When was the best time of your life?

[HHTel]

I am 69 and I'm sure I'm one of the biggest age sector in Hua Hin. Lately, I was looking back on my life and musing over what was the best time of my life. For myself, I came up with the following:

1. I joined the Navy at 16 and 3 quarters! I spent 10 years, 3 months and 15 days (approximately!!) serving Her Majesty. In that time I was posted abroad/at sea for more than 8 years of that. I went twice around the world. Spent time in more than 60+ countries and had the time of my life. In those days (60's), Britain was still respected everywhere. 'Showing the flag' was the norm. (Oh how different it is now). I learnt more about geography than I ever did at school. I experienced many cultures and visited countries which 40/50 years on I would never want to go back there. I was in Bagkok in 1965 and visited Pattaya when there was only a beach road and very little else. I spent a couple of years in Singapore when there were only 2 hotels - The Goodwood and Raffles. Africa was a very different place to what is now. I was based in Simonstown at the height of apartheid which was nothing like the stereotype given to the rest of the world.
For me those 10 years were the most memorable and significant in my life.

2. Following that, after I left the navy and got married, my happiest time was after my first divorce when I won custody of my two children who were 5 and 7 years old. I was 'single' for the next 8 years. I owned several companies which gave me a great income with very little 'hands on' with my companies. This allowed me to spend an enormous amount ot time being involved and watching my children grow and develop. Two or three foreign holidays a year was the norm.

Then I met and married a Thai!!!

My original two children are now adults but I now have Luuk krung teenage daughters which are hard work.

My best eras of my life have been and gone and I don't envisage anything that would top those times before I die. I'm happy with my lot however.

I'd be interested to know if any other of our 'old-timers' look back on their lives and compare what they had then with what they have now.

[jumusman]

Sounds like you really had a great life so far, wow. At 44 I feel like the last 2 years have been the best of my life, I have met the girl of my dreams here in Thailand which has allot to do with it. Never had any children and never been married, I would assume most people would say those were the best two things to happen in their lives.

Before that I worked in I.T on Cruise Ships for 7 years and at that point I felt that was the best time of my life due to seeing so many countries and cultures, it really helped me grow as a person.

[Dannie Boy]

I find it difficult to narrow it down to one event or one time period, as things hold different values as time moves on. I've had a great number of memorable times in my life, getting married the first time, having three sons and seeing them grow up to the adults they are today and having one grandchild.

Work wise, I was fortunate to work for a major UK company that provided me with lots of opportunities to move around in the UK and then in later life mainly overseas, working and living in some great (and not so great) locations, but strangely one of the least desirable locations (spending four years just outside Karachi Pakistan) was one of the best experiences I ever had.

Then meeting my second wife here in Hua Hin and being very happy in my now retired life. I wouldn't want to rank any of them as best, because for me life is about today and tomorrow, rather than yesterday.

[Vital Spark]

I feel that I'm having the best time of my life (so far) right now.

The first 36 years of my life were in the UK, and I really loved school (but that was many years ago). When I was working I had the statutory holidays, which meant I had a two-week holiday abroad (and a couple of other weeks off at home). Saving up for holidays and paying bills was a bit of a struggle, as wages in the east of England are pretty low. A meal in a restaurant was a rarity, and a night out in the pub seriously dented the finances. Quite frankly, life was rather dull.

Now I have a job that offers a lot more holiday, and the cost of living here means that we can live on one salary, and save the other for holidays I could only dream about way back then. We're both working hard, but having a lot of fun when not working. It takes a trip back to the UK to see how my life would have been if I had stayed in sleepy Suffolk. Boy, am I happy that we took that 'risk' 18 years ago, and decided to try something new.

VS

[GLCQuantum]

The best years of my life were way back in '98.

Still in secondary school, me and my large group of friends got into the illegal rave scene. Friday nights would see us waiting in Waterloo station for THE call. The call that would tell us which derelict building had been broken in to and reshaped as a club for the unforeseen future. We would then party there until the early hours of the morning or, on some occasions... the whole weekend. The best one I went to was a derelict multi-screen cinema in Elephant and Castle. That particular party lasted for two weeks. Me and my buddies just stayed for the weekend.

Not long after '98 my friends and I began DJing ourselves. As my room was decked out with 10,000 pounds worth of DJ equipment and my friend and I's outdoor rig had hit 6000kw of power (I mean real stats, not those that you read on shoddy Thai speakers and amps) we were 'the shit' to put it politely.

We were creators of the first illegal rave to hit the sleepy town of Fleet (Rather than travelling to London we thought we'd bring the action closer to home) at the lush outdoor surroundings of Fleet pond . After that we conquered Aldershot with an epic takeover of a derelict, three storey building. Must have been a few thousand at that one. Being arrested quite often for noise disturbances didn't hold us back. We were young and carefree.

Being close friends with dozens and dozens of people is something I dearly miss. I'm lucky that the friend that I began DJing with, and first met in '94, also moved to Hua Hin.

A person without close friends is a person who has lost his way. I have one. I have people I meet and drink with but they are not 'close' friends - they are people I go out with. Meet for a drink.