Taking sides

This house lies just over the road from Costa Coffee and Baskin Robbins. Outside, a woman instructed her two young children to ask us for money in exchange for a small packet of tissues. I've noticed that most of the beggars have tissues to sell; perhaps it's illegal to beg and selling something gets round that, perhaps it's just a matter of pride. We bought a packet of the young girl for a couple of LE. We bought a packet off the boy as well.

Just down the road, two even younger children (with no visible mother and no packets of tissues) were sitting outside McDonalds watching as the children inside ate burgers and drank Coke. As we walked by, the little girl came up to us and started pointing to her mouth whist holding her other hand out. It's such a pitiful sight that you can't help but feel extremely guilty about having more money in your wallet than they probably see in a year. We gave her a couple of LE and then her brother who she immediately alerted us to.

Difficult as it is for us to fathom, a couple of LE go a long way and are greatly appreciated around these parts. Well, that's what we're told anyway, and it certainly doesn't make you feel any better about the random lottery that is life. It does however put the petty things we tend to get wound up about well and truly into perspective.

On a lighter note, this still makes me laugh.