Shiver

We're into the first cold snap of the winter, and it's freezing here (by the standards of the UK, at least). It could be worse - the BBC Weather website was threatening snow earlier in the week, but that dire prediction hasn't come to fruition so far. I absolutely hate snow these days, although I don't have go out on bad weather days, as long as I can keep my grocery stocks maintained suitably, one of the few advantages of early retirement through ill health.

I do get rather isolated sometimes, though, so I try to associate with the human race occasionally. Yesterday was one of those days, and I forced myself (!) to visit my regular Wetherspoons in 'town' for a few pints. I haven't got any acquaintances, never mind friends, at the pub, but I'm recognised by sight there, mostly through the staff, to make me feel I'm part of the community, if only tangentially. One other benefit of the hostelry is its status as a 'family friendly' establishment, which means there are sometimes opportunities to catch a little eye candy. Not this time, though - midweek days in term time are rarely beneficial in that context - so instead I decided to treat myself to a rare takeaway meal when got back to  my local bus stop. And my decision turned out to be a win-win scenario - not only was the food up to their usual good standards, I had a 'boy moment'! He was waiting for an order when I arrived, and, in typically teenage ill-advised fashion, he'd decided that a tee shirt and shorts were a good idea - the poor bugger was literally shivering, visibly. Despite my reluctance to engage with anyone nowadays, given my embarrassingly poor speech, post-stroke, we struck up a few minutes worth of conversation. He was 13/14 - his voice had definitely broken - but he was still cutely boyish facially, so he wasn't the only one shivering. No doubt he'll be another 'ghost' and I'll never see him again, but my encounters with boys are so far and few between that anything like yesterday's are an oasis in an almost relentless desert, so I'm going to enjoy them when they crop up.

Love & best wishes to all

Sammy B