Cruising into the sunset

Years ago there was an advert in magazines trying to sell some sort of private pension scheme. It featured two photographs of an elderly couple, standing side by side and looking straight at the camera.

In one photo, the couple are brown and smiling, standing in bright sunshine with roses climbing up the wall of a cottage as a backdrop. In the other, the same couple look tired and worried, they have bags under their eyes and there is a cold, blue tint to the photo. The backdrop is a brick wall.

The ad said that the first couple took out their insurance policy in good time, and the other didn't. It asked the  rhetorical question - which future would you rather have? I have never forgotten it and I now find myself looking more and more like the spendthrift husband in the blue picture.

Because the government has pretended to encourage the building of affordable houses for first-time buyers by relaxing planning restrictions, many luxury apartments and houses are being built right now, particularly around this area.

The agents for these are targeting retired couples because they are the ones who usually have the most money. The adverts in the local magazines always feature a healthy-looking, white haired couple with perfect teeth who you are encourage to suspect still maintain an active sex-life.

The models for these photos are often standing on the balcony of their apartment (yes, they have balconies) arm in arm, looking over the beautiful city-scape as the sun begins to set. On a small table behind them there is a bottle of wine and two half-full (not half empty) glasses. They could not drink during the day when they worked, but now they can do whatever they like. That could be dawn, not sunset.

Bad news - a recent report in The Lancet says that drinking any alcohol at all will kill you, and suggests that all doctors recommend that everyone become tee-total.