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So you went for option 2, then?

Maybe I've just got old (yes, it could be that) but the "overseas" scene doesn't seem to be what it once was, and even the "charity sector" appears to have dried up.

Best manage the decline into genteel retirement Tony, as long as you have sufficient funds to keep going.

The "Young Turks" of Biomed don't want grizzled old dinosaurs like us around, Mate. They're all far too clever for that.

But if you find that you need your fix of banter now and then, this forum is as good a place as any (and Heaven knows it could do with livening up a bit at present)!

Other than that, we see almost daily pleas for technical (mostly) help from all over the world, which a bloke with your experience should be able to "bat" with ease.

Good to hear that you've still got the Land-Rover, Mate.

Peace.

PS: I haven't heard from Big Tony for a while now, so I'm assuming he must be under strict orders to Retire! Other than that, Peter Shephard was in the UK recently, but I missed him (again). "Ships that pass in the night", and all that. Oh well, never mind.

There again, that could be because he's busy writing his memoirs ... which is something I've urged him to do on a number of occasions. I've even offered to proof-read (and edit) them.

How about you Tony? I know you have an interesting story to tell.

Geoff, where are your memoirs? I will start on mine in about 5 years when I am relaxing on the beach or in the paddy field.

The only way I would embark on a project like that now is if someone stumped up a hefty advance ... and I can't see that happening. After all, who would be interested (apart, perhaps, from a few blokes like ourselves)?

Actually, I had always imagined that I would "tell the story" one day, but (having experimented a bit with blogs, and stuff like that) decided that my legacy (such as it may be) is best laid to rest hidden in my computer code, my help files and databases. And my own memories. That will have to suffice.

And, of course, my posts to this forum! LOL.

But regarding your own volumes, Neil ... start them now, whilst you can still remember!

As an aside (and a rather sad one, at that), one of my "problems" is that I have no-one to pass my stuff on to. No "associates" who are still active (either already retired, or too old, lacking in nous or enthusiasm, or already "gone"), no "apprentice" (or whatever), and with distant family members who wouldn't (and don't) have the first clue about what it is I have been doing these last forty years or so, or what it is I spend my days doing now!

I think you've already written your memoirs Geoff, 11,000 posts! enough to fill a few volumes?

Mere footnotes, Bill.

I can only imagine!

Anyone seen (or heard from, know about etc.) Eddie these last five years?

He is but one of a number of folk we no longer hear from these days. Maybe (early?) retirement has overtaken at least some of them ... or perhaps a change of scene?

The other evening I had a chat with a bloke who has always lived locally and never had a passport. We had not met before, and after I had off-loaded a few of my "stories" (we had started off by discussing what we might call "man management", "getting the job done", and stuff like that), he came out with this:- "do you think that having worked overseas may have ended up to your disadvantage?"

I must admit I was stumped by that one (for a while, at least); no-one had ever asked that before!

Thinking that he was referring to "mind set" (general attitude, etc., etc.) I replied that (in my case, and in those of others with similar backgrounds), I believe it was due more to being ex-armed forces (of the "old school").

But as he went on, I realized that what he had meant was the possibility of "being spoilt" by years of tax-free earnings, and such like.

Happily I was able to put him right on that score, on the grounds of (as mentioned on here a few times before) never having been on Big Bucks at any time in my life.

But I got to thinking about all that later ... maybe some of us (and myself for sure) would be more at ease in our dotage had we not been so keen in our formative years; a "keeness" that has resulted in habits of a lifetime that are seemingly considered by others as no longer "fit for purpose".

After all, all that seems to matter these days is Money. Old-fashioned values (and opinions that fail to conform to the "on message" agenda(s)) are simply waved off and (or) dismissed as irrelevant.

Doom on all dinosaurs!

I hear that the last Land-Rover "Defender" will leave the production line today.

Yet another British icon bites the dust.

I wonder what the army, police, Mountain Rescue et al will be buying from now on?

No doubt the army will still have plenty of Landys, even in twenty years time; all shiny and nicely lined up (just don't ask whether they are actually road-worthy)! I always liked the "Half Ton" (aka the Lightweight, or even the Airportable) myself - although production of those ended back in 1984.