Encounter over Fish and Chips

I was having fish & chips at a chippie in Kinsale. A bum was hanging around the place trying to talk at customers. At some point the boss came out and asked him to leave.
When I then went outside with my fish he was still hanging around outside. He homed in on me when I sat down and said something. It was obvious now that he was pretty drunk or stoned - or both. It took me two attempts to understand that he wanted something to eat. "Gimme sumth'ng t' eat", was something like what he mumbled. His eyes were unfocussed, he didn't seem able to walk straight. Still, I was reluctant to surrender my dinner to him. After a day's walking I was hungry, too. He didn't look that poor either.
"Why don't you order something inside", I suggested him. He didn't react, just repeated what he had said. So I repeated my line, too. Something inside didn't just let me say no to him. He had now installed himself swaying slightly next to my table. He was even drooling a little. I told him again to go and order inside.
Now several young people, locals, at the next table got involved. One guy shouted at him to "piss off" and the girl also said to go inside and order. He looked at them and focussed on me again. The guys asked me if I wanted to sit with them. "Gimme sumth'n t'eat." The guys were getting very annoyed and noisy now. For some reason though I couldn't feel the same. I felt pity for this man. He seemed to have drunken himself to the point of loosing his senses. I picked up the fish to actually give him some of my chips (and maybe be rid of him). Then he just took one. That was it.
"Oi", one of the guys shouted at him and told him to bloody well pay for his own stuff. Now I did get up and sit with them. But I still couldn't feel angry. Then one of the employees of the chippie came out and told him to go. The guys were still agitated and protested he had taken some chips from us. The man still seemed reluctant to comply until the boss came out and said she had called the Gardai (the Irish police). Then he finally left. We were apologised to and were even given a free extra portion of chips by way of apology. The police arrived and followed the way the man had left to talk to him. They didn't seem worried nor in a hurry at all. We asked the employee of the chippie if this guy had been there before. "Every day", he replied, "if you don't stand up to him he will take what he can. But he's scared of me. Then he becomes like a little child."

Why is this worth writing about? Just because we couldn't actually finish the free chips we had received. The guys left after a brief chat and I binned most of chips in the end. So, was it worth chasing him away and giving us free food by way of apology or couldn't they not have given that portion of chips to the man and be rid of him?

I would have liked to believe it - if not the same man had walked by some time later, after the Gardai had had their talk with him. Now he looked very focussed and not one bit drunk. Another fraud? Or is a talk with Irish Gardai so serious as to sober a man up like that?
A case from my time in Beijing comes to mind. Beggars on the subway are a common sight there. Especially cripples have not many options in a country without a social net like Germany. Most of them sing or chant Buddha verses into a microphone with a speaker strapped to their backs. Sometimes you see people give them some small change. Same was true of two guys that got on somewhere west of Tian'An Men. One seemed blind, the other hobbled painfully leading him. They chanted and some people gave them money. Since we were in the last car they went up to the end and sat down, chatted. At Guo Mao, the banking district, the got of and leisurely strolled down the platform. Passengers gaped. A miracle? I think not, just a clever business idea.
The sad consequence is that nobody will give anyone anything. Even if they are really in need but after having seen your share of frauds you tend to not trust anyone anymore.

The Uncle from Abroad

I had a interesting thought while hiking on Valentia Island during my holiday to Ireland.

I encountered a group of four children, two boys, two girls, maybe ten years old on average. They thought I was one of the many Spanish tourists that seem to travel Ireland at the moment. So they shouted random, Spanish-sounding gibberish at me. I surprised them by knowing English and had them guess my nationality for fun. So, we started chatting. That's quite unusual in itself because I don't normally enjoy talking to small children but these kids were bright and curious. They had family in the area and were visiting for the Easter holidays. They started asking questions about me - the usual stuff kids that age want to know, like how old I was, whether I was married or had a girlfriend, how far away Germany was, what was this or that in German. One girl had even learnt German at school. It was quite interesting listening to them.
Only after some time, after some other tourists had passed I became conscious and began wondering: were they giving me strange looks? And then suddenly, when their aunt or mother came calling for them from the distance, I actually became uneasy. Why? I wasn't doing anything wrong, just having an innocent chat. But still it occurred to me that maybe people would jump to unpleasant conclusions. From that moment I actually wanted to get away or them to leave because I felt that in a minute if their mum came up here I would have to answer questions like: "what are you doing with my children?"
That now strikes me as quite unfortunate that an adult - a male adult at any rate - cannot have a simple chat with some children without having to worry what people think. They were being curious, they had maybe never consciously talked to a foreigner before. But these days you have all the weirdos and paedophiles around that either pretend to be children online or nice, harmless uncles in person. It's sad that I should almost feel guilty talking to these children when I was doing nothing wrong.
It's a strange kind of thinking or awareness that we have to suffer from these days.

Impressions of the Emerald Isle

I collected some thoughts while touring around Ireland. Here they are in no particular order:

• I do like the Celtic type of girl and Irish girls are a lot prettier than the ones I was used to seeing in the UK. Fancy that just on the next island.


• Guinness is good for you. It's true. I believe it.


• Never trust or worry about the weather when you get up, it will change before noon.


• Slopes are always longer than they look. After that promising ridge it will just go on.


• After the bend it will become steeper.


• Roads always lead across the steepest bit of the hill.


• Contrary to many other places in Europe fireplaces are not just decoration.


• Pies are hot inside - fucking hot! Cures you of gluttony really fast.


• Traffic lights don't have to make sense. Showing red to all directions is part of the fun.


• Twelve-bed dorms are really not a good idea.