A chat with David Kaye

The alarm went off at 6.30 a.m. and I got up and made tea for Sara and me. There was a general sprinkling of snow and frost today. I had a breakfast of Grimsby boiled smoked haddock (in milk) and gave the leftover contents of the pan to Emily the Cat which she drank with relish thinking that Christmas had already arrived. It took me three attempts to get the car out of the drive and I drove into Salisbury very carefully along the gritted bus routes. I again worked in the Claims Department. My 9 a.m. video conference was cancelled due to Manchester attendees being snowed in and unable to get into our Manchester office. I met up with Sara and the children for an early lunchtime coffee and pasty at Reeves's but needed to hurry back into the office for another telephone conference. Tonight I arrived back in Winterslow in a blizzard with the roads in the village quite treacherous. I parked in the village hall car park but found that like an ice rink. I just hope we don't get a hard frost tonight otherwise I won't be going anywhere tomorrow and I need to be in Dorking if possible. David Kaye, the prolific transport writer and historian rang me this evening for a chat. He is now aged 80, soon to turn 81 with severe Parkinson's Disease which confines him to a wheelchair. He is quite lonely I think and he clearly enjoyed the opportunity to reminisce with me about old times and all his travelling - to Scotland, the Shetlands the Isle of Man and the Scillies. His last book to be published had one of my photographs on the front cover which I took at the Ardingly Open Air Museum near Arundel, Sussex depicting an old Southdown open topper. I promised I would drop in and see him in his sheltered home in Louth next time I am up in Lincolnshire.