Sylvester’s ‘Man Hole’.

With the emergence of the spring flowers in my garden Ali, my Syrian gardener is positively skipping about in the back garden tending to the blossoming blooms. And on such a glorious sunny day what could possibly come along to disrupt my day?

Well might you ask. Looking a little bedraggled Sylvester — he of the bedroom eyes and bathroom mind — blundered into the kitchen and looked expectantly at the coffee brewing.

“You’re looking a little disheveled, Sylvester,” I commented.

“That’s because I’ve been staring into a man hole all morning,” he replied.

“You really can be quite course, Sylvester. What you do in the privacy of your own home I really don’t wish to share,” I replied, quite understandably.

“No! You don’t understand…” he protested.

“Oh, I assure you I understand. I just don’t think you need to advertise the fact.” I poured the coffee.

“Some guy was stuck in it,” he continued.

“For goodness sake, I’ve barely finished my breakfast!” I said and poured a little milk in the coffee.

“There was this poor guy stuck in the manhole in the road outside my house. They’re doing some engineering work after those floods we had last fall. He did something to his back, and so I helped him out,” explained…