Page 317 - Demo

313and pushed the aircraft down with a bit of a thump and that was the end of my flying career. At that time there was talk of flying pay being incorporated into pensionable pay. This would have made a big difference to my pension and although it happened later it was not in time for me. However, the value of the pension was decided at the start of the financial year. As my birthday, and hence retirement was March 1st, this meant that I was actually getting a pension calculated 11 months earlier. Using the possible change of pension arrangement as a guide I asked for a 3 month extension of service and was given it. At the end of service we were eligible for a resettlement course. You could do more or less what you wanted and I decided that I would like to improve my French. I had done O level French when Alex was doing psychology at Easingwold School as her lessons were in the evening and I had to take her in and bring her back. The French lessons were good fun as several people from Tholthorpe were on the course. It was the first adult course that the teacher had done and he found us a bit harder work than children, We queried all sorts of things which the children would have just accepted. So, I investigated various courses and picked one based in Paris. I got travelling expenses and accommodation paid plus the course fees. As the French hotel system is that you pay for the room and meals separately Gabby came out for a couple of weeks while I was there. She actually bought a pair of shoes every morning while I was at School and then we had the afternoon to wander about as we wished. By the end of the month I had walked all over Paris and loved it. Halfway through the course I had a debriefing and was asked how my conversational French was going in the afternoon. I said that although I initiated any conversation in French, the reply came back in English. The teacher told me to say I did not understand English. Later when I was living in France I went to Montlucon to see the end of the Tour de France. I could not find where the race finished and so asked the waiter in French where it was. He started to reply in Eng-