On happiness

Last week I promised you a heartwarming tale of happiness, so here it is.

My good friend (whom for the sake of anonymity we shall call X ), aged 58, describes himself as a long-haired, vegetarian saxophone player who lives in semi-poverty in a crumbling house; in a deeply unfashionable towm in the Midlands famous only for two things one of which is repeated lineside equipment failures (sorry, that last bit slipped in from another blogthread).

Forty years ago, in 1968, I first met X when we both went "up" (as they sometimes say) to university. We became part of a small group of fellow students who have remained good friends ever since. We've all done reasonably well in our lives in a reasonably conventional way and I suppose we are - for good or ill - the epitome of middle aged middle class middle England.

But that doesn't quite fit the story of my friend X. After university he moved North, taught English to college students, lived in digs (as they sometimes say), and played sax on Friday nights in a local pub. Thirteen years ago, in his mid-40s, he took advantage of a redundancy deal to give up his teaching career, return to his home town, retire from conventional working life, and spend his time as a jobbing saxophonist on the local jazz circuit. While the rest of our university group were busy building careers, my friend X was blowing his horn (as they sometimes say) and living on very little money at all.

Last August my friend X was playing at a charity gig when a lady (let us call her Y ) crossed his path. They fell in love dancing in the moonlight to the sound of Glenn Miller and last weekend a large assortment of family and friends (including your correspondent) gathered together to celebrate their marriage. The music was, understandably, terrific and X and Y demonstrated their perfect harmony with a show-stopping duet of They tried to tell us we're too young...

Heartwarming yes, and also a story about happiness. It's not about having loadsamoney or a posh house or a fancy car or a high-status job: it's about being in control of your own life and doing what you want to do with it. The story of my friend X - like the Samuel Smiles recipe for success through self-help in my previous blogpiece - has within it a lesson on happiness for all of us.

Here endeth the lesson. Now to leave the office and face the Euston concourse where, I have to say, I rarely feel in control of my own life!