As I was walking away from the homeless man who was reading I thought, no - blow it - gonna buy him some fags and food. So I went to the nearest newsagent and brought him a Kit Kat, a Copella Apple Juice and a ten pack of cigarettes. Which actually only came to £4.47 but there was some quibble about the 3p change (namely the man thought he'd given it to me already when he hadn't) so that got put in a charity box too but I was too flustered to know which one... And so...And then... I walked back and said 'Hullo. I brought you these... because I was so impressed you were reading, and um - you look clean, and like you're trying to look after yourself and I like that' and he said 'I am, thank you' and then I told him what was in the bag and he said thank you in a really humble, wide eyed wonder way and then he told me what book he was reading (a book on Afghanistan) and we left it at that.
Actually, as I walked off he said 'Happy New Year by the way' and I looked over my shoulder, and smiled at him and said: 'You too Sir'...
I like that man. The next homeless man I saw was swearing madly, meanly at himself and I thought - 'well, I'm glad I didn't buy you an apple juice', and I think - perhaps - that I'll buy the Piccadilly Homeless Man Who Likes To Read a piece of fruit today and make him sandwiches the next.
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