I know I should have ignored it, just as I knew I should have ignored it yesterday, but the thing is, as I once wrote here, I am proud of who I am. Lyn and I were just taking a walk; it’s a reasonably pleasant evening – the first in a while, in fact – and we needed some groceries. We thought we would couple the shopping trip with a walk in the park. It was going well enough, when we encountered three late teenage boys. I should have recognised them: they were the same three lads I came across when out and about yesterday, one of whom had shouted ‘Retard’ at me. Then I was with chopper, who had a word with them.

They did the same today. I know I should ignore it, I know they do not know any better, but I really don’t like being the but of some child’s joke. Fool that I am, I saw red and tried to chase them. Of course, that only made things worse; it only encouraged them. I got the impression that they were trying to score points with each other, trying to look big and manly in front of their pals. That would mean that, given that it looks like they live around these parts, I can expect more of it. But part of me just can’t just roll over and take such abuse; it makes me so angry to hear them laugh at me, as if for all my accomplishments, for my degree, for my more-or-less independent life, I am nothing but a figure of derision, some ‘retard’ in a chair, there to be poked fun at by kids who will probably never achieve what I have. It’s something I must learn to take, and next time I know I must ignore them, but for me that seems easier said than done. Mind you, its the thought they might take the piss out of Lyn which really angers me.