Getting up almost every morning and heading into work can sometimes be a bit of a drag, no matter how much you may love your job. When you're slogging away over your computer, seeing client after client, or whatever it is you do all day in exchange for a paycheck, you might find yourself momentarily comforted by a daydream about retirement, when your time is all your own, and there's nothing to do but play bridge and eat cake all day long. That may sound ideal for some, but U.K.-based 89-year-old Joe Bartley wasn't interested in that life.

Bartley retired six years ago, and after his wife passed away two years ago, he found retirement lonely and boring. So, he set out to make a change. He posted an ad in his local newspaper, The Herald Express, and it quickly went viral. The ad ended with a funny plea from Bartley, "Save me from dying of boredom!"