Moon over Foro

Funny exchange at a bakery. We’re buying bread:

“What’s in it?” we ask.

“Do you have allergies ?”

“No, curiosity.”

I’ve had a few days of being generally grumpy (probably a bit over-tired and already fed up with it getting dark earlier) but I’ve had these amazing acts of kindness. Someone helped me load my bike on the train. A woman helped me put on my jacket. She was older than me, so it wasn’t the white streak in my hair. I don’t feel I particularly deserve this at the moment. I haven’t been spreading smiles, or feeling particularly open or welcoming. If someone were to ask how I was, really, I would tell them about the constant sense of panic I have watching the world change in ways that just don’t seem positive.

These acts of kindness confuse me. It doesn’t fit with my internal narrative of we’re-all-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket. Some people are spontaneously nice, without being asked. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, but I’m staring at the sky and there are no shoes up there. Just clouds, a few birds heading south, and an occasional uplift of autumn leaves.