Friends for sale

The son of an 88 year old widower has found a couple of drinking pals for his dad after putting an advert in the local post office and offering a rate of £7.00 an hour.

He and his dad interviewed a few candidates and took three of them out for a "trial drink" at the local pub.

I can understand that it's difficult for an elderly man to meet new people to go to the pub with when he is living in a nursing home but doesn't he feel a bit strange knowing that his new drinking pals, no matter how much he has in common with them, are being paid to hang out with him? To be fair, one of the two successful candidates has waived his fee but the other is taking the dosh to top up his pension.

I don't know - strikes me as a bit odd. On the other hand, I'd happily accept £7.00 an hour to hang out at the pub listening to old people's life stories. It would be great for gathering writing material and it would be a nice little earner to boot. Yes, this could be an interesting career move. I should get some business cards printed up and tour the local old people's homes.