I was raised dirt poor, made money, lost money, started at the bottom again, then dropped a few rungs down the ladder again with damaged legs. I live
on 68 quid a week from crappy injury/illness insurance I took out, get my property taxes paid by the state, and free healthcare, prescriptions, dental
and eye care so although piss poor at the moment, life ain't so bad...just a new reality and chasing the next rung on the ladder as always in life
☺️
Anyway, I went to score a smoke just now, and wherever I go takes ages because I have to stop and sit down every 100 yards or so due to the
pain/exertion of walking. In town is a nightmare because I get looks like I'm scum off some people, was sat on the floor a few weeks ago and someone
offered me help thinking I was homeless lol.
My route home is made easier by going through backstreet shortcut skid row where the homeless shelter is, and you know what, I actually like sitting
down sharing the chat with the people I meet there while I rest.
I use NHS sticks to walk and they absolutely scream out poverty to anyone lol, looked at some sticks in a local store, 45 quid, which is 66% of my
weekly income for one, so obviously I ain't buying them anytime soon!
A mate of mine was concerned recently with his son walking down skid row, and I was like "Mate, they are just people on their arse, maybe thieves to
fund their habits, but with all the cctv there it's like the safest alley in town", he thought about it and then thought similar.
I stopped there just now, sat on a low wall, got chatting as you do, then offered a smoke, swig of booze, even a toot on one guy's bong which I
politely turned down because it was Spice, and I laughed saying my mobility is bad enough without me impairing it any more! Everyone chuckled, I
recovered physically and hobbled off on my way.
Like I say I've been in the money in millionaires parties, and on my arse like I am now, but one thing I've always found is the poorer the people
around me, the more generous they turn out to be.
I'm getting a disabled bus pass soon, and although it won't cover long distance coaches it covers bus routes from towns to cities around England so I
can basically get anywhere in the country for free, or paid for by the hundreds thousands of tax I've paid all my working life to date.
I'm gonna visit the small towns I never knew existed, camp on beaches or whatever, and enjoy meeting new people all along the way.
The crazy thing is that if I rock up in the roughest pubs or social clubs on my travels then those are the places I expect to meet the most friendly
people.
I'm not sure the point of this thread, maybe just an observation that people are just fellow humans all over, but the ones who are the most generous
in my life experience are those with the least.
All thoughts welcome, just sharing my own ☺️
edit on 31-7-2019 by Silure because: Damn that autocorrect lol