Time to live MY life

[Nutsonmercs]

Where do I start? OK. I'll get the negatives out of the way first. Way back when I was young, I applied for the first restoration course at Colchester college. Got to the last 40 to be interviewed but sadly failed to get in.
Tried to please my first wife till I was about 39 (no, I don't have that much stamina) putting my own desires aside.
Met my next partner that I'm still with and carried on with my own business.
Warned her from day 1 that I had an illness. Told her about an incurable bug that was inflicting me that had no medical cure.
CARS. Not ordinary cars, no. They had to be old, they had to be rusty, they needed to be like the stray dog that was shunned and unloved. They needed to have more time and money spent on them than they would ever be worth.
She had to accept the fact that all she could ever do was to nurse me. A cure would never be found.
Within a short time I was inflicted with 63 different bugs. A good friend consoled me and helped with keeping all those bugs in confined spaces. His truck moved them about so they could not threaten me all at once.
Then, 9 years ago something happened to me, a life changing event, something that could compare to St Paul's' journey on the road to Damascus.
I was drawn to a place in a far off land. It had been abandoned, unloved, in need of caring. It needed someone to nurture it,to let it know that there are people in this world that will put others in front of themselves. In return, it would give up a piece of itself that had managed to survive the ravages of time. A special place that few had had the pleasure of. A place with welcoming arms that would protect and defend, an El Dorado for those who chose to make it so.
Within months it made good on its promise. Slowly but surely, it opened its gates and embraced the bugs that had inflicted my life, now down to 16, cocooning them from the evil wizards that had before put Abandoned vehicle notices on their moss covered screens.
Surely now there was hope on the horizon. A medication that could alleviate the pains that I had been suffering for so long. Somewhere that I could, with a little help from those around me, start to rebuild, reshape, cut out the cancerous rust that had hidden beneath for so long.
Little did I know that a Dark and Demonic Knight, Sir Gordon of the Brown, and a band of Bankers, ruthless rogues, who for many years scoured our land for unsuspecting victims and lined their pockets till they were bursting, would soon come and darken the skies.
What was I to do?
My lowly, humble abode that I had left behind tumbled in value. The Groats that I would have been left with from any sale were now worth even less in that far off land.
I had no option. I had to return.But what could I do against such insurmountable odds?
To the rescue came a Knight in shining armour. A knight that I had helped in the distant past. 'Come and join me in my quest and I shall reward you for your services'.
Three months I thought and all will be well.
Little did I know that the greedy money lenders would put paid to that. They laughed at anyone that wished to climb on the rotting property ladder. They pulled the rungs so no one could ascend. For three long years I have toiled, far from my El Dorado and my waiting maiden.
But wait. All is not lost.
A hero from a northern land has crossed the seas in his longboat, together with a chest of filthy luka, and wants to exchange it for my hovel.
Within the passing of two full moons, he wishes to settle, and bid me farewell on my journey back to that far off land that I miss so much.
Could it be that I shall soon start to rebuild that which others have tried to pull down? Will I ever build on the foundation that awaits it's new suit of shining aluminium, some say, aluminum armour?
I live in hope, knowing that what has driven me for the last 35 years, will not fail me or judge me when I make mistakes.
With this in mind, and knowing that there are celestial angels, in a metalshaping heaven that will guide me on my way, I shall sleep easy tonight.

Peter