Bedding

Just down the road from my apartment is a church yard. One of the buildings has a wide veranda around it, and in the summer one or two homeless people sleep there. A couple of months ago when it started to get cold, I was walking past early one morning on my way to work. I noticed that the man sleeping on the veranda only had a thin blanket and was shivering. I immediately decided to get out my spare blankets and old doona and leave them on the veranda on the following weekend. The next day, however, as I was walking past to go to work, I noticed that someone beat me to it. On the veranda was a big pile of mattresses, sleeping bags, and blankets. Other people obviously noticed too.

Since then, it has become much colder, almost freezing, at night, and a few more people have been sleeping on the veranda. I guess it's warmer with a few bodies together. This morning I walked by at about 7am, and it was about 4 degrees celcius (just above freezing) and as I looked over at the bodies huddled under the blankets, I saw something rather touching. A cat was curled up on top of one of the bodies, fast asleep and obviously making the most of the body heat, and no doubt also giving a little comfort to the person sleeping below.

This afternoon I was walking home with my just-purchased sets of new sheets for my bed, and as I walked past the church yard I suddenly realised the enormous luxury that I take for granted on a daily basis and I was suitably humbled.