FOOD RUN - 26TH DEC - BOXING DAY Absolutely cracking and very, very humbling run tonight with the fabulous Alan Bitterman - van driver extraordinaire and a man who lives by his principles in a way I can only aspire to do. First time cooking for me so a bit nervous but thanks to borrowing a pan from my fabulous neighbour Bola I gave it a go. Went for a simple minced meat, onion, carrot and potato stew like my mum (RIP) used to make. Tasted fine - made around 22 portions so probably need to do a bit more next time, dont potatoes shrink lol? Nobody around in Withington (went on the way there and the way back) we met an older Irish guy called Anthony (Ant) who was soaking wet through and chilled to the bone. He has a white stick so may have a sight problem. Ive not seen him before. He had stew and water and a fleece but needs a sleeping bag if anyone sees him next time out. We looked for him on the way back as he said he was sleeping in a doorway but couldnt find him. No Mohammed tonight either. Things were pretty quiet until we hit the city centre where we found a number of people - snow may be exciting but sitting drenched in sleet in a Manchester street is definitely not. Saw Shaun and Mr Bruce (who is thankfully better) and has had so many treats over the past few days he turned his nose up at ours haha. This is one of the things which is so humbling, Shaun wouldnt take anything as he had enough at the moment and someone else might need it and, later on, neither would Clive other than some clothes and a nice new coat donated by my friend Emily and never worn. We met an Irish chap with the guy who has Strepsil and he thought the stew was ace. We had a nice chat as he was from Dublin like my mum. And another guy Id not seen before said 20 homeless people had spent two nights at an hotel paid for by one of the (I think) Manchester City bodyguards whod been sponsored by players to sleep one night in a doorway. A random stranger chased us down the street to tell us what wonderful people we were and Clive gave me a kiss. Came home drenched and straight into a hot bath with a glass of wine, feeling very sad for those weve left out there on this freezing night and very lucky indeed to have aloof over my head. Thank you Alan B for an inspiring night. Its good to know Mad Dogs is around for those less fortunate. Bless everyone for all you do. Colette Booth
Posted on: Sat, 27 Dec 2014 11:59:36 +0000