Billy didn’t really know his elderly neighbour. But he knew she lived on her own and was none too steady on her feet.

So, to make it less slippy underfoot, he has taken to sweeping the fallen leaves off her path. Which was how they ended up talking and sharing life stories.

It turns out she used to work in the same sheltered accommodation where his great-uncle Sandy had spent his last few years. She remembered Sandy – and nine-year-old Billy! You see, on his way to visit his much-loved great-uncle, Billy would often play on a nearby river bank. And then trample mud along the corridors.

“I always knew when you had been visiting,” she said, laughing. “I had to mop those corridors.”

How sweet is it to realise they have been walking in (and taking care of) each other’s footsteps for all this time?