So my friend had recently been made redundant
He's financially solvent. He has no financial obligations that he can't meet.
Whenever people ask what he's going to do with himself (he's late forties) he simply replies that he has a parrot - he has - and he's teaching said parrot new words
Isn't that the most brilliant riposte to people who think he might be occupying himself with non executive directorships and what have you.
He is being useful. He's just distracting people with his parrot.