Saturday 29th February Well, it started off with a sadness. I went over the shop as normal first thing. I did my shop and moved along to the counter. I could see right away that Karolin the shop lady was upset and had clearly been crying. She came straight out and told me that her father had passed away. Of course I expressed my condolences. When I first came here he was a pub regular. Just one beer in the afternoon. He was a stroke victim. When I got to know him he told me that he had been thus for thirty-odd years. In the early days of my being here he used to manage to get there with the aid of a walking stick. I know he had spent some time in hospital and after that his pub visits were reduced in frequency to maybe one or two a week, but in a wheel chair. His visits had become less and less frequent and it had been a long time since I had seen him in the pub. In the good weather he would sit just inside the front gate and watch the world go by. I had always made a point of stopping and exchanging small talk with him if ever I passed that way. He was slow of speech, but without impediment which suited me fine. He had the most direct, unblinking stare of any person I had ever met, which I had found quite disconcerting until I got to know him. Well, he was gone. It made me sad. What I found out later shocked me to the core. Ditto John when I told him. Hobó told me that he had been 92 years old. Both John and I had put him in his seventies. The other lowlight of the day was Miki. I do not know what had gotten into him put he was a serious PITA all day, everywhere. I was surprised that he did not get thumped in the pub. Several times by several people. He was winding everybody up. The only saving blessing as far as I was concerned was that he did turn up as promised and do the evening goat feed. You know, I do feel sorry for the guy. He lives, and has lived as long as I have known him, in a house with no running water and no electricity. Whether that is simply because he cannot pay the bills or whether the house is not connected I know not. I know of a house long for sale in the village where the latter case applies. It has just a well.
Posted on: Tue, 04 Mar 2014 13:00:16 +0000
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