She was right about the pub. Even at seven o'clock in the evening it bustled with young, good looking, well dressed and well heeled people. Porsches and Mercedes purred to and fro outside. Tim waved and "Helloed" several people. The publican welcomed Tim warmly and the menu included escargot, lobster and other delicacies.

As the evening wore on, she found Tim very easy to talk to. His blue eyes flashed as he leaned back in his chair and swigged his pint. He had dressed casually in tailored blue trousers, close fitting dark blue tee shirt and moccasin shoes. Sarah noticed several nearby ladies casting envious looks in his direction. It gave her a nice feeling to be sat opposite him.

Conversation turned as it often does in the warmth ambience of a good hostelry to matters of life and making a living.

"I couldn't see the point in the puritan ethic", Tim said. "Life ought to be the pursuit of fun for all of us but governments are terrified of the thought of having an affluent population".

"But surely the main purpose for any government is to maximise the wealth of the people", said Sarah.

That made Tim laugh. His guffaw was typically sudden and loud. It was the sort of laugh that made people look over to see what was funny - and it's wild abandon would make them smile too.

"If the population was made up of millionaires", Tim chided gently, "who would drive the taxis late at night, clean the drains or even study so hard to be a brain surgeon?"

"If everybody in the country had more than enough, the country would grind to a halt! The aim of the government is much more likely to aim for a balance between increased comfort for the masses as technology advances and the need to keep everybody poor enough so that they have to keep their noses to the grindstone."

Sarah pulled a face tinged with disbelief but without an argument against his proposition. But she looked at him now with new respect. Like most people living in a democracy she had always thought the government was on the peoples side.

"So where did you learn all this wisdom"?

"Nowhere in particular", he replied.

"I was never particularly academic. For me the sports field was much more fun than the classroom. I went from a minor prep school in Devon, then onto a sports academy in Somerset and for a few years spent some time on the pro-tennis circuit. It got me round the world, earned me some money and gave me time to think".

His eyes glazed over lost for a moment in his memories.

"But it was a life where I would have to battle against a good buddy for three hours in the heat of the midday sun. There would often be only a half a dozen people watching. $10,000 prize money would turn on whether my buddy or I won the last point and after a while there just seemed no sense to it. Business was a better game that was much easier to play and win".

He stretched and Sarah could see the ripple of his muscles through his tee shirt. He had not yet lost the body tone of his earlier years.

"And your family", invited Sarah, determined to have the Royal Tour.

"Long line of Devon farmers struggling to avoid declining fortunes over the years. They should have sold up years ago and put the money on the world stock market. They would be wealthier and would have avoided the long and hard hours. But they would never do that. For them it's a way of life", he admitted.

They stayed until closing time. Sarah thought it was a lovely evening. They laughed a lot and through the haze of good food and alcohol forgot for a while some of the less pleasant things of life.