FLOWER FRIDAY - IN OR OUT OF FOCUS?

I’m beginning to realise that sometimes when things are “out of focus” then they are just as beautiful as those things that are in sharp focus.

I stopped this morning in town to speak to the man whose photograph I had taken a couple of weeks ago, and who, I found out, was called Stuart.  He told me he was homeless, but wasn't on benefits and he was obviously quite proud of that.  I could see he had a hot drink so asked if he would like something to eat, but he said he was fine and had a sausage roll for later.  I chatted to him for quite sometime and saw that he was reading a P.D. James novel;  I asked if he had ever read any Stephen Leather books, which my husband collected and enjoyed.  Stuart said he hadn’t heard of him so I told him I would see if I could get one of his books for him to try and he said that sounded good and he was very grateful.

Whilst I was standing talking to him a mother came out of SpecSavers and spoke quite rudely to Stuart asking if he had a mobile phone and accusing him of taking photographs of her children because they told her he had.  Stuart said he had a phone, but didn’t know how to work the camera, whereupon I told her that I had been speaking to him for at least five minutes and he hadn’t got a mobile phone out in that time.  He offered her his phone to check, which she did, almost threw it back at him and then walked off, muttering to herself, saying he must have done something. 

I then sat down and said to Stuart that I was sorry he had been spoken to like that - he told me that he was used to it and just before I arrived, the woman’s children had been throwing things at him so I asked him why he hadn’t told her that.  His response was “She wouldn’t believe me, no-one ever does!”  I felt so sad.

I didn’t have much shopping to do, so I went round all the charity shops and eventually, after about half an hour, found a Stephen Leather book, which I took back to Stuart.  I saw he had another hot drink, so gave him some money to get another drink later, and whilst I was there, a lady in a mobility scooter also gave him some money for a cup of tea.  I could see how grateful he was and he told me that there are a lot of kind people around who look after him.

As I came home to a warm home, and got indoors out of the biting cold, I thought of Stuart, who told me he sleeps in a very draughty tunnel near the bus station “…..because it’s got lights, so I can read.”  I am so glad I didn’t “walk by on the other side” and wish I could do more, but I hope the fact that I went back and touched his arm as I left him, made him realise that he was precious.

“It is not how much we give,
     but how much LOVE
          we put into giving.”
Mother Teresa