Taking Stock - Relaxed and retired in Amsterdam.

It’s the same old story – after a lifetime in accountancy how does your average ex-professional spend his or her retirement? In quiet contemplation, tending the garden and helping out at the church fete? Or do you bag yourself some tickets to Amsterdam, and seek relaxation of the herbal kind? And we don’t mean jasmine tea. But that’s what Gerald, a 66-year-old retired British accountant featured in last Friday’s Evening Standard is up to. Spurred on after watching Brenda Blethyn’s Saving Grace, Gerald, married to wife, Beryl, for 43 years, decided it was high time they sampled the city’s delights. So, with savvy son at hand, a weekend was planned in the famed forward-thinking capital city of the Netherlands. After an afternoon jaunt with the weakest stuff sold in ‘The Dam’, known as ‘Purple Power’, Gerald and his wife weren’t too impressed. A slightly disappointed son shook off his concerns for his parents’ integrity and balance and got in some more potent stuff – Sudden Death. Crikey! After a couple of puffs, the paper says they were in their element and having the time of their life – and a laugh or two – and giggled at the thought of what people would think of them at the golf course.