Of all the Hatcher aunts and uncles, Pam was always the most interested in my poetry. This is from my latest book, only just out. I hope she might have licked it: Grit There is a tale of an old man, a Yogi or a Chinese master, who walked all his life with a grit in his sandal. ‘Love the grit’, he said. ‘The soreness in the sole of your foot, in the soft place in front of your heel, reminds you of troubles you have come against and borne successfully. Love the grit, because you know it’s only there to test you’. In one continuation to this tale; an acolyte took the grit from her sandal and replied, ‘My lack of grit reminds me the solution to a problem is often simpler than it may appear. I can go further without it’.