I met you  again today, and as we often do we chatted about what we are reading, you like mystery novels, so do I , we talk about our favourite authors, our liking for unusual heroes,  and our liking for a twist in the plot.

You drank your coffee quickly, I sipped mine, a luxury maybe, but we lingered at the table, enjoying the shared companionship, shared humanity.

I bumped into you following the sharing of Italian meal, an end of year celebration, you were sitting on the street corner, begging again, you hate this for yourself, I hate it too, but we are both helpless caught in an unjust system. I buy you lunch, you hate this too, but it is the least I can do.

You had hoped for a flat, one had been offered, but following the Grenfell Tower disaster, flats that would have once been available now aren’t . This is right and this is wrong. You should not be offered sub-standard accommodation,  but there should be accommodation available to you.  You work when you can, but somehow the wheels of injustice spit you out again, and so I find you here.

You are my friend, but I feel unable to help, you, a the same goes for the other you’s I meet. Yet you are all unique. I see you so I  tell your story, maybe I can do no more. ..