Raymond Garlick was fond of saying 'Man is the measure of all things'. This popped into my mind today,like an e-mail from the past.

I was in the garden when it happened.I was allowingit to float about when a neighbour stopped to chat. She's always seemed busy and active butsurprised me by saying she often felt a gnawing loneliness. Yes, she had friends, family living away,but she felt an emptiness.

Without talking aboutexistential 'angst', we decided that sometimes life fallsa little flat beforepicking itself up again. When she'd gone, I began mulling.

Writing in the C17th Thomas Hobbesdecidedin 'Leviathan' thatlife was 'solitary . . . brutish and short'.

Most previous generations have not had the luxury ofwondering if theyfelt lonely; they had to do andendure,with no time for introspection.

Although being alone is different from being lonely,large families in the pastmeanta lack of privacy, yet there were compensations. One reportsays that those who move more than fifty miles from where they were born are less secure than people who see their families often.

T.S.Eliot'ssaid that 'Hell is oneself/ Hell is alone'. This could be a problem now that people will have to wait longer for their pensions, but not necessarily. Studies show that many pensioners fade away when they retire. Employment is not just about money butsocial groups andperception, one's own and others people's. Work confers identity.

Retirees havethe unfortunate tag 'pensioner' appended, as though they have reached the final full stop.A seventy year old, in employment, doesnot havethat nomenclature.

The skill is to see life as on-going. Peter Ustinov, oncetold he must feel very satisfied with his life's work,commented he always looked to the next project, hoping for improvement.

Dylan Thomas wrotethat theworld : 'Spins its morning of praise' andit's that vison that gives life its meaning and helps usconnect with what is around us.