Thirty Years at Smiths....and other sad stories - Dave Roberts - Bog

"If someone could wave a magic wand and enable me to re-write this story, I'd ask to be put back alongside my children as they grew up. I'd be there to pick them up should they fall." "A dad was required and she was happy to give me the job." "The three certainties of life: death, taxes and Coronation Street, remained undisturbed. " "To get a pay rise at Smiths you'd have to do something quite extraordinary - like find a cure for cancer." "The one fundamental flaw with the man-woman relationship is that a woman's capacity to talk exceeds the man's capacity to listen." "Poor Rebecca. She was soiled goods. In his absence she had committed a cardinal sin. She had allowed herself to become fond of me." "Minetts Avenue didn't feel like home after all that had gone on. It had been spoilt. It had seen too many things and couldn't keep quiet about them anymore. Every room had a story to tell." Most people go to work to earn a living. Here's one individual for which work was an escape -a comfort blanket if you like. After the Second World War Smiths' paternalistic environment provided support from cradle to grave. It was hard to leave its comfortable embrace -especially if your personal life was as chaotic as Dave Roberts'.
But times change, and once the chill economic winds of Thatchers Britain reached Bishops Cleeve it was never the same again. Dave's life needed to change in order to prosper. Would he find the contentment, happiness and confidence he needed in order to break away? Alternatively moving and comical, 'Thirty Years' is a heart-felt autobiographical slice of life in late twentieth century Britain. Ultimately redeeming, it paints a picture of a way of life now fast disappearing. 'Thirty Years' is always entertaining, packed full of anecdotes and wry observation.