'Sorry I couldn't offer to come and help you. It'd've been just like the old days,' Pat said softly.

middle-aged (-ajd), between youth and old age, variously reckoned to suit the reckoner

Leaded gasoline is hard to find in some areas now.

Originally distributed from Arabia to western Turkey and on numerous islands of the Aegean Sea, more recently the hardun has been inadvertently transported to northern Greece, Corfu, and the vicinity of Alexandria (Egypt).