legs-and he had no hands. At first, I felt nervous but John's friendly eye contact made me feel relaxed and created a warmth and respect between us. I had prepared my pupils for John's visit-I had told them that it was rude to stare, but they still felt embarrassed and could not help staring.. John sat quietly in the corner and watched me teaching. He had been watching me for about half an hour, when suddenly he asked if he could show the children something on the blackboard: he took a piece of chalk between his'arms and began to write in better blackboard writing than mine. A year later, I moved to lreland. I've been living there ever since, but I once returned to Bristol for a few months to run a bookshop. After I had been back for about a week, I was opening the shop one morning when John appeared. He had heard that somebody was coming from Ireland to run the shop and had guessed it was me. Have you been teaching all this time?' I asked. He told me that he had given up teaching as it had got too difficult. I've been doing lots of exciting things. Like what?' I asked. Have you seen that furniture shop up the road?' he said. Oh, so you run a shop too? No, my wife runs it. I make all the furniture! John hadn't changed! Since I last saw him, he had become a furniture maker and he had taken up skiing. I was stunned. Since then, every time I've felt sorry for myself, I've thought about John and his incredible life...