LB had a friend at school for a few years. Joe H. Joe H was outrageous in the best and worst senses of the word. He was a very funny guy. LB found him hilarious and talked a lot about shooting up in the playground and smoking weed with Joe H.  He left school last year and wanted to give LB his phone number but rules forbade this. Instead I had to write in the school diary to ask Joe’s mum to give me the number.

Eventually LB came back with a post it note with Joe’s number. Hurrah! We dialled the number and handed the phone to LB. He sat in the living room, chuckling every few minutes.  Ten minutes later, he was still sat there with the phone. “He he he”….. “He he he”….

Twenty minutes later. “Maybe you should hang up now?” I said, not sure if Joe was still on the phone (or had ever been).

“Ok.. Bye Joe”, said LB.

“That was nice, talking to your mate on the phone. What did you talk about?” “Afghanistan, Mum”, said LB, replacing the phone.