Oh ... that [#14] wasn't the end of my working life. ... I'd only been "retired" for a few months when ... along came the chance of a filing clerk/mail room assistant/cum telephonist's role with the old DHSS. Boring as ... but with the fortnightly wage - together with a substantial lump sum and modest occupational pension from the Council - I was doing alright. Indeed, the whole caboodle enabled me to take two annual holidays abroad while it lasted. There followed a period with Asda ... where, as a Security Assistant, I even managed to gain the firm's presigious 100% 'Mystery Shopper Award' for Customer Service on three separate occasions. (I'm not boasting ... simply being honest! ).

Finally, as I approached sixty, my minister asked if I'd like a wee job as Weekend Church Officer (Kirk Beadle in Scotland) and I accepted. Unwisely, as it turned out! Why? Because, like other, similarly large organisations, churches (probably more than most!!) have an uncanny knack of attracting idle gossip and *bitchiness (there's no better *word for describing what goes on among would~be "Christians" at times!!!).

3 1/2 years of tholing that sort of behaviour from some sharp~tongued old dears ... who'd known me for three decades at least, before then ... proved too much and, in the end, I happily resigned ... even though I continue to attend Sunday worship at the same place.