MEET OUR LOVELY FRIEND, MARGARET

We usually go up to Jack's, our favourite Old Town coffee shop/bistro, on a Saturday morning, to meet up with various friends and today was no exception.  However, several friends were missing - Trevor and Louise had visitors for lunch and G was due to fly to New York for Christmas so it was rather quiet - well it was until we arrived. 

Our lovely friend, Margaret, usually shares her Cinnamon Danish with Trevor but as he wasn’t there she said she would have to eat it all herself - I think she was just working up to start it when I went over to chat to her.  When I asked what she would be doing for Christmas, she told me she will spend Christmas Day and it will just be her and her three cats -  which she is quite happy about - so we chatted for a while longer before we parted company when I said that no doubt we will see her not too long after Christmas.

When we first met Margaret, she was very shy and hardly spoke but now we have got to know one another, I think she enjoys chatting. She is very fond of Mr. HCB and calls him “The Cowboy” because he always wears his Tilley hat - and she always ends our conversations by saying to him “Be naughty!”  Now I know where he gets it from - Margaret has given him permission!! 

The extra is a “nod” to Silly Saturday - three snowmen in a local hairdressing salon but I preferred the shot of our lovely smiling friend! 

I went down into the town centre again and chatted to a few more homeless guys.  One of them told me he had no family, his mother had died three years ago and he would be spending Christmas Day in his tent with his dog, alongside a busy main road, where no doubt, thousands will drive past without even a second glance.  We blessed each other as we parted company - I long for the day when homelessness is no longer prevalent on our streets and in our society and I’m sure as you read this, you long for the same.

“Your job is not to judge;
     your job is not to figure out
          if someone deserves something. 
Your job is to lift the fallen,
     to restore the broken, 
          and to heal the hurting.”
Joel Osteen