99 is the sailor

In my culture "99" means an ice-cream cone supporting a stick of chocolate at a jaunty angle. But it can also refer to a [reasonably] venerable age. I qualify the age with [reasonably] because there are hella many centenarians about. 30 years ago my Scottish grannie turned 100 and got a telegram from Mrs ♛indsor. She also got A Lot of 100^th Bday cards from neighbours and [not many left] relations. She got nothing from her pals because they were all dead. What struck me at the time was how few dupes there were among the cards: Hallmark et al. must have a market, so there must be a few customers out there. Obvs, they are expecting more sales for that particular bday than 98 or 103. We're not there yet, but last week Pat the Salt celebrated his 99^th Bday:

It's 8+ years since Pat's wife died. And it's been "interesting" to observe the changes as the years tick past. Having run away to sea at the age of 14 and spent most of the rest of his teens churning around a world at war, he has enjoyed pretty robust good health. He could so easily have died by torpedo, storm or scalding cocoa as a youngster, that the gods seem to have cut him a fair hand healthwise for the rest of his life.  As Pat moved into "His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide for his shrunk shank . . ." territory, a lot of new people entered his life to compensate for some of the deficits of age. For some it's just work; but for others, including those on the payroll, it's clear that there are bonds of  affection and respect even if recently forged. 

One of the latter, Seamus the Ornithologist [above red R] who came out from Waterford every Tuesday as a conversational companion. The charity which brokered the deal covered Seamus' bus fare but couldn't manage minimum wage for his time. There are for sure ethical, social and economic questions to be asked of The Voluntariat. But since Seamus has retired in his turn, he's been dropping in on his old WWII Mentor because they are genuinely fond of each other. And he seems to have kept Pat's birthday in his diary; because he turned up with a couple of hours notice on Der Tag. I don't think it was the smell of cake! Supervalu do a line in these micro iced cakes and The Beloved went up and bought a few for the current team of HSE carers who are rostered to Pat . . .

But, there was an under-count and I was dispatched to Supervalu to purchase two [2] more cakes. Phew! luckily there were three still standing on the display table and I was able to snag The Best brace o' cake. Phew! because I would have had to make an iced-dainty decision in real time. Are 2 eclairs == 1 micro-cake? 3 eclairs?? 2 eclairs and a strawberry flan??? 1 eclair and a box of fence staples???? The permutations are effectively infinite and I was certain to be wrong-footed whatever I chose. 

Anyway, the important data is that Supervalu shareholders are assured of a Christmas dividend Pat got to have 🎂 on his 99^th Bday and he was saluted by those who cherish him.