Birthday boy

This is John, the ex-neighbour we took to the pantomime last Sunday. We first met him 30 years ago when we moved into the house next door on a freezing cold snowy day, and tried to get the heating working only to have the helpful man from the gas board come out to condemn the boiler and switch the gas off. I was expecting #1 son at the time, and had been looking forward to a new start in a lovely new home, so was quite distressed at the way things were going. This is when John and his wife Doris called round to welcome their new neighbours, saw the situation and brought round gas fires to warm the place up, then took us back to their house for hot tea and cakes. We quickly became good friends, and when the first two children were born John and Doris took on the role of surrogate grandparents, seeing them nearly every day. They had never been blessed with children of their own, but as we got to know them we found that they had touched countless lives with their kindness, and had many other surrogate grandchildren, nieces and nephews from far and near. After about 8 years we moved to our present house, but continued to see the couple regularly; in fact they were just arriving to celebrate New Year with us 20 years ago as I was being carried out to the ambulance prior to having #2 daughter, to their great surprise.

John and Doris were childhood sweethearts, although her strict mother wouldn't let them marry until she was in her twenties, as she thought they "shouldn't rush into things". As John was telling Les Dennis and others after last week's panto, the young couple often went to shows at the Empire just to sit "necking in the back row". #1 daughter was quite shocked at this, not because they enjoyed kissing in the theatre but that they used what she thought was a modern word for it; I assured her that necking was done in my day too, so the pastime and its name spans many generations, not just in Liverpool but Yorkshire too. They were married for 65 years when Doris died 5 years ago, and until she went into hospital at that time had never spent a night apart, always doing everything together. When Liverpool was relentlessly bombed in WW2 John worked tirelessly as an air-raid warden, making sure everyone was safe and helping whoever he could. He served in the St John Ambulance brigade for 45 years and continued to help people through first-aid at football matches and public events. Today I and my four now grown-up children went to his 100th birthday party at function rooms not far from his home, where he still lives an independent life, not as physically active, but still as sharp mentally as he ever was.

I asked him what advice he could give to get to live to be 100, and he said it's all down to love, just giving and receiving as much as you can, and taking each day at a time.

Happy birthday John. X.