SOME PEOPLE

On the Road

Seen outside Paddy Power's betting shop on Sunday lunchtime: a tall middle-aged black man wearing a white towelling bathrobe, which he had accessorized with carpet slippers and a fur hat with ear flaps. An unusual look for January. Incidentally, I hate all Paddy Power's television advertisements, especially the one with the song where he sings, "Get those mustard trousers out of my face!" when the man he's passing has pink trousers. Not only naff, but incompetent (and prejudiced against mustard-coloured trousers).


Visitors

The Tall Polite Man from Archway appeared again last week. He often has a shopping trolley, and congregation members assumed he was homeless, and  so were very shocked when I told them he had an address over there, and perplexed that he should appear here.

Angry Woman with Dog came in the door of St Peter's House this week, when people were coming and going for a trustees' meeting. I wasn't here, but Kim found her, fortunately without the dog. Apparently she wasn't nearly as angry as usual, and went quietly. She didn't even touch any of the trustees for money. She said she has been rehoused outside London; and Kim thought she was looking better. If true, that is good news. I suppose she could have been back here to see her GP, who is just across the road, as I can imagine she would want to stay registered with him (he has been hugely supportive of her).

We were in the middle of the Tuesday morning Mass at St Peter's a few weeks ago when I saw a scruffy-looking gent come in to the back of church. He only paused a few moments and then left again. When I went to the back at the end of Mass I realised that the five-pound note that one of the congregation always puts in the basket (placed two rows from the door) was not there. She must have seen for herself that it wasn't there when she came out, but said not a word. As long as she doesn't think I took it...


Community

One of my families features a Palestinian dad and an Armenian mum. Their son came home talking about a party which some of the boys in his class had gone to. "Didn't they invite you?" asked his mum. "Oh no," he said, "It was only the Serbian boys who were invited. They didn't invite English boys." Hooray!


School Music

If you don't hang around musicians you may not have noticed that instrument cases have changed. Al Capone used to keep his tommy guns in hard violin cases, but those are barely seen now; everything is lightweight, made of high-tech materials, and designed to look like trendy backpacks. This enables schoolchildren to take instruments home (a very good thing). The other day I was coming down the steps of St Mary Magdalene's School at home time along with a bunch of eight year olds, many of whom were taking instruments home, and I found myself behind a tiny girl with a trombone on her back. As she went down the steps the case grazed the ground, so near her height was it. Her class teacher and I were both giggling, and she, more public-spirited than me, put out a hand to support the trombone. The girl, noticing, turned round and grinned winningly. I'm not quite sure how popular that will be with occupants of neighbouring flats, but children getting used to having proper musical instruments around the place must be a good thing, breaking down the "not for the likes of us" attitude which bedevils culture in this country.