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This is a story I often think back on, as one of the most memorable times of my life.

In 1995 I had been made redundant from a heating installation company. I arranged to go back to full time college to learn about computers but that left me with the dilemma of what to do until September so I started job hunting. Just to help matters my girlfriend at the time got a job in London and decided she wanted to move down there, I did not, and we agreed on an amicable split.

A friend threw me a lifeline...he worked for a company that managed several properties in Spain, a couple of which he owned, and they could not get any local plumbers to fix leaks, mend toilets and sort out the hot water so I went out there for 3 months, staying in a little corner apartment that needed the decorating and tiling finishing, which I agreed to do as it was rent free. I had the use of a little Fiat car for work and pleasure, when it started, and they even paid me! With my redundancy money I was quite well off and having a great time, the work was not hard, I paced myself, working five mornings a week, doing some swimming and sun bathing in the afternoon and then hitting the bars in the evening and at weekends.

I had been in Spain for five weeks or so and I was in the local store waiting to pay for my groceries when I noticed two very pretty teenage girls in front of me, arguing quietly about which of them should ask for cigarettes and what brand to buy.

I offered my assistance, I said that most of the people I knew who smoked, smoked Benson