Trouble! (AKA Jack writes a post)

Hi everyone

It's got round to that time of the year - Christmas!  (Note from The Vicar -it's past that time of the year!  Wake up, Jack!)  The Vicar always looks forward to a blog post from me, well, here we go.

What a year I've had!  The knee op is still painful some days but there's some people worse off than me.  At last I have visited my vicar friend for the first time in nearly two years, and yes, she's been getting out of hand.  My part of the garden has hebes in it!  If I get back there I will try and mask them by planting something to hide them.  I'm only joking - they don't look too bad.  I don't like to admit that as she might think I'm going soft then she might take a few more liberties and that wouldn't do at all.  I don't want her to make my life intolerable.

Jack, my sometime gardener/handyman and my all-time friend

So much has happened this year.  Over 45 years ago I was working on a farm which had students working there.  I befriended a New Zealand boy who eventually stayed with us.  He was with us about four years.  The help he gave me when my wife went to look after her sick mum was amazing. I'd been left with two children about 8-9 years old and without his help I wouldn't have managed.  Anyway, he went back to NZ and as so often happens we lost touch with each other,  Over the years I have never forgotten him or his kindness,  All I had was two letters from 1976, a newspaper cutting of his dad's death and a map of NZ.  Every time I took them out I would wonder what had happened to him.  I started to search around a bit.  I found out where his dad lived and found someone who had lived there.  I told my daughter  and my bucket list had him on it.  My daughter's husband had a mate in New Zealand and thanks to him I'm now back in touch  again.  He rang me one Sunday morning a few weeks ago.  We both couldn't speak for a while.  We were overcome with emotion.  He's promised to ring again next Christmas Day (if not before).  What a nice present that will be!

The day after we got back in touch we had some devastating  news.  Someone very close to me was told they had terminal illness.  I was absolutely heart-broken.  I won't go into details as it's too upsetting.

The Vicar came before Christmas and left a Christmas bag for me in the recycling bin!  (Note from The Vicar: that's where Jack told me to leave it!) I hope she got as much enjoyment from it as I did when the day arrived.  In my bag was a yellow belly notebook, a Lincolnshire dialect book, (I think she gave me this so I can speak correctly), and a book about the Lincolnshire potato railway.  As you may gather I'm very proud of my county.  She also gave me a Christmas tree hat, a bag of chocolate money (I'll bet it was hard for her to give me that), a tin of garden twine, four cans of my favourite tipple, an I SHIH TZU NOT mug and coaster and a bauble with a shih tzu on it, and of course a sugar mouse.  She knows I'm going through a difficult time at the moment and these pressies cheered me up.

Vicar, thank you for the unexpected gifts and for all your kindness and understanding.  Your visits give me the chance to pull your leg an forget other things for a while.  Mrs Jack enjoys your time with us too.  I don't know when I'll be back but tell Pete-the-handyman-and-gardener that he's been doing a good job and Annie-the home-enhancer ha definitely been doing a good job.  They're both looking after you so well.

Thank you to everyone for your comments on our Golden Wedding Day.  I hope you all have a splendid 2019 with your loved ones.  You never can tell what's around the corner.

And remember - exercise daily - walk wi the Lord

Love, Jack