One of the things I love about travelling is meeting people. I have met many extraordinary characters on my travels, in fact I have also met many people who are similar (".. I swear I met an Asian version of you when I was in China!") My hubs being the conversationalist that he is, can strike up a conversation with anyone--literally anyone off the streets. In his travels he has picked up a couple of hitch hikers as well as other random stragglers. Last night was an interesting evening, after a mini-reunion with a load of friends, family and ex-colleagues, we were on our way back to where we were staying in London, when we came across a homeless man with a dog wearing a red bow tie. The hubs at this point turned to me and asked whether I had any small change, I had a one pound coin and I thought he was going to give the guy the money and we would then be happily on our way. The dog initially barked at us as we approached the odd pair and settled down when the hubs started a conversation with his owner. We ended up sitting on the street with this guy and his dog for a good hour just chatting as strangers walked past us looking at us as if we were complete lunatics. In fact the dog (her name was Missy) decided to climb up on my lap for a nice long cuddle! The guy then started telling us about his life and how he ended up on the streets and how he once had nice home with a job, wife, daughter and his beautiful dog. Unfortunately both wife and daughter died, so he and Missy took to the streets as he struggled to cope after the deaths and couldn't hold a job and eventually lost everything. I was stunned, I didn't know what to say, here I was wondering whether I would have enough money for a PS3 and here was a guy struggling to look after himself as well his dog! It really broke my heart. It was getting late and as much as I wanted to give him every penny I had, I could only offer to buy him a meal--we were sitting outside a kebab shop and I think the staff knew I was buying food for the guy and they threw in a couple of extras-that was really nice of them. Being homeless is one thing, but being homeless in a country where the weather can turn really nasty overnight must be a massive struggle.
"Adversities such as being homeless and going to prison has made many people stronger."
Philip Emeagwali
2 Scribbles:
That's really nice of you :) I totally agree about being homeless where the weather can turn nasty - I was thinking the same thing during my visit to Vancouver. I had three layers and was freezing just crossing the street. Imagine the homeless :(
He was an interesting man, plus his dog was adorable. The weather is quite cold then as well and all he had was a torn sleeping bag!
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