John’s story

“When I first spotted Pat on the bus all those years ago I thought she had a lovely smile and beautiful eyes and I decided I was going to catch that bus every morning. I have very happy memories of our time together so I don’t know why we didn’t continue seeing each other. “When she wrote to me again last year and we later spoke on the phone it was like we’d parted only a few weeks earlier. The years in between just seemed to fade away. “The day we met up before I went to Australia I just looked at her and thought ‘gosh!’. We kissed passionately and I said what do we do now? When she said ‘I don’t know’, I said ‘perhaps we should get married’. Some people have said to me that that was irrational but it just seemed the right thing to do. “Our wedding day was wonderful as I had my daughters there and my 15-year-old grandson was my best man, which he loved. “When my wife died three years ago I thought the world was over as we’d had such a wonderful relationship. I’d get out and about but was still coming home to an empty house. So to just be able to hold hands with Patricia and feel human contact again was magical. “I’m 77, as is Pat, but thanks to her I feel 17 again. To have someone around me all the time saying I’ll look after you is wonderful. I just can’t believe this has happened and we love each other to bits.”