Hello dearest,

What are you doing in the post office? Are you finally getting your bus pass? I do hope so. I love my trips on the bus. The photo bit is a faff and don’t ask Pru to help you because she won’t. She’s been miserable since her husband left her for the baker. They are jolly good Scotch eggs, though. I like the thought of you and Poppy on the bus. I must warn you, town is very different from when you last visited. It’s all offices and nightclubs and vegan restaurants.

Vegan? George looks at Poppy in confusion.

Vegans are people who don’t eat meat or dairy. No milk or cream or cheese or eggs, imagine that! I wish I could see your face now. The Pavilion is still lovely and that pub you used to drink in after work has changed hands but still serves bitter. Don’t have more than one, though, or they won’t let you back on the bus! And don’t be cross that everything costs so much, these days. The money under the bed is for spending. We’ve no one to leave it to, so make the most of it. Go clothes shopping, get yourself a new hat or Poppy a smart collar. Maybe take a trip on the Volk’s railway for old times’ sake. Do you remember our first date? You kissed me in the queue. I wasn’t expecting it and I had to sort out my lipstick with your hanky. I never gave that hanky back to you.

George stops reading and lets himself remember that day and the blue dress Ellen wore, which billowed in the breeze. Her face full of life and excitement as she clutched his arm, making him feel like a man. She’d been talking when he kissed her, babbling on about how she’d lived in Brighton all this time and never been on the railway. It was a rubbish ride that went nowhere, then back again, but Ellen had been like a child so he’d tipped her back and laid one on her. His one and only romantic gesture, when his heart was a balloon on a string, no longer entirely his, but at the mercy of Ellen’s breezy smile.

Come on now. No being morbid. We had our years, our wonderful years. Remember, you’re not a widower, you’re a bachelor, and when you get your new hat you’ll be quite the man about town! The ladies will all love Poppy and I will always love you.

Your Ellen