Transcription interview with John Hardy
Can I make it on a timer? When Ashley (daughter) came she has a bolier the same and I said will you put my boiler on timer because its on all the time.
Its controlled by the thermostat you see, so if I want to switch it off I put the thermostat down to 5 and it never switches itself on but I dont know if the thermostat down low and I am setting the boiler to automatic wether which one overrides the other.
ME (If you had the system really simple them it would be easy enough to understand. If it was programmed to what you exactly wanted.)
but what I exactly want is not what it is going to be
Me(but thats what technology could be like, you could phone up and get it fitted but also programmed to your exact requirements.
Then if you need new settings we will email them to the boiler or washing machine rather than having to actually come in and change it.)
If you could automatically or remotely update it then thats fine, if you can cut out the necessity of and actual visit as a lot of old people don’t want tradesmen coming in because of the fear factor.
If you live in a gun state in a 14 floor appartment and you dont know anyone and your little and old then you dont want trades people coming in.
recent cuts mean job losses, labour government has spent its way through an inflationary period by
creating more jobs. You can do that but world economics overcame our individual efforts and so everything went down. Now to get out of that you have to run hard at the bottom of the hill in order to get the momentum to start going back up the hill on the other side so thats drastic cuts and what were they saying in the news, 2000 jobs going in one of the big companys I cant remember exactly which one, oh yes it was Birmingham city who employs something like 36000 people. So its economics and politics.
Me(But if you could save people time by investing in time saving devices or community services then surely that would help?)
Its good theory but what about me Ive saved 50 hours a week by retiring so I am not working so I should be able to lounge around all the time and do practically nothing, so Ive got 50 hours to do nothing.
Me(But why would you want to do that?)
So if you divide that by 7, thats 7 hours a day extra so I could lye in bed for 7 extra hours but can I?
Not really.
Me (but you could if you wanted to)
Yeah but I would have no contact with anyone and I probably would be ill so I am a drain on the social services and medical services and the psycholgical effects are really bad.
So you dont necessary gain what you think your going to gain, you gain 50 hours of doing nothing time.
Me(but they say you dont ever retire)
Well thats true, I can vouch for that. I am as busy but I can pace myself much better now.
me(What sort of things do you get up to?)
you mean how do I fill in those 50 hours a week?
Me( yeah So you do scouts?)
not very much anymore but I have.
Ok so there is hobbies and interests.. so if its not sailing, its walking or camping or scouting or DOE
and then there is travel, I travel away to foreign countries and I travel in the uk visiting friends who invite me for new year and travel abroad to friends who dont really want me to come but can stop me (laugh) and I arrive on their door step with my suitcase for three weeks which is great!!
Ive got to do things like shopping, washing, mending, ironing, hoovering and dusting and then there is the building which is a whole separate thing. Being a land lord but I am actually earning being a land lord and am contributing towards my earnings by giving my time.
So Ive been to my little house which is up for rent and I went and cut out all the carpets, rolled them up, put them in the boot and took them to the tip and then painted all the walls and painted all the wood work.
I could employ my agent who I was on the phone to organising the painting but it would be hellishly expensive and I would make no money out of it so thats why I do it myself because I increase my percentage on my money and my capital is involved in buying a house then the interest I get is on the rent, the net rent and at the moment are down to 2/3 percent which is what you get by putting it in the bank but if I do some work for myself then I am making 4 or 5 percent on my return.
Me(and It keeps you active as well)
Yes thats the point,
so is it retirement or isnt it retirement, well it is retirement but I am choosing to use my time in improving my income rather than have to use my time to make money. Which is the stage you are going to go into, which is fun, its demanding and you have to work hard and you make more and you learn so much which is great. Where as people who are really rich I think miss out on those lessons of service.
So people who have worked and have now retired have a lot more balance in their thinking, I thinking, they have had to work themselves and probably want more of a service and perceive that they are not getting as good of a service as they used to.
Puts on funny old lady voice( you cant get people, your not reliable) lots of people are like this complaining about plumbers where as other people just buy a screw driver and a tool kit and do it themselves but they are in the minority.
You haven’t met Ashley or Carol have you?
Me(no I dont think so)
So there are a lot of problems as you get older.
Me( what sort of problems?)
Isolation, you loose your friends because they die, I had known Mike for 32 years, longer than I had been married actually and you loose your relatives so you have no parents left and your friends start to die and you feel more isolated perhaps, depends on where you live. My neighbour was saying she feels caged in her house, well I was too but I was working on my bloody bathroom so it didnt matter for me. I had 12 hours work to do every day. But she was going out walking with her boots and stick in the snow just to get out even though it was slippy and was not wonderful she was still going out. She was saying Ive got my dancing class and I was saying look at the roads. She was going out at 8pm at night and its freezing at -5 and you know sit infront of the bloody fire, you shouldnt be going out and so at the end of all that her thought process is saying should I be staying here? Is it too remote? Its obviously a personal decision but I said to her I wont live here when I cant drive but I might stay here in the summer time and live in my Haddington house in winter where I can actually go but thats not the sort of thing you think of till you get to our age and it only starts to hit when your nearest and dearest start dying, when your friends start dying then you start thinking of old age. Your needs change so maybe you become less self reliant and maybe… well this joint hurts, the strength is going in my hands, even opening the orange juice sometimes I find I havent got the grip and thats just because….. and I am going thinner Im not as strong… and thats progressive its gegenerative and there is nothing you can do about it.
Me(but you could have some tools to help you)
Yes well I have… I use power tools, when I was your age it was hand operated screwdrivers and everything and I did several conversions.. my cottage at Lowek which I rebuilt from scratch over a period of 3 years I really had a power drill but thats all I had.
So Yes electric tools but not many people are into DIY especially its hardy taught , for example today I wouldnt have been taught metal work or wood work at school It would be computer technology and learn about circuit boards and then they dont leanrn how to saw a ten in joint so that skill is dying. So there for there not likely to go buy a tool box and go do it themselves are they? They are going to need the man
ME(but thats till they find its too expensive?)
Well yes but they are going to need the man that they cant get like next door.
Me(but she was your generation?)
Yes but girls in my generation were taught cooking and needle work rather than metal or wood work and the boys wouldnt do cooking, its more mixed now.
Me( I saw when the first boys started camping, a lot of the boys didn’t get taught cooking.)
Well even now you can tell the university boys who have been a scout because they understand what a kitchen is and they can look after themselves……
Part 1 interview
Part 2 interview
