[lettie]

When I first moved onto my street there were several elderly men and women who lived alone. They all looked out for each other and it was lovely.

I came home from work one day to find most of the neighbours out on the street. They were worried because one of the old men hadn't been seen that morning. He was always up early cleaning his windows and sweeping his doorstep so it was unusual for him not to be around. His curtains were closed and everyone was worried.

As I got out of the car one of the neighbours asked if I would go into the house with her. She had a key to this fellas house but didn't want to go in alone, just in case he was dead. They thought that being a nurse, I would be willing to go in with her.

We let ourselves into the house and checked the living room and kitchen. No sign of him....... As we approached the door to go up the stairs, it flung open and there was the old fella.....

"What the bloody hell is going on?" he shouted.

"We were worried about you and thought that you may have had an accident," replied my neighbour.

"Jesus Christ!!!!! You can't even have a lie in on this street," he exclaimed.

By this time I was falling about laughing, the neighbours had all crowded around his front door straining to hear what was going on. It was like a scene from Last of the Summer Wine.

That was about 13 years ago, and sadly most of these older neighbours have since died. The remaining older folk still keep an eye on each other though.