MEET DOUGLAS

Got some great beach and sea shots that would have made good Blips today, but then.....

.....I walked up onto a part of the pier and saw a blanket on one of the benches.  I wondered at first if there was anyone underneath it and then it moved slightly.  I chatted to a young lad named Reef (I found out his father owned the Reefside Cafe on the Pier and he said he was named after that!) as he sat nearby to have a quiet cigarette.  

When I asked if he knew who was under the blanket, he said it was a very old man, who he thought was about 80.  He said he had spoken to the man early this morning, just as they opened, and that he could hardly walk, which was obviously why he had a special walking aid.  Reef said the man had nowhere to go and often slept on the bench.  

I felt so sad especially as everyone was walking past and taking no notice - it reminded me of the verse:

“Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?
Lamentations 1:12

Whilst typing this out, I kept thinking of the person under the blanket and decided that I had to do something.  So I stopped mid-Blip, packed up some cake, an apple and a drink and went down to the pier.

I thought that if he had gone, at least I had tried - but there he was, with the blanket still wrapped round his legs and the hood of his anorak partly covering his face, pulled up against the cold wind - and I felt so pleased.

I told him that we didn't have much food in the flat, but that I packed him a little picnic - and he smiled and thanked me.

He told me his name was Douglas and that he hailed from Scarborough, in Yorkshire and had been down here since 1st January last year.  He had come to see his mother and brother, but couldn't find his mother and he had been thrown out of his brother's flat, so he was now homeless.

I stayed chatting with him for about half an hour, during which time, he told me that he played chess and had his chess board in his walker.  He asked if I wanted to play, but I told him I was no good at that, Scrabble was my game - whereupon he said he had a Scrabble board in there too!  I did ask his permission to take this photograph - and you will see him under his blanket in my extra photos. 

So - no beautiful sea or beach photograph -  just a reminder that we need to have compassion on those who are homeless and have no family to care for them and we must not be complacent about what we have and indeed, share it whenever possible.

I hope our conversation blessed him - it certainly blessed me.

We think sometimes that poverty 
is only being hungry, 
naked and homeless. 
The poverty of being unwanted, 
unloved and uncared for 
is the greatest poverty. 
We must start in our own homes 
to remedy this kind of poverty.
Mother Teresa


P.S.  Reef was wrong about his age - Douglas may look 80 but he was probably about 50.