I sat looking at the sea trying to empty my mind, like the book said.
'It's easier said than done' the voice was that of an old man being helped to lower himself onto the seat beside me, by a middle aged lady
'I'll get us some ice creams, dad,' she said in that unintended but patronising manner young people sometimes adopt when speaking to us old 'uns
'You'll be alright here for a minute or two- won't you?' she added, looking at me and smiling.
'I'll make sure he doesn't get kidnapped' I assured her
I tried to make conversation with the old gent but it was heavy weather. Apparently he lived in Bournemouth, in some sort of home I assumed, and his daughter brought him out occasionally.
'I'm from Nottingham, the Robin Hood county' I said half expecting just a brief cursory acknowledgement but the old man suddenly came to life.
'Nottingham ' did you say Nottingham?' he asked
I nodded.
'I've spent some of the happiest times of my life in Nottingham' he went on 'We got married there, at St. Leo's ' I was in the Air Force at Hucknall and my wife came from West Bridgford' His ancient face was transformed and his eyes glowed brightly at the thought of joys long gone.
His daughter returned with two huge ice creams
'Watch it dad ' it's melting a bit ' be careful' she said.
The old guy licked away at his ice cream - his mind still in the wonderful past.
After a while they began to get ready to go. She repaired her lipstick and he patted around his mouth with the tissue she'd given him.
She stood up and offered him her arm and just as he was about to rise he seemed to have second thoughts. He fished in his jacket pocket and pulled out an old battered leather wallet.
'That's us on our wedding day, in Nottingham' he said handing me the wallet and pointing to the small black and white wedding photo, framed behind the plastic cover 'That's my Iris' he said proudly
My heart leapt ' not because of Iris ' but at the girl by her side, obviously the bridesmaid ' she was the angel - the angel across the street, who drove me wild when I was very young.
'And that's Andy Dors' the old man said 'My best man ' he married June ' that's her - the bridesmaid'
June ' I never knew her name - her name is June ' 'the angel's name is June' my heart sang
'We moved back to Worthing when I got demobbed' he went on 'But we kept in touch ' she writes to me occasionally now ' Andy died a few years ago'
I adored that angel with all the passion of a twelve year old ' I'd kneel in church and thank the lord for putting an angel on our road ' then curse him for tempting me to distraction.
'She's asked me to visit her, a few times,' he continued ' we might have got together ' I've been on my own for a long time ' but I don't suppose we ever will ' she's still very fit - she works, as a volunteer, in that big hospital in Nottingham. Do you know it?'
'The Queens Medical Centre.' I replied
'That's it. She still works there, mornings.' He said fondly.
After they had gone I watched the sea again but my mind was full of angels, now.
Back in Nottingham I tried to forget,- but still, as I always knew I would, one morning I went to the QMC -to seek out my angel and gaze upon her beauty, one more time.
Things went wrong from the start ' there was only one parking space left, at the main entrance, and the car parking man said he was saving it for someone important ' 'Who - your father?' I asked him 'Could be' he replied 'Do you know him?'
Temptation got the better of me 'No, but then neither did your mother' I laughed and he said he was going to clamp me if I didn't bugger off.
Although the QMC is a relatively new hospital, the provision of parking places is far from adequate and very often you have to queue for a space in one of the car parks.
The queue was extra long on this particular morning and it took the best part of an hour sitting there listening to 'the hits from the fifties' on my old tapes.
Eventually I parked and made my way to hospital entrance and with my head still full of Al Martino belting out 'Here in My Heart' I went in through the main doors in search of my 80 year old angel

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