With ref to yesterday's [Thursday’s] email no 3, and having achieved the age of 75 yesterday, I thoroughly agree with all that your correspondent said regarding the service. (I can remember the hard copy days) I am now happily retired in South Africa where I have made a point of reconnecting with the natural world. Long walks in the safer areas of bush and sitting on my veranda with a glass of wine observing the birds in my garden. I am pleased to report that my pension fund has done spectacularly well this year by being overweight commodities esp gold which your service identified some months ago. Hoping we both remain reasonably healthy for many more years.

David Fuller's view

Happy Birthday and thank you so much for this email.  As a veteran subscriber you had the experience to recognise the recovery potential in gold and other commodities early this year, and the wisdom to invest in the face of the crowd’s extreme pessimism.  May you continue to enjoy your reconnection with the natural world, from long walks in safer areas of the bush to observing South Africa’s spectacular bird life from your garden.  I was delighted to see a largely white barn owl at dusk over a nearby uncultivated field on Saturday in North Devon.  May we long enjoy these experiences.