A devoted husband built a bench for his ailing wife when an appeal to the local council fell on deaf ears – and it only took him 30 minutes.
Manuel Souto, 82, had supported lobbying to get a local authority to build the bench for his wife Maria in the Spanish town of A Estrada.
That was in a bid to make life easier for his other half Maria, 79, whose morning exercise has been increasingly difficult as she suffers from osteoarthritis and relies on a walking stick.
Efforts had been made to get the local authority to install the bench, but when no action was taken, Manuel took over and decided to build the bench himself, the Guardian reports.
The retired lathe operator flocked to a local DIY shop to buy some wood.
He then went back home and used a saw and some nails to hammer out the two-seat bench.
A local shop owner then gave Manuel the permission to place the bench outside so Maria could use it.
When his wife saw the finished product, the caring husband told local paper Nius that she was “delighted”.
He added: “I got a kiss and a hug”.
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Manuel said some neighbours had approached him asking him to build another one, but he refused saying: “I made just the one and it’s just for my wife,” he said.
He is, however, keen for other elderly people to use it if, like Maria, they may need some rest.
Hence the engraving that reads: “Respeten. Para mallores” , meaning “be thoughtful, for older people”.
Speaking to local news outlet La Voz de Galicia, Manuel revealed how easy it was for him to put the romantic gesture together.
“The bench took me about half an hour.
“I got some wood but I had a saw at home because I still have my workshop.
“It was just a matter of sawing and nailing and I finished almost straight away.”