I was in town today and I walked past an old lady sitting on the side of a walled flower bed on the wide pavement between the railway and the back of the Mayflower theatre.
There was a bag in front of her in the middle of the pavement which I guessed was hers. Assuming she'd want help picking it up, I asked if it was hers, and she explained she had to put it there so the 'pests' in the flowerbed wouldn't get it. She then started telling me about pest control, and, well, her life. She struck me as rather intelligent and knowledgeable, but slowly losing it. And the fact she told me about having voices in her head, being depressed and having just spent a month in a hospital for mental health, shows things were obviously not helping her. There were odd comments that made me think of Requiem for a Dream and the Dark Side of the Moon if either of those titles mean anything to you.
Anyway, she talked for a long time, and one thing she said that i really liked was this:
Apparently she went to the tescos to buy some steak. On her way back she saw a girl under some blankets looking miserable. So she gave her a pack of cigarettes.
I laughed, 'really? you gave her a pack of cigarettes?' thinking, how do you know she even smoked?
The old lady looks back at me, slightly confused and completely serious.. 'Well of course i did.. What else do you do? She looked so miserable!'
Im falling in love with a vision of society 50-60 years ago that is so distant from where we are now that it seems almost bizarre and shocking.
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