Thanks A Bunch

Thanks A Bunch

It was Easter holidays, I’d been in to do a bit of marking

And make sure the ‘Speaking and Listening’ had been entered

Sarah and the kids down at her folks and passing the museum on my bike,

There was a bunch of police gathered, and I thought, ‘eh up’

Another stabbing? The Capels are abroad. But it wasn’t hot,

Chilly in fact and I couldn’t make out much…

Going through town though, I passed another pupil excluded,

Bikingn aimlessly up Moulsham Street, ‘scoring drugs and trying not to get arrested’ he
 

told me, before adding some expletives under his breath aimed indirectly at me, following in
 

his brother’s footsteps.

Depressing.

Passing the shoppers and rough sleepers, I forced myself to buy a Big Issue

Off the middle eastern looking vendor near Debenhams (just gone into
administration)

The extra fifty pence a token gesture to alleviate my guilt but as I head up

To Boots, to get shampoo, a new toothbrush and some milk,

I pass the fruit and veg stall, and there’s Adam, holding a bunch of bananas.

“Alright sir,” he smiles “How ya doin’” and I ask him if he was still pursuing football

After his trial at Southend a few years back, but he said he ‘sacked it off’ and
added ‘Bet you could see me doin’ this though?” and smiling saying he “loved it” he insisted on giving
me the bunch of bananas,
a  token of his appreciation: “You did a
hell of a lot for me.” I rack my brains thinking I’m

not sure I did. But I took the bunch, and wished him all the best, knowing they

Would be appreciated sliced up or mashed into the girls’ porridge.

It left me warmer, heading home, a seed of hope glowing bright

In the grey afternoon.