‘Playing to win’

Witchelstow postman of 25 years, Simon Green has been keeping a little girl entertained with a daily game of noughts and crosses.

Five-year-old Sofia Griffiths has been playing Simon, who works in Swindon Delivery Office, every day for the past two weeks.

After sticking two hand-drawn grids on her front door, Sofia left a note inviting Simon to play noughts and crosses with her. Every day since then, Simon has been marking off a square with an ‘0’ while Sofia has been doing the same with an ‘X.’

‘When I read the note, I thought it was a brilliant idea,’ Simon told the Swindon Advertiser. ‘It feels very good to be appreciated by the local community.

‘I usually wouldn’t see many people on my round as they’re at work or school. There are lots more people at home now and they’re coming out to talk more (from a distance). It’s a tight community anyway, but they seem to be coping quite well and I’m seeing more people waving from their windows.’

Sofia’s dad, Steve said his daughter was really happy she had someone to play noughts and crosses with her.

‘I think sometimes some of our key workers go unrecognised,’ he told the paper. ‘There’s the clap for all the NHS staff which gets brilliant coverage, but some of the other things people are doing can go unnoticed.

‘Loads of people order stuff online nowadays to help them cope with the lockdown, and if people weren’t delivering the post, lockdown would be even harder.

‘It gives Sofia a bit of entertainment while she is not able to see her fiends during lock down and it adds a bit of normality to her day. It’s something a bit different from her school work. It adds some excitement for her day.’

When Sophia’s dad said he thought Simon was letting Sophia win and making the game a little bit easier for her, Simon dismissed the claim, saying: ‘I’m playing to win! Sofia is pretty good!’