I have become much more aware of those around of me.

Dear John
I have always found the stories on your Facebook page to be very moving. I have become much more aware of those around of me and find myself giving money to homeless people more regularly. However I have never bought a suspended coffee.

Recently I went to meet my mother who had been to church. We were chatting away when another gentleman who had just left the church overheard us and commented on our discussion. We started chatting to him and my mother asked if he went to that church on a regular basis. He told us he lived in another city but had come to watch a football match. He went on to tell us that his wallet and mobile had been stolen from the hotel so he couldn’t go to the football game and as he had no way of getting home so he was waiting for his wife to come and collect him after she had finished working that day – a 4 hour journey for her. I realized he had no money to buy food or drink in the meantime and offered him £20. He was embarrassed and didn’t want to take it – that wasn’t the purpose of his story.

I asked him to take it and told him if I was a stranger to a city and had my purse stolen, I would hope that someone would do the same for me. I told him that if he felt uncomfortable about just taking the money, he could pay it forward when he had the chance. He declared he wanted to hug us and he was off to the pub to get a hot drink and watch the football. Our gesture clearly touched him. We were equally touched. Thank you for reminding us to look out for each other.
A xx

#morethanthecoffee