Paul Carson and others have complained recently about not being able to get a job - in Mr. Carson's case for three years.

So I wonder where I went wrong. I was put out to grass at age 53, spent a week at home doing the usual retirement thing of decorating the house and was by then so bored I took a local "start now" job picking lettuces for two weeks.

Meantime I had seen an advert... and so began my new working life, doing anything that was advertised and changing jobs every year, always choosing what I fancied and looking for the "grass that's greener on the other side". By the age of 65 I had had one spell of two days out of work.

Some of those jobs, however, entailed travelling as much as six miles to work. I decided I didn't want to commute any more and so applied for a job two miles away so I could have a nice bicycle ride to work.

At the interview I pointed out I would be working until age 70. Of the four people who applied, two couldn't be bothered to turn up and I beat the remaining contender when the interviewer noticed on my CV that I rode motorcycles and he was also a motorcycle owner. Sorted.

I loved that job. On the final Christmas before my 70th birthday, I received a double bonus amounting to £720 and was asked to stay on but I declined.

My boss told me to go to Westons in East Street, Brighton, where he had made arrangements for me to purchase items I would like, up to £100, towards my second hobby of shooting. Not being greedy, I spent £84. Thank you very much, boss.

I have never been a workaholic but hate wasting time so I then took a job two days per week in pest control with a company car thrown in.

I was chosen for that job because the boss knew I would be unlikely to set up in competition with him once I had experience, a trust which I didn't abuse.

I finally retired at age 73. My boss still drops in for the occasional cup of coffee and I now devote my energies to my new motorcycle and rebuilding some of the others in the garage.

July brings me my 75th birthday and free TV. Yippee.

Sorry Mr.Carson, but it is not bragging about having a university degree (in what, the usual useless "media studies"?) that gets a job. It is the right attitude - down-to-earth willingness to do any work.

Never mind, it will be easier for you when you reach age 65 because employers don't have to pay National Insurance for you after that.

-Bob Metson, Henfield