Going begging

I think I was particularly vulnerable to beggars in the U.S (Nov-Dec 2012). Most of them men, they know women are a soft touch compared with men (being men themselves), but they would get booted off the streets if constantly approaching lone women. So the safest bet will be women in couples. Women travelling with men, other than those who are built like Schwarzenegger himself, I guess (mine is not).



Having our daughter with us probably put some off but the shoe shiner shined her shoes too. I certainly got hit upon for money everywhere I went. I succumbed a few times too, but wizened and toughened by the time we were on the east coast.

Some beggars are buskers, rejects of the great fame game, working on the perimeters to highlight, by contrast, the value of the game. One guy left his piano permanently in the park all alone in the cold at night, not even in a coat, as a horse would have, then came back to busk there in the day. The piano remaining in working order throughout. Another guy audaciously begged for money to buy 'weed' with a wry smile on his grubby face. Those guys earn their nickels and dimes, others just come up to you brashly, trying to bully the money out of you. With beggars, as with people in general, you get all sorts.

Must sign off. It's not yet 8am and this is my second blog.

Soft touch,
Sacha