Our son-in-law, Ewan, is a lovely man, very kind and caring. He has the ability to empathise with all of God’s creatures including the most difficult of all, Homo sapiens!

Ewan’s mother tells the story of her son, as a small boy, sitting on the doorstep sobbing his heart out because he had accidentally trodden on a snail and squished it beneath his foot. From then on, should he encounter a snail in a precarious position, he will remove it to a place of safety, not a popular move where most gardeners are concerned, I fear!

Ewan, our daughter, Nikki, and grandson, Quinn, live on a canal boat. Ewan has been working extremely long hours completing a contract for the MOD, so our daughter and grandson have been staying with us in North Wales. Nikki is in the final couple of weeks of a difficult pregnancy, and is finding it hard to cope with two-year-old Quinn. Ewan is naturally missing his family greatly, but relieved they are being cared for. Ewan is not entirely on his own as he has two cats to keep him company. The other day ‘Ophelia’ brought a mouse into the cabin. The terrified creature was still alive when Ewan rescued it. After soothing the poor animal, Ewan was about to take it ashore, when the mouse jumped out of his hand and landed in the canal! Once more he rescued it, and gently dried the rodent off with a small hairdryer. The next release attempt was successful. Ewan was just settling down to prepare a belated meal when ‘Ophelia’ brought him another ‘gift’, this time a young bird! Once again Ewan went into action and calmed the poor thing. He put it in a cosy box in the engine room and tried to encourage the bird to take some nourishment, although it survived the night, sadly Ewan’s efforts were in vain, and the bird died the following day! When he told us this tale over the phone, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house!