Returning again to the UK, now aged 60, with no partner, no business, no home and no money John was in poor health and the outlook must have been very depressing.  John’s life was certainly grim, but it was about to get worse! With the inactivity caused by his injury came creeping obesity, a diagnosis of Diabetes, and living on the floor of a relative for nearly nine months, John was eventually offered a home by a housing charity in Weymouth. But within a few weeks of moving into his new home, John suffered a stroke and found himself in Dorchester Hospital for two days. This incident provided yet another life-changing turn in his life. Because, on returning to his flat and picking up his guitar John found that he was unable to properly hold down the strings as he had lost 30% of the grip in his left hand. Determined to continue to play and write his songs John experimented with tuning his guitar in various ‘open string tunings’ and fought through this obstacle. It seems to me that Music has always been John’s saviour in times of trouble and need.  With renewed energy and the need for the brain to work overtime to make new neural connection, his fingers found new alternative chord shapes. John was writing again more prolifically than ever before and with deep feelings. Using this, almost as a therapy, John was working through all the guilt, anger, sorry and pain that the last thirty-plus years had brought.  Songs poured out of him and provided the much needed healing. Playing his songs at various open-mics, pouring out his heart and soul to audiences was his way of not being defeated. There is a telling line in his lovely song called “Trick of the light” that goes – “playing tonight in another bar, bearing your soul for the night”