A free lunch for a charitable cause

A rash offer made over a year ago came back to haunt me this week as I joined Treescaper Senior and his merry band of retired 'professional and business' contacts for their monthly lunchtime get together.

A rare insight into his secretive movements for those three hours a month over the last few years, which turned out to be not quite as steeped in mystery as a Masonic Lodge, but nevertheless a curious male only gathering. Topped and tailed by the saying of the grace, the reading of past minutes and the ritual humiliation of members in arrears with their subscriptions, this monthly event is a three course lunch of modest ambition followed by a guest speaker.

Over lunch, the Chairman was at pains to warn me that there were those in attendance who would likely fall asleep during my 'surely inspirational' talk. 'Do not be offended' - a warning hardly necessary since I am well aquainted with the effect that a three course lunch centering around a steak and kidney pie would have on Treescaper Senior.

The time came, the lights dimmed, and a hundred or so faded transparencies later, the visual wonders of the Arctic seemed to have left their mark on the handful of those still awake. Appreciation in the form of a cheque for £20 to the Stroke Association made the exercise worth while, but perhaps more satisfying was the broad smile on Treescaper Senior's face - still wide awake, the exception to prove the rule.

Roll on retirement?

Maybe I'm not quite ready for that yet!