Drive-through takeaways offer us the only opportunity to take a short outing somewhere and break up the day, other than walking from home, so we have been undertaking that to try to reduce the onset of stir-craziness induced by both working at home and trying to relax at home. So here we sat slowly eating and supping with persistent rain running down the windows. After a while Margaret began to relate the life story of a workmate and now friend. This lady was kicked out of the family home, aged 16, by an abusive step-father. With no place to live and no government support for the homeless if under 18 (a national scandal in my opinion) she had the initiative to scour what was available and immediately find a hotel job with accommodation provided, but on a Hebridean Island. So with just enough money for the bus and ferry fares the 16 year old girl left central Scotland for the island. Some years afterwards she became suddenly paralysed, then after a few weeks movement returned, then eventually partial paralysis returned, then she was diagnosed with a very rare serious long-term and progressing nerve condition. Nowadays, with the assistance of medication, she can work on light duties much of the time, between significant relapses. I have now met this lady briefly on several occasions, and have expressed my admiration for her resilience and indeed cheerfulness in the face of such difficulties. Apparently her response to all adversity is, "I just try to make the best of things." I munched onward through my cheap meal while the rain kept falling from the dark sky, and thought about how lucky I had been in my journey through life, and how poorly I sometimes cope with whatever difficulties I do encounter.
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