The best part of Easter!

The best part about Easter this year was meeting Stephen.

My little family and I were lucky enough to be in a position to catch up with family and friends over the long weekend. There was the build up excitement for my daughter with the fashioning of a bonnet for her school parade and the craziness of the egg hunt held at our place, but the memory for this year was saying hello to someone we’ve never met before.

'we saw a man standing by the road side with what appeared to be a rolled up mattress'

My wife and I, our daughter, and a couple of family friends were heading home after a fantastic day out. The rain splattered the windscreen as we drove along and as we passed through a junction, we saw a man standing by the road side with what appeared to be a rolled up mattress and his belongings wet and cold.

This image stuck with us for the remainder of the ten minute journey home. Upon arrival my wife and I decided to put some food together, make a hot drink, pack a dry coat and head back out there to see if we could find this person. We didn’t know who this man was, if we could find him and how he’d react, but we had to try.

As we approached the junction we checked the last place we saw, he was not there. As we circled back we spotted the figure sat on a bench across the road, this was him and we felt excited at the find.

This was a first for us, we said hello explaining that we’d driven by and saw him standing in the rain and so thought he may like a warm drink and some food. As we handed over the items wishing him a happy Easter, Stephen extended a hand and introduced himself.

‘I’m all for Brexit!’

We found out that Stephen had been ‘in the media’ explaining that he had worked for Rupert Murdoch and that ‘probably explains things a bit’, he asked about my accent and upon learning I was originally from London exclaimed ‘I’m all for Brexit!’.

In our short conversation that followed we realised that this was an articulate, educated person, he was friendly and carried a bit of wit about him as he recounted a little about his life. Though a little reluctant at first, Stephen accepted a little money and said he didn’t ‘want to hold us up’. So we said our goodbyes and wished him well.

We’re so glad that we met Stephen, we’ll keep an eye out for him and stop along our commute when we spot him next. You don’t know why people end up on the streets, we all have our own story, the point is that they’re human just like us and appreciate a little help now and again.

'please just do something when you next see someone who may need a little help'

Please don’t write any affirmations, instead please just do something when you next see someone who may need a little help, no matter how small, that something may just make a difference to them.

Say hello, you may meet someone like Stephen.