Francis Gay

“I KNOW you want to make the situation better,” I said to him. “Why don’t you reach out to her?” He shook his head and said: “There’s no point. She’ll tell me where to go.”

“How do you know that?” I asked. “Because I know her,” he replied.

“And does she know you?” I asked. “Of course she does,” he said. “And would she expect you to reach out to her?” I asked. “No! No way,” he insisted.

“So, think how surprised she would be,” I said. “She might surprise you as well.” And she did. In a good way.

Too many of the stalemates in our relationships are caused by habits and expectations. Why not throw a little extra love in there and see how that defies all expectations? JIMMY has had a sniff since he was a teenager. An operation under general anaesthetic didn’t cure it. He hardly notices it any more but he’s aware it might annoy others.

His three-year-old granddaughter Ellie has been going through a phase of being scared of the dark. Her parents have had many disturbed nights as a result. So, when she was staying over at her grandparents, gran talked to her about staying in bed all night like a big girl and not being scared of the dark.

That’s when Ellie said: “If I wake up and I’m worried, I’ll listen for grandad’s sniff. And then I know I’ll be alright.”

As Jimmy himself put it: “I’m a comfort to a child in the middle of the night – and that isn’t something to be sniffed at!”