Cooks to the galley...

Today was a celebratory lunch at a local pub for Billy, whose 90th birthday was last week. Clive and Pam (standing either side of Paul) organised the event. They, and especially Clive, helped by John (seated), have also done most of the work of clearing his house and garden and negotiating with local services on his behalf. It's been a difficult few weeks, and the struggles are not over (he should not really return home, but the social workers seem to think he can); but for now Billy is well looked after at a local care home, and today was for relaxation and friendship. Clive had managed to track down most of the ships on which Billy served as a merchant seaman from 1959 to 1988, and had collected pictures and details of them all in a folder, that will surely help him to hold on to some of his memories. His house contained an astonishing amount of clutter, among which were assorted knives and bayonets, two shotguns (licensed but not recently), a handgun (not licensed), several martial arts weapons and a long Japanese sword apparently once used in a beheading. A little man who always seems gentle and mild, he must have once had hidden depths of aggression.

On the wall is the late Yvonne Fox as Jemima Nicholas, who according to local legend fought off a French invasion in 1797 with a pitchfork. Must be something in the water.