Could I repay him? Perhaps when I make my amends in Step 9?

Charlotte Cripps is grateful for the kindness of her dad’s neighbours in lockdown. It reminds her of a letter she received from her caring landlord while in rehab – until she read the last line

(Amara May)

My 87-year-old dad keeps calling me up, asking me to buy him face masks so he can go back to his office. He’s like a horse waiting to bolt out of a stable. I keep telling him that even though lockdown has eased, he has to be careful. “But I have no underlying health conditions,” he screams at me. “I’m as fit as a fiddle.”

He’s obviously going a bit stir crazy after so many weeks inside – who wouldn’t? Only yesterday when I left an open packet of croissants on his garden table by mistake, he thought the next door neighbours’ children had come through the broken fence in the middle of the night to have a picnic. He riled my sister Rebecca about it so much that when she dropped some provisions on his doorstep the next day, he got her to march over to confront them about it and why they hadn’t mended the fence.

“We have no idea about the croissants,” said the neighbour gently. “And we are not responsible for the fence – it is on your dad’s side to fix.” Then they asked my sister to send my dad their very best wishes.