With the benefit of Hindsight I knew a some years after all that occurred the I had made to correct choice. I was too old at 35 and my mind was already “locked in” to my type of work. It was a young mans game. Just like today your grandchildren will run rings around you on tech. Equipment.

What follows could have been me ( sort of)

I had bought a computer for home use. I got on canny with it.
We had moved house in 1980 and had a spare room for an office. In 1984 a chap and his family moved in next door.

He had started out repairing video machines. His work in the late 80’s was building data storage machines for the likes of BT. Mail order companies etc.. These machines cost between £1M and £5M some were the size of a sports hall and built with a team of 4 or 5 men.

Today a up to date mobile phone has more capacity than the machines he used to build.

Over the next 5 -10 years the size of the machines reduced in size dramatically and capacity vastly increased. Two men could install one in a day or so.
This reduction in size and increase in capacity continued. This resulted in his job being redundant.
He managed to swap over to the management of the computers used by the catalogue firms in Bradford I think.

About 5-6/years ago he was pushed out by new kids on the block as technology has improved so that all his work could be done remotely from elsewhere.

To make ends meet he was able via his son to get a job as a car service manager. As far as I can gather, his income dropped from £40,000+ to near the minimum wage.

He would have had over the years about 2 to 3 x my salary but made various errors £ wise in not building up for a Rainey day. Expensive holidays, top end cars etc. I had warned him !

He has just last month put in his notice to retire at end of Dec. He is going to stay on working 2 days a week collecting customers cars for service etc. Just to get out of the house for a few years.

We go to the pub every Wed. Night. And go out for meals with our wives every month if poss.

Allan C.