Kate the painter came in today and we had a great chat, I was doing her order and we were swapping stories. I introduced her to Scott the Korean painter and he has a whole amazing story of his own. The guy was once a bodyguard for South Korean politicians. He is 58 and is built like a tank, drives around in a Porsche SUV and manages his painting business.

I told him how great Kate’s paintings are and he asked if she had photos, I pulled out my phone and showed him one of her paintings. He totally spun out and he was saying how when he was young he loved painting on canvas and how when he retires his dream is to build a small painting studio in his yard and paint again.

Kate is not the type to blow her own trumpet and she thanked me for introducing her to Scott. Kate talked about her husband from back in the 60s and how he controlled all of the money. She said married life was so depressing that all she would do in her spare time was rearrange the fruit bowl. She said her husband always tried to keep her in her place.

I said my Dad was the same, he never said anything nice about my Mum and always put her down. My aunt was once married too in the 60s and after she divorced she just cut men out of her life and never married again. Kate was saying when she did divorce and was getting welfare she and other women would have to stand in a line to process their welfare and men would walk by and spit at them.

One thing that I mentioned that I dealt with when I was young and was part of her generation was how you couldn’t talk about anything. If you had problems you just couldn’t talk about it. The only way I got any life lessons was either through books or movies. Kate remembered that well and it was just how things were. The only reason I got so stuck into books was that here and there were pearls of wisdom you wouldn’t find anywhere else.

Young people kind of spin out at the blather fest my generation put them through but when I was young I would have killed for someone to talk to me. It was pretty shit. Things slowly changed through the 90s and these days nobody can shut up about their problems but I am honestly good with that. Kate agreed, I literally lived in a different world and so did Kate. Kate is so happy every day and she loves her life and painting.