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Byline: David Barlow

I saw an elderly man coming out of a Petrol Station towards his car. He was badly bent and had a limp. After a moment of uncertainty, surveying each other's white beards we grasped hands and hardly trusting our memories, whispered each other's names.

The last time we had met we were wearing school caps and he used to help me with my maths homework.

'I didn't recognise you at first,' he said apologetically. 'You're not looking too bad for your age.'

'You're having a bit of trouble with you back,' I observed sympathetically.

'It's always worse when it rains, but it hasn't stopped me yet,' he said with a grin.

'In a couple of weeks I'm taking my boat through the Med and up to Athens. I sailed her to Bermuda last year. You don't let pain stop you from enjoying yourself.'

It was Eisenhower who said, 'I'm saving that rocking chair for the day when I felt as old as I really am.'

David Barlow, Society of Friends, Bournville

Article Details

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Title Annotation:	Features
Publication:	The Birmingham Post (England)
Date:	Nov 24, 2004
Words:	174
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