Vocal Voices

While we were in Iceland this morning, one of the store assistants, a very fit young man suddenly ran out of the store and stopped a girl who had walked out. He brought a big bottle of Coke back in with him and told us that she was walking away eating from a packet of uncooked bacon which she had also taken. It was too cold to fry it on the pavement!!
She had taken both items without paying!!

Just wondering how hungry you have to be to eat raw bacon

Gosh...that's awful. Raw bacon?

That's actually really sad, how desperate must she have been to eat raw bacon?

It really is sad, and in some respects, for her wellbeing, it might have been better to detain her and call the police - she obviously needs help.

As for the 'raw' bacon, I do understand the disgust, but it is actually a cured meat and in small doses should not do any harm. It would never be my normal choice, but in extremis......?

She will get worms.

Indeed that's sad ..... perhaps we don't realise how lucky we are, sometimes, to have in our lives the resources to buy food as and when we need it.

There are many people out there who don't. We were chatting with a member of the local Community Church down here just this week; he has worked with the homeless in London, and he told us that there is more absolute grinding poverty in this rural area than you see in some cities ......

I think you're right Ossie. All the supermarkets here have donation boxes for homeless charities or food banks I try to pop a little something in now and again. They have them for toys at Christmas, I always put something in and count my blessings xx

I try to put something in the food bank box in Tesco every now and again. You're right Ossie, I think we take for granted being able to go into the supermarket and fill a trolley, to be able to put a nourishing meal on the table for our children is something we've never had to think twice about.

We're regularly in the city centres of Birmingham and Manchester and it breaks my heart to see the amount of homeless, although one is one too many It's even worse seeing them at this time of year and there seems to be more than ever before. We quite often nip into a Greggs or McDonalds, pick up some hot food and a warm drink and quietly hand it to someone.

I read somewhere then the rate of homelessness has doubled since 2010. Not sure if that's exactly right, but like you Jo I do see it a lot many these days