Stories...

After I parked the car at the Esplanade this morning, I started wandering over, as I normally do, to where we meet for boot camp when I heard someone rush up madly behind me. I turned to see this woman charge at me. I side stepped and she rushed forward to then stand bang in front of me and not move. Clearly she was drugged (seen a few in my time), very unwashed and I suspect homeless. I said hello, and started to move. Every move I made she blocked it. Was I concerned? Well, shit yeah. Crazy people do crazy things. So I stopped, thought for a moment then looked her in the eye and started talking calmly to her about the weather. Have you ever noticed that the weather is the most innocuous thing yet it binds all sorts of people together? She blinked several times then nodded and started telling me about her boyfriend, the place she’d been thrown out of and the computer someone stole from her. I listened and kept throwing in the word ‘mate’ - it’s a common leveler in Australian society that indicates no one is better than anyone else and we’re all the same. I then added "I’m headed over that way," pointing to the boot campers, and she continued talking to me as she walked beside me. By the time we got over to the meeting point she was very chatty and I stood and listened to her for a moment before wishing her good luck. She told me she was off to steal back her computer. O-kay then.

The thing that I got from this is two-fold. One – everyone has a story and often just by listening to it you can calm them down and save your arse. And two? I have frigging nerves of steel.