Having had a couple of cancellations from Mr D, it was an absolute pleasure to see the delight on his face as he answered the door, and how he chuckled when I said "hello stranger". It feels like ages since I last visited, so it was good to catch up.

He'd had a nice Christmas day as his son had come down from Great Yarmouth with his partner and they and cooked him up a delicious Christmas dinner, but after that he'd been feeling rather down. In fact that was the reason he had cancelled my last visit. He said he had been thinking of cancelling today's visit and just going back to bed, but now that I was here he was so pleased that he hadn't. He said I'd made his day.

We went together to the kitchen and started to make cups of tea. He's always a bit bemused by the fact that I bring my own tea bag, "Nothing against yours," I assured him, "I'm just not able to have caffeine". He looked at me suspiciously, but shrugged and said he hoped it wasn't one of these New Year Resolution things. When he gave me a box of liquer chocolates as a belated Christmas present I didn't dare tell him I was attempting dry January, or he really would have thought I was weird.

Despite me trying to decline any baked goods offered (I have had way too much over Christmas), he was insistent that I have a chocolate roll with my cuppa. And then when I looked he had put two out for me. One for now, and one for later or to take home for a snack. I put the 2nd roll in my bag (well it would have been rude not too...) and swapped it for a nice crusty mini baguette which I know he will enjoy for his tea.

We were soon relaxed in the front room and discussing everything from replacement care alarms, exercise bikes, power of attorney and a lot more beside. Whiel we were talking one of his neighbours phoned, asking if he was doing anything and whether or not he'd had any visitors today. He explained to her that he had a visitor right now and she wanted to check that he was ok. He raised his eyebrows, but I thought it was good that someone was checking that I was a bonafide visitor having seen my car on his drive.

Time always goes by so quickly, and it was time for me to leave. I could have stayed a lot longer just passing the time of day but work beckoned. He asked what I'd be doing tomorrow, "probably running to burn off all the chocolate roll calories".

Looking forward to seeing him next week, but I may need Mission Control to tell him I'm only accepting the mission if there are no calories involved. :-)