Alan Patrick Ramirez Gilliland

Colin and Jack

Jack is a recent British retiree who is planning to move to the south of France. A few months after his retirement, he met an old friend, Colin, by pure coincidence in a café at Trafalgar Square:

I was calmly reading my newspaper whilst sipping a hot cup of tea in my favourite café at Trafalgar Square. I was remembering that summer I had a few years ago in the south of France. Boy, what a summer. I was really looking forward to moving there. Suddenly, my thoughts were interrupted by a cheerful voice: - Hey Jack, How’s everything going? Do you still remember who I am?-. It was Colin. I had spent my last years of work with him, so I was really happy to see him again. – Hey Colin! What a surprise. It’s really good to see you again. What have you been up to these days? - Nothing much, a bit of this and a bit of that… I’ve been quite busy with work lately, you’re lucky you don’t have to work anymore. So, what about you? - . I was glad he asked, because I was really excited about my future plans in France. I started to explain my plans with great enthusiasm: - Well, do you remember those holidays in France I explained to you the last time we met? I liked the county-side so much that I decided to buy a little cottage with my savings in the south of France just right next to the Pyrenees-. –No way!- Colin exclaimed. -That sounds like a lot of fun! I’d love to come and visit you sometime.- Sure. I answered. -Feel free to give me a call when I’m settled down in France, I’m confident I can make a little space for you and your wife-.

And so it was: the very next summer I received a call from Colin: Hey Jack! How’s is it going there back down in France?-.-It’s really good, you should come and visit me. You’ll love the cheese. –In fact that’s exactly why I’m calling you, I was wondering if you could make a gap for me to come and spend a week in France with you. What do you say?- he asked. I obviously said that he could come and visit me any time he liked, so I said yes.

So there he came, and spent a week to remember in France. In fact I think he liked so much that he’s considering to move in to France once he’s retired…