David Jeater appears as the epitome of the mild
mannered and reserved English gentleman, yet he managed to break free from
the shackles of UK life to come here to retire and settle in Thailand. How
this transformation came about is a mixture of happenstance and
opportunity.
David
was born in the UK in Dorking in Surrey. He was the elder of two boys born
to a local builder and decorator. He went to Dorking County Grammar
School. “It was co-ed - that’s where I learned all about girls!”
(Little did he really know, at that stage in his development!)
Finishing his schooling, like so many of us, his career
path was unknown, but he eventually went to Technical College for 3 years
to do a building course. “I couldn’t think of anything else to do, so
in a sense I followed in my father’s footsteps.”
He entered the workforce as a junior surveyor and was
then promoted to become an estimator. This did not last long as, “At
that moment I got nicked for National Service.”
David spent the next two years as a 2nd Lieutenant in
the Army’s Royal Engineers. For 18 months of that time he was based in
Cyprus. “It was a bit of a holiday really. I would work in the mornings
signing petrol dockets, then go to the beach.” It was also in that spare
time that he met (and was married briefly) to a young Greek Cypriot girl.
On his return to civilian life he was re-employed by
his original firm once more as an estimator. However, David found this a
very frustrating occupation as, being part of the tendering process, many
times all his work would come to nothing if his firm did not get the
contract. In fact, David described it as being 80% abortive.
Becoming totally frustrated with the way the tendering
process was dictating his life, David decided a career change was needed.
By now he had moved to London and took a position as a project manager
with a developer. This was something he could really get his teeth into.
The projects would last 4-5 years, with the project manager overseeing the
commercial building process from inception to completion. He was
instrumental in attaining the corporate goal of well designed buildings
together with completion within time and budget. He was needed in other
cities, too, such as Glasgow and Manchester. However, these projects do
not just run themselves. With so many suppliers and variables he had to
possess a fair degree of tenacity. “It could be very stressful at
times.”
As the real estate bubble burst in the UK 10 years ago,
David suddenly found there were no more projects to manage and he was made
redundant. He reminisced on this period saying, “The firm I was with
crashed 3 months after I left, owing 235 million pounds!”
David was not one to sit around saying, “Oh, woe is
me” and taking his portable abilities he moved into the transportation
industry. “I didn’t know a thing about it, but I had the management
skills.” He joined London Underground Ltd and was concerned in projects
involved in the privatisation of British Rail. He described the various
projects he worked on as a “dog’s dinner of a job” including a spell
in Research and Development doing such exciting projects as working out
how to stop rabbits burrowing into embankments!
It was at this time that David had to meet another
water-shed in his life - his second wife dying of cancer. After a period
of adjustment, he found that he was on the matrimonial scrap heap. “I
was a middle aged widower in the UK, but I was told by a friend to go to
Thailand as I wouldn’t be alone very long.” His friend was correct. On
the first day of his first trip he met Da (his current partner) and this
was the stimulus for him to make four trips in that first year to
Thailand.
After attempting, and failing, to get Da a visa to come
to the UK, David had to make some more and far reaching decisions. “Work
was getting me down. I was too old, so I decided to sling it all in and
came to live here.” Pattaya was chosen being an ideal place, he felt, to
settle with its large expat community, plenty of life and lots of golf
courses and he arrived here permanently 4 years ago.
When I asked him of his definition of success he
replied, “Does ‘Successfully Yours’ apply to me? I suppose
completing 40+ years of work without too many disasters, not being sued
and having something tangible to show means some measure of success even
if I haven’t grown rich in so doing.” It should be noted that
David’s “something tangible” is over 500 million pounds worth of
buildings still standing. Not a bad sort of effort.
In his advice, there is the note to be flexible and to
know your job. “I had to adapt (construction to transportation), and
I’ve met far too many people who didn’t know their job.”
David’s hobbies include jazz music and he went to New
Orleans this year following the beat, but he has always enjoyed travel and
has already 30 countries’ visa stamps in his passport. His other pursuit
is golf “even though I can’t play it, I’m still struggling with
it!”
His ambitions are to continue travelling, keep fit and
enjoy life to the full. “There’s more opportunities here than back in
good old Blighty,” he said with a boyish grin which broke through his
usual sombre appearance.
David is not an extrovert. He likes to take his time to
get to know people and is happy in retirement with his involvement in the
Jomtien-Pattaya Rotary Club and his golf. He has adapted well to living
here, and the reserved Englishman will be here for a while yet.
