5th November
I am associated with many different groups, some of whom are business related and some whom are charity based. It was a connection with one of the former organisations that saw me driving in the Bentley to Goodwood House for a full day’s seminar. I set off at 7.30am for a 9am start and arrived at the front of the house in good time. Here I was greeted by the butler who ushered me in to the reception room where coffee was served. The paintings and the porcelain on show surpass those at the Manor although, as I remarked to the Earl of March later over pre-dinner drinks, the Van Dyke looked as though it needed a bit of a clean. The speakers were well informed and interesting though it is very difficult to make a lot out of “Pensions- What does the Future Hold?”, unless you are a city banker I suppose. Lunch could only be described as spectacular, and seemed to be the reason why most people came, as the lecture hall was noticeably emptier afterwards. I hung on to the bitter end, and as I drove sedately along the main drive at 5.30pm, two main points stuck in my mind. One was that in the UK more than 80% of women do not qualify for a full basic state pension, and the other was that at least 56% of working age adults are not contributing to a pension scheme at all, outside of the state system. I vowed to ask Spencer about his pension arrangements when I got home. This was unfortunately not possible, as I was met at the front door of the Manor by two of our neighbours who were looking very concerned.
Spencer had taken the day off work. On reflection, he had been a bit mysterious about his reasons for doing so, but had blamed it on the fact that Violet-Elizabeth needed to be picked up from school to be taken to the Old Basing Panto. rehearsal. My neighbours told me that Spencer had spent the entire day right at the top of an old 60ft dead tree in the Manor garden, sawing the branches off, in order to take it down before it fell. They had been very worried about the height he was at (at his age), and as dusk had fallen they had peered over the wall to make sure that he hadn’t as well (fallen that is). Apparently the ladder was still up against the tree, but there was no sign of Spencer and the Manor was in darkness. I let myself in with a key and went through to the drawing room where Spencer was eating another one of those Tesco ready meals for one, which he quite likes, whilst watching Strictly It Takes Two in total darkness. After assuring our neighbours that he was OK, I went back to put the lights on and to remonstrate with him about tackling so dangerous a job on his own, only to find that he was sporting a huge graze from forehead to chin where a falling branch had clipped him. Needless to say he didn’t get much sympathy from me!