[nzporsche944s2]

I worked in a bar in Essex, England for a year. There was one guy that used to come in every morning at opening time and stay until the 5pm crowd started coming in.

He was about 40, always well dressed and articulate.

I took him for being a lonely eccentric but as I got to know him the truth was even stranger.

He had been a high powered financial trader in London in the late 80's (this was in the early 90's that I met him). To keep the traders fueled the company had been supplying them with free cocaine. During one long binge he had flipped his 7 series and killed a passenger. He received a suspended sentence for that crash/death (and a lifetime of guilt) and lost his job since the passenger was a fellow employee. He took his employer to court and won a very large settlement which he used to buy property and a boat on the island of Nevis in the Carribean.

His daily visits to my bar were just to pass the time until the suspended sentence expired and he could leave the country to start a new life.

He used to talk about his plans for Nevis and urged me to come and visit him there. I haven't had the opportunity yet but I often think of him there.