THERE are a few very good reasons that make me want to keep on working beyond the normal age of retirement. One is my wife’s shopping habits. Another is the Inland Revenue. It’s not that I particularly want to support them, just that they write to me now and again and I feel obliged to keep in touch. I also happen to like a great deal what I do for a living – and not a lot of people can say that with any degree of truth. There is also another very good incentive for me to ward off retirement when the statutory age arrives and that is my pension is worth three-quarters of 10 per cent of Sweet Felicity Arkwrightdeal, thus ruining any chance of my riding off into the sunset on a Harley-Davidson at the age of 75 and with the trouble-andstrife on the back.
I wrote this month’s main feature on Mac Arrowsmith and his Dodge cattle truck. Between them, they’ve clocked up 112 years and they’re both still working, sometimes six days a week. Mac, it seems, has kind of got my philosophy on the matter. So, well done the pair of you.
You will presumably have noticed that the magazine is now 116 pages and that means we can squeeze in a few more features each month.
Good, eh? The expansion has involved my photograph appearing alongside the editorial comment and that isn’t so good. I don’t particularly like my ugly mug in print, but I suppose it means that I’m still working and heck, I’d rather be ugly than idle. So, until next time, keep it classic and all that business.

Ted Connolly

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