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on the work, it still provided Landen with a reasonable income and living.

Yet in recent months the pleasure of being his own boss had begun to wane as the pressures of the work and keeping up with the constant changes of tax legislation increased. The frustrations and disillusionment that Landen was now feeling had been added to by the increased financial pressures that were burdening the success of the business.

Therefore, on this day, it was deeply troubled blue eyes looked down upon the people rushing around in the street below. Landen smiled somewhat bitterly as he watched the early morning commuters jostling through the crowd as they tried to get to the railway station before their neighbour, anxious to ensure that they could claim a seat on the overloaded carriages for the hour long journey to London.

"I envy you lot," he muttered sadly, well aware that his words could not be heard through the double-glazed office windows. "Out at seven in the morning and back at seven at night to spend the rest of the evening glued to the television, too numb to think about anything else. Satisfied with your lot and totally oblivious to the problems of others around you most of the time. But then I suppose you have people like me around when you get into trouble." he laughed thinly, his tone dripping in self-pity. "But who the bloody hell is there for me when I need help? No-one! Not a bloody soul." His outburst had fallen only upon his own ears, for there was no-one else in the room, nor in fact in the building. It would be another thirty minutes or more before the office began to resound to the daily sound of office chatter, computers, printers and telephones. In days gone by, he would have utilised this quiet period to catch up with some of the outstanding paperwork, to clear his desk for the challenges of the day. Now the spirit and enthusiasm was no longer, disappeared along with the years of his youth. Years of joy which had slipped by him unnoticed. Years now past retrieval.

Despite the early hour, Landen felt very tired. These days sleep eluded him. Most nights were spent in an endless quest to find a solution to the financial and emotional problems which seemed to have dogged his private and professional life for the past year or so. Frequently, it felt as if the harder he worked the deeper the financial difficulties became. Deep down he knew it was his own fault. Landen had often been told that he was too soft to be a businessman. A client

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