I went past the lollipop man thrice today. Utterly unintentionally as I'd have taken a different route to hide my shame if I'd known he also worked lunchtimes. But I had to pick up boots from the heeling shop.

So I passed him muttering muttering this morning. And he called out some hilarious quip about still persevering with the same book.

But when I passed him at lunchtime, I thought his eyes might burst. So I stopped and explained myself (as if he actually would have cared one way or another...). "It's not as if I'm just labouring away for all this time on the same thin book..." I quipped, trying to be thinly witty. "Oh but I'm a really slow reader" he said. I immediately felt terrible.