Friday, May 11, 2007

Tom

Tom's the guy that sells the Big Issue at Marylebone station. Well, I think his name's Tom, I hope I heard right. For the past few weeks, he's been standing there, every morning, as grumpy Rondoners walk past him without a glance. "BIG ISSUE! No? Have a good day Maam/Sir!" and Tom means it.

Lately, I get up every morning, and lie in bed thinking, "I really don't want to go to work today". I hide under my duvet (C, are you proud I didn't say "doona"? :) ) until the very last moment. When it's 8.05am, I know I have to get my butt into gear. I sit at my desk and I count down the hours. When it hits 4:30pm, I'm counting down the minutes till 5pm. When I get home, I'm reluctant to talk about work because it's been sh*tty. You'll notice I don't usually blog about work either.

Tom sees people get off the trains every morning. He says they look grumpy, some of them hate their jobs, hate coming into Rondon, and hate their incomes. Basically, he sees people like me. I stand in the bus lines when it's too cold/wet to walk to work, earphones plugged in, with a frown for the long day ahead. So Tom's trying to bring a smile to people's faces every morning. Strangely, it works :) I watch Tom at work, and he's got soo much enthusiasm for selling the Big Issue, that it made me smile. Heck, I bought one and I haven't read it yet.

This morning, I got Tom a latte, and had a chat.
Here's a guy, down on his luck, making a living out of selling the Big Issue. He's homeless, and he wants to save up for his own place. Considering he only gets 80p out of every £1.50 magazine he sells, it's going to take him awhile.

Yet, he's the most optimistic person I've met in a long time. There's no lesson here. I just hope I don't have to lose it all in order to have Tom's optimism in life. I've seen a lot of things in life. I've moved to Rondon. I've had opportunities my parents and other kids in my extended family d
idn't. What exactly does it take for me to be happy or content?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

"What exactly does it take for me to be happy or content?"

Perhaps think in terms of less, rather than more?

Instead of thinking - "what must I add to my life", think "what can I remove?"

Our generation is a victim of choice.

Personally, I enjoy pursuing things that I am passionate about. So, know your passions and chase them whenever you can!

reenie said...

*ugh* NAMES... people who comment on my blog should leave NAMES...

Anonymous said...

You need to get married my friend :)

Squeeze out some pups!

What about this Tom fellow? He sounds nice. But hey, you already bought him a drink, so I guess the ball's in his court :)

That'd solve your Anonymous poster's oh-so-bourgeois problem with too many options anyways ... if that is indeed your Big Issue.

Sounds to me like you're just tired of walking around Rondon with a cloud on your head the whole time. Maybe move somewhere the sun is still shining when you leave work?

dg (yup i read your blog finally - twice now!)

reenie said...

DG, you know I actually thought the first comment came from YOU *grin* "Our generation is a victim of choice" sounds so much like something you would say.

The sun's shining in Rondon till about 9pm these days, mate :) Maybe you should move here :P