An Unforgettable Incident on a Ferry Ride

This happened exactly middle of last year during my two-week vacation.

Ferry ride is not for someone like me with a sissy stomach. Notwithstanding, my sister and I managed to buy food and drinks upon boarding. I chose macaroni and cheese, which appeared delectable, plus a vegetable salad. But as soon as we started eating, the dizziness kicked in, turning the insides of my abdomen upside down.

Taking two tabs of anti-dizzy med, I closed my eyes for several minutes hoping the feeling of nausea would go away. My sister with a more robust stomach likewise took one tablet after munching some burger and french fries. She then decided to discontinue snacking, opting to take a stroll around.

“Just leave me here, I’ll be fine.” I assured her before she walked away while I took my tray to sit at a more convenient table in the front.

Hardly a minute had elapsed when I heard movement in the back. Curious, I turned around and saw a man just about to devour what was left of my sister’s meal which were a few fries and half of a sandwich burger. The man was chubby, with a moustache (though decent-looking), and wearing an orange vest. He was probably in his late 30s or early 40s. His veneer hardly gave away the notion he eats passengers’ leftover meals.

Trying not to show surprise, I sat up straight again. My mind, however, was digesting the unexpected sight as it never occurred to me such cases exist in a country like the UK.

Since I couldn’t finish my snack as well, I decided to stand up and leave my table to see what the man would do next. Sure enough, as soon as I reached a certain distance, he placed himself in front of the more recently abandoned food and ate what had remained of my macaroni and cheese – he didn’t touch the vegetables.

He mustn’t have had any money to be able to buy his own meal, I inferred. Yet he was not bothering anyone for some cash so he could feed himself. He’d just sit down quietly and finish uneaten food left behind by ferry travelers and would clean up after he was done. He even seemed embarrassed being caught doing that.

I reached for my purse, looked for something that could buy him a good full meal. Maybe I had a 5 or 10-pound bill to spare him. Alas, I had neither. The minimum inside my purse was a 20-pound bill. I hesitated, estimating the two months’ worth of breakfast/lunch/dinner I could purchase with this money back in my country.

“But I am never going to see this person again. There won’t be another chance I could be of one-time help to him,” I convinced myself.

He was already reading a newspaper when I approached him at the same table. I stretched out my hand holding the 20-pound bill. He was stunned for a few seconds. “For me?” he managed to ask. I just nodded without saying anything. An uncomfortable few more seconds ticked by before he finally took the money from my hand, inserted it in his orange-vest pocket and bowed his head down again to continue reading. Maybe he felt a little embarrassed, but I didn’t know how else I could have done it.

I searched for my sister, and told her about the poor man. She subsequently cast a look at him.

A number of hours had already passed when on our way to the hotel she hazarded I must have given the man a little money. I didn’t deny. She asked how much. I told her the truth. She said, “Okay, but that’s equivalent to more or less 2000 in pesos.” I reasoned not having had a lesser denomination in possession.

“And he’s probably a mental case,” my sister dismissed.

Hmm, that possibility hadn’t entered my mind.

All the same, I hoped the poor guy was able to buy himself some food with the small amount of money (in London standards) I handed over to him.

A view I took a photo of somewhere in the lovely town of Greenwich, UK.

February Babe Musings (The Month of Hearts and The Awesome MrMary)

“It’s the love month!” – my sister posted in all alacrity on her FB wall on the 1^st day of February, which prompted me to reply, “Oh alright, I have to rush and reconnect with my French model boyfriend I met on the Internet who moonlights as a linguist, so he can express to me the romantic three-word sentence in at least a dozen different versions.”

I wrote that in jest, of course. A nuance of cynicism towards her surreptitiously intended. Anyway, as it’s currently the “month of love”, everybody is going to write about it and I am no exception. But that will have to materialize in a succeeding post because the hub of my musings for this month is about a blogger pal of mine whose recent gesture has been surprising to me – in a most touching manner.

I am talking about the awesome MrMary – the one who has become a dear blogging friend to me; the one who went out of his way to put out a back to back feature on a recent post of mine (He’s basically got a generous heart for his fellow bloggers). He first kicked things off with a reblog; which he followed with a post expressing words of tenderness and empathy. A virtual hug of solace and a couple of touching vlogs  (video+blog) were included, too. And then he ended it all with a beautiful heartbreaking poem from Victor Hugo. It was so unexpected and sweet of him to do all that considering our interaction has practically been limited to clicking Like in each other’s blogs and my dropping a commentary in his site every now and then. It’s one more proof how a gesture from another sympathetic blogger can bring solace, and kindness that breezes through your heart – you end up thinking it’s still a nice world after all.

Now let me talk a little more about MrMary whose real name is Dave. We are talking about one very bright guy here – and a darling of a blogger at that. And can be very much funny, too. Being a history educator for grad students, this guy can easily fork out quotations from a number of the most respectable minds that ever lived on this planet. A dash of David Foster Wallace here, a little of Baudelaire there, something from the great Charles Bukowski, and many others. You get them all. His vernacular can shift in many interesting ways, providing you with perspectives beyond the confines of standard rationalism. And if, like me, you delight in some kind of regular movement in a blog, do click on this guy’s site as it’s no sweat for him to generate more than a single post in one day. Scroll through his archives and you are sure to find something that might just be your cup of tea. Most probably, you’d stumble on a gem that carries his 24k perception and insights about life and indispensable issues. I’m telling you, the guy has substance. And I still haven’t gotten to what he possesses in terms of wit and humour.

A little caution for the weak-hearted though; his treatment of a subject matter at times could get audacious – leaning a bit on the daring side, which nevertheless his readers including me practically go for. No topic is off-limits as he’s competent to pull off an intelligent discourse about almost anything, while nonetheless courteous and polite in the comments section.

He referred to me as a sweet type of person. I like that. But wait, a speck of reality check here: ok, the term has been used several times by people to describe me – yet every time I hear it, I say to myself, “Me? Sweet? They couldn’t possibly be talking about me.” So I may as well allow you to get to know me better. I tend to be sweet only to friends and family members I like. I can be all sugary and genial habitually to my favorite people but I can also be apathetic to the ones I couldn’t care less – er, sometimes to the point of cold-heartedness. As I’ve stated before, the owner of this blog is no angel.

Although nowhere in the vicinity of this man’s cerebral acuity, he reminds me a bit of myself, especially in my younger years. Frank, intense in several ways, bohemian in certain modes. Show us niceness and we’ll try to reciprocate tentimesfold. There can be no obscurity as to who we really are because of our need to thrive on savage honesty. Another well-guarded trait is this fierce loyalty to (in my case, selected) members of friends and family – which is beyond question.

Every now and then I get this yearning to be infused with wild wisdom; for a few radical beliefs to look me in the eye. Lacking in the smarts department, I crave for a seat in the audience of the best and brightest writers of WordPress. The ones who can pull me a step higher than my current intellect. I am that desperate in that area, you see.  🙂  Hopeless dreamer, you think?

Below are links to some of my most favorite posts (although there are many more others) from MrMary’s A Spoonful of Suga so far. You might like them too.

Essays For Future & Current Highschool Honor Students (1)

http://aspoonfulofsuga.wordpress.com/2012/10/19/i-have-this-shame-that-wont-go-a-satirical-open-letter-to-wordpress-about-freshly-pressed/

Best Wishes & Good Luck to Everyone in the Blogger Idol 2012

Sharing my Ruminations on the Blogger Idol 2012 with Love

Sharing The First Poem I Ever Got Published

A Personal Post For All My Fans and Readers

The iPhone 5, Jurgen Habermas, Langdom Winner & some random Observations

http://aspoonfulofsuga.wordpress.com/2013/02/02/weekend-vlog-a-heart-felt-virtual-hug-to-marj-from-bohemian-sentiments-an-update/

http://aspoonfulofsuga.wordpress.com/2013/09/27/sur-le-chemin-with-kerouac-a-journey-through-language-time-and-fatherhood/

http://aspoonfulofsuga.wordpress.com/2013/07/26/mrmary-on-blogging-and-writing-reflects-openly-on-littlemswordys-blogging-work-or-hobby/?relatedposts_hit=1&relatedposts_origin=8389&relatedposts_position=2

http://aspoonfulofsuga.wordpress.com/2013/06/09/the-words-the-drinks-mrmary-visits-the-quays-irish-pub-1/

http://aspoonfulofsuga.wordpress.com/2013/09/05/talking-craft-with-mrmary-engaged-writing-with-seamus-heaney/

http://aspoonfulofsuga.wordpress.com/2013/09/03/mrmary-pontificates-i-dont-like-to-be-shaped-by-society/

http://aspoonfulofsuga.wordpress.com/2013/06/23/mrmary-answers-his-ask-me-anything-i-dare-ya-questions-1/

http://aspoonfulofsuga.wordpress.com/2014/03/28/thinking-deep-thoughts-why-blogging-turns-me-off-sometimes-other-ramblings/

http://aspoonfulofsuga.wordpress.com/2014/03/30/what-its-like-32-living-with-and-having-dogs/

http://aspoonfulofsuga.wordpress.com/2014/04/07/hitting-the-reset-button-again/

In the vlog he dedicated to me, MrMary has nailed it when he said that for as long as the people who reared us are still around, we are secured in knowing we are somebody’s child. But when they’re gone…well…

How am I doing nowadays, you might ask? Honestly, my sadness still varies in tone; my outlook still seeped in cold monochrome. Some days are ok. Some aren’t. Huge shadows of regret and guilt still pop up anytime which could hurl me several steps backwards. I am aware there’s no quick path to getting from here to a comfortable reclamation.

And I don’t want to give the impression that I am this much close (See my two fingers almost touching together) to slitting my wrist. No, no, no… Never did I have any inclination for that and no intention at all to scare away my readers. I know I must strengthen my coping skills. I’ve got to concentrate on other matters. It’s the only way.

Please know that I am grateful to all of you who took the time to visit and drop comments here; to each and everyone who gave me support and loving kindness. As I’ve learned, leaning on your fellow bloggers could be of substantial aid on your way up and out.

Thanks to you all.

Thank you, Dave.