Charlotte Mooney

So I got back in my car and I drove back up the A3, really hoping I wasn't going to find him.

But almost immediately, I saw him walking down a parallel road.

And by the time I had swung the car around and parked and got out, he was literally about to step his foot back onto the A3.

I ran up to him and put my hand as gently as I could on his shoulder.

He span around and looked at me and said, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm just walking home.

I'm walking home.

And I said to him, would you like a lift?

Fully expecting that he'd say no, but he said yes.

As I walked him over to the car, I said, do you know your address?

And he said, of course.

It's number four, Battersea.

Is that right?

As I sat him down in my car, his legs gave way and I thought, he might have walked from Battersea.

I had a bottle of water in the footwell which I gave to him and he drank and the only other thing I had were apples.

So I said, would you like an apple?

And he said, have you got a knife to peel it?

And I said, no.

He didn't like the peel, and he did something I've never seen anyone do before.

He nibbled off every single shred of peel.

Before he took a single bite, it took him bloody ages.