Francis Gay

HELEN seemed surprisingly happy. She had been talking to Ross, a friend of hers, who was a long-term drug addict.

They were discussing Bill who had been an addict but had gone through rehab and turned his life around. Despite the fact that he now lived hundreds of miles away he still kept in touch with his old mate, encouraging him to improve his life.

Ross had finally agreed to go to rehab but didn’t have the money to get there – so Bill had sent him a ticket. “Well, that’s kind,” I said, “but...” “Ohhh!” Helen laughed. “I’m just delighted because when Bill was making excuses for not going to rehab he said he didn’t have the fare. So, I bought him a ticket. I had no idea I was, effectively, buying two tickets!”

Ahhh! And, hopefully, one day, Ross will make it three. DANNY should have made sure his grandchildren had shoes on but he hadn’t anticipated the fun Nathan, three, and Annie, two, would have just running up and down the garden path.

Nathan was determined to be the fastest and Annie was determined to keep up. They ran, giggling to the garden gate and back again. Their simple fun took Danny back to his own childhood. He just tried not to think of the state of their socks!

It was only when the rain came on that he scooped them up and carried them, laughing breathlessly, back into the house. Then he put a washing on!

Danny has often complained about the amount of electronic gadgetry the children in the family have but those moments of simple fun reassured him of one thing – childhood may have changed, but children haven’t!