Portrait of the artist

I spent a couple of hours with my grandfather today. He is always happy to have his photograph taken. He didn't get dressed up specially - the three-piece suit and tie is his everyday wear, even when he knows he probably won't be going out. I wish I could say smoking a pipe was his only vice (he quit cigarettes in his 70s), but he likes a beer in the evening and a glass of wine with dinner, and he has eaten ice-cream every day since I can remember.

He has had a lot of interesting jobs over the years - sheep-shearer, cowboy, navigator in the air force, watchmaker, jeweller. These days he mostly just writes - stories, memoirs, poems. The beautiful woman in the photo beside him is my grandmother. They were together for sixty-odd years until she died in 2003. Tomorrow he'll be up at 8am as usual for his breakfast of porridge and apple. Not bad going for 101 years old.