Time Off for Good Behaviour

We always said that we'd like to move abroad when we retired. I couldn't wait. I never enjoyed working on the assembly line at the Vauxhall factory. Some of the other guys weren't bothered about the mind-numbingly boring work but I wanted to do something to stimulate my mind. That's why I studied foreign languages and oceanography as distant learning subjects instead of going to the pub and talking football with them after work.

We jumped at the chance of early retirement when they relocated the plant. 'Time off for good behaviour,' I quipped. It didn't make such a difference to you. You only worked a couple of mornings a week at the corner shop once the children went to school. You often joked you'd prefer to be a lady of leisure.

So here we are. Three years after selling our terraced house in England and buying a 'cute' little villa out here at half the price. I knew we should have had a proper survey done. The repairs have gobbled up all of our savings. Look at us now, me up here in this cradle, cleaning windows at this exclusive seafront multi-storey hotel and you sat relaxing on the beach under that ridiculous sun hat.