now

2. It was virtually derelict.


The day we moved in it was raining and there were only two rooms in the cottage without rain coming through the ceiling. We made one the living room and Alex grabbed the other for her bedroom.


We had left a house we bought from new 20 years earlier in which Alex had a bedroom with TV, Phone and central heating, not bad for 20 years ago. We had also moved two miles out of Beverley into Tickton, a small village and of course she would never see her friends again, she said. She wasn't happy. In fact she didn't come out of the room for six months except to eat. But then she passes her driving test and the world was her lobster again, life's good and she talks to us again.


The cottage being derelict naturally created work and the plan was for us to do as much as we could ourselves. So 20 years ago I was laying the yorkstone paths and patios, laying kitchen tiles and generally rebuilding a house.
So much for the Good Old Days, nothing changes.


Alex and I worked at the same company and each night we would drive home together guessing what we would have for tea (or dinner if you're posh). 'Hope it's chips' was our usual suggestion but was it ever? Not often, you see even then Christine would only cook healthy food.

So much for the Good Old Days, nothing changes.


If I looked back a further 20 years to 1966 Christine and I were about to get married and we were renovating and decorating our first house. A big five bedroomed affair which has since been demolished.
So much for the Good Old Days, nothing changes.


A couple of things stick in my mind about this old house, when it was foggy outside the fog would creep into the living room and it was not unusual to be watching Andy Williams on the TV when he would gradually vanish in the fog. Thinking about it that's not a bad result. But the 1966 cup final proved very traumatic. Everton versus Sheffield Wednesday, some things certainly change and the old house had gas and electricity on a meter each taking only 10p pieces. I had one 10p left and suddenly the electricity goes off. I dashed to the meter cupboard, pick up the last 10p and bang it in the gas....!


So having decided that the good old days were probably good but certainly not better than now. It is time to relax, enjoy retirement and slowly work through all the jobs to be done. I'm back on yorkstone paving today.