A letter from a 97 year old

Crawfordsburn Old Peoples' Home
CRAWFORDSBURN
County Down

Dear Sir,

I want to thank you for the lovely transistor radio you and your district so kindly sent me for my birthday. It is all the more wonderful that an absolute stranger like yourself remembers old people like me. I am 97 years of age and have been at the home for the past 26 years. We are treated very kindly but the lonely hours are very hard to bear.

My room mate, Mrs. James, has a radio but will never let me listen to it and often switches it off when I come into the room. Now I have one of my very own.

My grandsons and grandaughters are very nice and come to see me once a month but I know that they only come along from a sense of duty. This is why your gift is all the more wonderful and thrilling to me as it was given out of compassion for a fellow human being. God Bless you all.

Today, Mrs. James' radio went wrong and she asked me if she could listen to mine. I told her to fuck off.

Yours faithfully,

Mary Grant

Original author unknown