Encounters

A trip to my GP this week necessitates a blood test. In the waiting room  I am joined by an elderly woman pushing a walking frame. She is from the rest home across the street. She sits down and is keen for a chat. She begins by asking if I have travelled?

That starts quite a conversation. Pleasant memories are exchanged. She loved Vienna. I chat about some of my bicycle tours, in Japan and other countries. She then says she knows too many elderly people wasting what remains of their life, sitting inside watching television.

``They have Gold Cards,'' she says. ``They get free metro bus travel.  They can visit the Christchurch CBD and  check out the rebuild progress six years on from our 2011 earthquakes.
``There are many new cafes to sample.''
Quiet an observation I am thinking.

She has given up long haul travel but is not sitting around watching television.
``I think I will go and rob a bank this afternoon,'' she says.
``Good idea, I might do the same,'' I reply.
``Well don't get there before me. There wont be any money left.''

I go home smiling.

➧A couple of days later when approaching my bus stop shelter a middle-aged woman stands up and tells me I can sit where she has pushed aside a pile of bags. I wonder if I am looking so decrepit, I need a seat?
Anyway  I gratefully sit down. I have just five minutes to wait.

``This is my home,'' she tells me.
``I've got everything I need here. She opens one bag to reveal a toilet roll and litre of milk amongst other things.
She goes on to tell me she has been to every welfare agency for help and gets no help. WINZ has been particularly unhelpful
I wonder about  our government hype telling us New Zealand has a ``rock star'' economy. Ever since I heard that expression I have noticed homeless people in Christchurch and other cities.
It is election year so I am awaiting comment from opposition parties re our dire social problems.  Hopefully my wait wont be in vain.

As my bus approaches a young guy with missing teeth, highlighted by a wide grin, turns up.    

He and the homeless woman obviously know one another.
 And I discover the reason for his grin.
``I have just been given (presumably by a welfare agency) $200 for a hotel room tonight,'' he says.

After this encounter, I do not go home smiling.