Le sang froid habituel

1 Translate 'Voici l'Anglais avec son sang froid habituel'. No, try again. And again. You really must pay attention. 'Here comes the Englishman with his usual bloody cold'. I am that man. I am in what I hope will be the concluding, short phase of a cold. Meanwhile, I carry packets of tissues. I keep blowing. Yet however hard I blow, there is always more to expel.

2 Otherwise, the blog provides me with the opportunity to record some of the thoughts as I served the teas and coffees in Open House for nearly four hours yesterday. It was my first shift for a long while. (Pause for a blow.) Some of the day-centre users were familiar to me. One who came to the counter with bleary, wet eyes and a slack stature, the results of a serious drinking session, I first met on my first shifts in Open House some ten years ago. There are others whom I remember from those days, others who have not been and are not beholden to the bottle. Of course, there were people there whom I had not see before, though I knew most by sight if not by name. Generally, the people who come to the day-centre are coming for the company, for each other's company, Open House being the place in the town where they will be welcome. It's a club, a club for those who would not be admitted to other clubs.

3 Young, old, men, women - each of their individual journeys has led them to Open House. Loneliness leads more than one to the warmth and company of the day-centre. A place to sit for a few hours in a room with other people, to drink a cup of tea or coffee, to buy a breakfast or a lunch or both. The mis-use of alcohol or drugs is also common. One woman caught my eye because she was well-dressed, held herself well, and spoke a middle-class language. Like others she gave me the tea-token and I passed over the tea. No evident signs of the mis-use of drugs. It must be the mis-use of alcohol. Like everyone in the centre, she was taken on her own terms. It is an egalitarian place. Abandon place all ye who enter here.

4 And I took the tokens, and the occasional small payments, and returned the teas and the coffees. No pushing, no shoving. Just a steady line of customers on the other side of the counter. Just before 1000 I made myself a cup of tea. At 1030, I noticed, I had scarcely touched it. How pleasant, how comfortable it all was. A worthwhile job to do, a simple, straightforward job A nice way of spending four hours. I'll be there again next Friday.

5 And what about the Prince Henry tee-shirt. Or the Great Fire. Or Madeira.

6 Three new members were enrolled at the collection this morning.

7 Time for Abdul

Stayathome