APRIL FOOLS? NO, JUST OUR WONDERFUL NEIGHBOURS!

Sometimes an opportunity presents itself and you just have to forget any pre-conceived ideas you might have had for the daily challenge.  Today was such a day.

Our lovely next door neighbour, Lynn, rang our bell to ask if there was anything we needed as she was going out shopping but as usual when she asks, I can never think of anything.  She then asked if we had noticed a “smell”  outside this morning but both Mr. HCB and I said we hadn’t noticed anything untoward.  She said that both she and Mike had noticed a funny smell, so we both said that perhaps they were “muck-spreading” on nearby farms, because when that was happening, the smell often drifted our way.

We carried on chatting for a while when Lynn remembered that she had borrowed her Mum’s walker - she said that her back was aching and although she wanted to go for a walk, she didn’t feel that she could go very far without some support.  She duly got the walker out of the boot of her car - which she did surprisingly easily for someone with a bad back - while Mike and we looked on.  

Lynn then proceeded to show us how it worked - there is a seat attached and a place to put shopping - and she even suggested that when they went for a walk, Mike could use it too, if necessary, or he could even push her if she got tired.

It then descended into a demonstration of how this would work - so as they were “messing around” on the drive, I quickly got my iPhone and took a few photographs.  Today, therefore, you have two “April Fools” - meant in the nicest possible way, of course - instead of an abstract.  There was a lot of laughter and I’m sure the other neighbours think we are all mad - which of course, we are!

Both Mr. HCB and I are aware that if we had to be living next door to anyone in a year of lockdowns, we couldn’t have had better neighbours than Lynn and Mike.  It’s true to say that we have all looked out for one another in the ups and downs of “life in lockdown”.  We have laughed, cried, had countless afternoon tea sessions, celebrated birthdays, shared home-baking and generally enjoyed one another’s company, and I’m sure this will continue.  Now I really must put my thinking cap on and let Lynn know if I need any groceries.

“The happiest people I know 
     are people who don't even think about 
          being happy. 
They just think about being good neighbors, 
     good people, and then 
          happiness sort of sneaks in the back window 
               while they are busy doing good.”
Harold S. Kushner - American Rabbi and author