Sobering reality

[muddy]

We had to go to Bristol this week .
We got lost ( owing to me putting a letter wrong in the satnav .)
So in a fairly run down part of town we pulled into a bus stop to ask where we were .
The first people I asked were visitors - typical !
The second man looked in a bad way he had a serious medical condition as was evident but he tried his best .
The next man gave similar directions .
He too looked rough he only had two teeth
Both looked desperately poor .
Lack of teeth is a sure sign of poverty and no doubt of something else .
They weren't young .
Lack of care , maybe some previous abuse or neglect .
I live in a village where more or less everyone is ok .
You don't see people like this .
It's a sobering reality that it's not all roses and affluent gentility for some people .
These two men , I don't know ,were they even really waiting for a bus ?
Or just sitting in the sun enjoying its warmth and passing the time
I think of them we are not all fortunate in life
( I know I'm a miserable beggar but these things affect me )

[Alex]

Perhaps your thoughts were kindly because you don't see this type of person at home  ?   If you lived with them every day believe me, generous thoughts soon disappear.

[muddy]

I expect so but I always think this was once someone's baby ,a little child how did they end like this ? 

[GrannyMac]

Perhaps your thoughts were kindly because you don't see this type of person at home  ?  If you lived with them every day believe me, generous thoughts soon disappear.

Not half.  Lots of people like muddy describes in the city centre, drugs are a real issue.  There have been serious disturbances in one area this week.  The police have brought in temporary stop and search in the affected area.  Fighting about an election in Slovakia FGS.  Apart from violence, the area is a tip. Fly tipping, rubbish just dumped etc. 

https://www.southyorkshire.police.uk/news/south-yorkshire/news/news/august-2026/section-60-order-giving-temporary-stop-and-search-powers-extended-in-page-hall/

https://fb.watch/IRaZ_yWVIL/?fs=e

[muddy]

These were elderly men probaby in their  sixties just looked poor and in bad health .

[klondike]

Probably British then and can't afford a dentist or get a GP appointment. Must be true of many - quite possibly a majority.

[Mups]

I saw a very thin, dishevelled man sitting outisde  Tesco last week.
At one point he got up and started rummaging through the litter bin nearby.  I watched because I wondered what he was up to.
He fished out a dirty old tissue that someone must have used and chucked in the bin,  and he used it to blow his nose on!
That to me,  looked more genuine that those who sit there on there mobile phones, and having a fag.

I was going to get him a packet of tissues to keep,  but the multipack tissues were hardly bigger than a postage stamp,  so I got him a packet of big serviettes instead,  big man-size ones.
He looked truly amazed and so grateful, he thanked me profusely. For some silly reason this made me fill up,  so I walked away quickly.

There are others that I would not give a penny to.

[muddy]

Well done Mups .