Daniel's monkey

After tramping the streets of Edinburgh yesterday I thought the pulled muscle in my leg would benefit from a quiet day at home, but that, unfortunately, isn't good for blip motivation, which explains the depths to which I've sunk today. Apologies, blipmates. A monkey! A special monkey, though.

This tiny monkey ornament (4cm high) was given to me about 45 years ago by 6-year-old Daniel Melrose, who was a pupil of mine in my first class in a very poor area of Glasgow, where the kids had nothing. He handed it to me as it is, said he'd found it and wanted me to have it.

The fact that I've kept it all these years is an indication of how touched I was by Daniel's gift. I've often wondered what happened to him and the other children in that class that I loved. They didn't have much going for them, that's for sure.