Hello Joe

Flu preventing Lorraine and I from going to Edgware to celebrate Mum's birthday. When I phoned, she was in the middle of sorting out problems with her boiler. Not an ideal birthday present, and I have missed her over Christmas. Betty bounced back today, bringing with her tales of being in a Swiss chalet for Christmas with her pals Sarah and Matt, and their two bairns.

Unluckily for me, the antibiotics I have been taking for prostatitis finished a couple of days and the b*stard thing has bounced back in full force. Add to this the fact my lungs now weezing like an old bellows full of angry wind (as W.B Yeats would say). Still, mustn't grumble eh?

However there was something I neglected to mention, which for me was a bit of a Christmas miracle. Joe, who lives next door, has faced many challenges in his four or five years, and has complex special needs. To our knowledge he has not spoken. So imagine my surprise on I think Christmas Eve, when I walked past their glass front door, and he flung it open and shouted 'Hello!' at me. He did it again the other day when I was putting the bins out. And we stood there waving at each other and saying 'Hello! Hello Joe!  Hello!