Sunday 25 July 2010

Epitaph for an estate agent

We came upon this curious gravestone in the hilltop cemetery. Ninety years old and all anyone could think of writing was to tell the world he'd been an estate agent!

1 comment:

Mike Griffin said...

Hi,

Great blog! the deceased was not only an Estate Agent, but one of the old school, with 2 lots of qualifications RICS & CA&EAI)probably started as an articled clerk.

Aged 90, I bet he could tell a tale or two, especially as his may have been a wartime qualification. This showed that attitude to the 2 professional bodies - the CA&EAI positively helped servicemen even to the extent of sending course work to those in POW camps. The RICS greeted returning war servicemen with the comment -'Ah! Smithers - no sub paid since 1939 you will have to re-apply for membership'!

The 2 bodies amalgamated in 1970 and the Auctioneers were heavily out numbered by the Surveyors. To overcome this the final exam pass rate for the Auctioneers went up from a normal 40%to about 72% - the year I took my Auctioneers finals.

Now it's all University degree entrants.

Thanks to 'Chertsey for bringing this blog to my attantion.

Mike.