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I some how got through the winter getting to work and back. Dennis was doing real good at this place and had somehow stayed off the drugs. I rang him one day and Len answered Dennis had gone to the shop for him. He said Dennis had really changed the last two weeks or so he no longer took the dogs for long walks he now watched TV nearly all day. I found this really odd as he had never done that before.
Dennis rang me later and asked if he could come and visit me for a few days, May Bank holiday was coming up. I said yes of course he could. I had the week off work so we could go out with Lel and the kids ,as he hadn't seen them for ages. We arranged he would come on Friday and ring me from Bletchley Railway station and I would pick him up.
I couldnt believe it he looked so fit and well he had certainly put on a bit of weight. He said he really loved it at this place he was at.He had also got a good mate from their who had a drink problem but they got on really well.
I arranged with Steve to come over and see him on Saturday. I was also going to pick up Lel and the kids . The children couldn't wait to see Gunk(Great Uncle) they loved him. We had a really nice day, it was nice us all being together.
We didn't do much the rest of the week as Dennis seemed quite content to stay home. I think being 49 yrs old had slowed him down. At one time he would have wanted to be out and about. All too soon it was time for him to go home. He said he wanted to stop off in Watford to catch up with his old mates. I begged him not to but he wouldn't listen. This only meant one thing to me he was after drugs as they were all druggies.
I dropped Dennis off at Kings Langley station on my way to work on the Monday as I had managed to persuade him to go straight to Devon and not stop off at Watford, whether he would or not was beyond my control. I hoped commonsense would prevail but I was sceptical, Leopards don't change their spots, I could only hope.
That night I rang Len and asked if Dennis was home and of course he wasn't, god knows where he was. Len said he would get Dennis to ring me when he got home. I had no phone call that night so I rang the next night and Len told me he was home but in bed and once more said he would ask him to ring me.
I left it a couple of days still nothing so I rang again and Len told me he had come home full of drugs and he had got so bad Len had to ask him to leave for the sake of the other men there. As far as Len knew Dennis was staying in a flat with some friends. I had no way of contacting him and had to wait until he was sensible enough to ring me. Such a shame he had been doing so well or so everyone thought but now I was thinking it was all planned and I was the excuse.