From Arrowtown with love: Weekly gratitude #5

Not having written a gratitude post a week hasn’t been due to the lack of people to be grateful for.

We’re parked up in Arrowtown at the moment, a pretty place to be in winter. Because of low temperatures and short days, a lot of our activities revolve around food preparation and eating, so it was especially humbling to be given food by strangers twice in the last few days.

In both occasions the people were just about to go back home and had leftovers to deal with. Now, some might think “big deal,” to pass on food if it’s going to be thrown out anyway, but we’ve been honestly so excited about it. At times when money is short, receiving an armful of food is like getting a bag full of Christmas presents.

And there’s the surprise part as well: what’s it gonna be?

Coffee, meat, chocolate – luxury items, very much treasured.
Honey, jam, milk, oil – always good.
Instant soup, packaged juice, cereal, 2 minute noodles – great to have in dire times.

Two days ago I had just run out of coffee and was trying to figure out coping mechanisms for the few days ’til our next shopping trip. The jar of instant coffee in the unexpected care package was a life saver. I don’t recall your names, unfortunately, but thanks anyway, you people from Scotland and Australia living in Singapore.

Also, thanks Franzi, Martin and Fiona from the campground for letting me watch soccer in the kitchen in the middle of the night, and for letting me use pieces of wood to build a seat for computer work (in use right now!).

It’s this attitude of giving without asking for anything back that makes the world a friendlier place.