Yesterday, I hung out near the entrance of the local Job Centre for a while. I had a bag with goodies ready to hand out, including a warm “thermal” cotton turtleneck. It was quiet, though, and I ended up taking the bag home again.

There was one person who I probably should have given it to, but she was walking fast and it takes a minute to assess whether a person might really like to have some goodies.

She had a see-through supermarket bag with only two or three items, and was likely a foreign student or a student from an English ethnic minority. She walked past me. The pullover would have fitted her, too.

(I only saw one person come out of the Job Centre and he looked upbeat and fine.)

12 December: Went out again. Asked one woman at a bus stop, maybe a little older than me, who said that she was fine and told me to give it to someone else, but she liked the idea. Asked another woman who I passed on the sidewalk, a lot younger, who was very happy with it. I had put the most boring thing on top. Still, I like them and they’re very healthy. Oat cakes.

There is little that cheers you up as much as that, just handing out some goodies to a random stranger. Had to be female and had to be about my size and not seem filthy rich. That was all. (The turtleneck likely wouldn’t fit a male and women tend to feel colder anyway.)

(The hacking and stuff often makes me feel like I am under siege around the clock. I am. It’s exhausting. I sometimes struggle to find something to balance it with.)