Why You Should Do It Now! - The Story of Boatman Pete

I first met Boatman Pete around four years ago, although I felt I already knew him as we had been exchanging emails for some time. His email address started with the words “Boatmanpete” so the nickname stuck. When we did meet, it was for me to help him to buy his retirement home here in Spain. His main criteria was that he wanted a small house, with a big plot of land, as he planned to build a huge swimming pool. Not to laze around in, but to sail his model boats in! He showed me some amazing photos of his boats, all of which he built from scratch, and one of which you can see in the photo below.

At that time Pete was still a few years away from his retirement – he had worked his entire life in the maintenance department of a breakfast cereal manufacturer, and had saved and saved, to get the money together for the retirement he so looked forward to. He hated his job with a passion, but always saw it as a means to an end.

We helped him find just the right place, and over the following years, he visited frequently to supervise the installation of the pool, to put in a small putting green, and to do various little jobs around the house preparing for the day he would live there. Back home, he learned Spanish fluently, because he was determined to become one of the locals, and not to live as an ex pat.

Last year he joyfully retired, and left the factory for the last time without a backward glance. As his wife still had another few months to work, the plan was for him to come over and get stuck in to some more jobs around the house to ensure everything was perfect for her arrival this year.

He quickly became a well loved character in the village, partaking in fiestas, playing cards with the local old boys and amusing everyone with his concrete molds. He designed a simple mold for making hexagonal concrete slabs, producing one each day, allowing it to sun bake, before inserting it in it’s place to create a long path from the pool to the putting green. He was greatly amused to find that his path could be seen on Google Earth, and checked regularly for updates as it got close to it’s destination.

A couple of weeks before Christmas, Pete finished the path, and headed back to UK to spend the festive season with his wife. He was really looking forward to returning with her in the new year to start their new life together.

He arrived home on a Thursday, and spent the next few days getting the house in UK ready for sale. On the Sunday he complained of a sore throat and headed to the doctor on the Monday. He was sent to the hospital for tests, and his wife joined him for the meeting with the specialist. Pete could tell that the news wasn’t good from the man’s demeanor. The specialist told them that Pete had cancer, and that the disease had spread and was inoperable. Typically, Pete joked “I will see Christmas, won’t I?” Both he and his wife were shocked when the answer came back that he might not.

Pete didn’t – he was gone 10 days later.