When my 1st wife and I moved in to the Army "hiring" I'd been allocated near Maidstone, Joan and her husband lived next door on the opposite side to Mary who I talked about in my first story. Joan had delayed retiring so that she & her husband could begin their joint retirement together. Tragically, a few months later, her husband died and Joan, in her early 60s with no close relatives, was left facing retirement alone. S...

It was over 45 years ago, but I still remember her I was a young Squaddie, a Sapper serving in the Royal Engineers and, unfortunately, I was married and not very happily. Because of a shortage of married quarters in the garrison, we'd been allocated a "hiring", a civilian hound away from the garrison area, rented by the Army in place of the official quarter. Next door but one were a couple about 10 years older than us wit...