Birmingham May 2020 “Pennies from Heaven”
01/05/20 04:37
I returned to the UK in March with the intent to empty my flat here and then put it on the market for sale. Just two days after I got back the country was put into “lockdown” to combat the rising number of cases of people suffering from the covid virus. I was unable to get Estate Agents in to look at my property let alone list it for sale. Days of inactivity became weeks. We were “allowed” out of our homes once a day for exercise and essential shopping so I combined both activities into a 4km walk which would get me upto 8000 steps in the day. The roads were eerily quiet. In a walk that would usually have seen twenty+ cars pass me pre-lockdown I would be lucky to see two moving in this once busy suburb of the UK's second city.
A few weeks into this shut down period I set off to the shops. It was a typical May evening, cool and breezy. I had walked 400m when my thoughts turned to a piece of paper blowing down the road a couple of metres in front of me. There isn't much litter in this area and I gave it a casual glance. It was white with blue printing and shaped like a £5 note. It stopped moving just in front of my foot and I stopped walking instantly. It was a £5 note, wow! I do see my fair share of coins lying on the pavement but a note, well, I don't think I have ever found one. (I've lost ost one, yes, but that's another story). My foot did one of those little shuffles that ended up with it pinning down that note. I picked it up and looked around. The road was completely deserted. Now I appreciate how it feels to lose £5 and if there had been anyone in sight I would have asked them if this note was theirs but there was no one so I carried on with my walk.
I knew that money was not mine and I didn't intend to keep it. Each day I would pass at least one beggar and hand over a few coins that I might have on me. This evening my intention was to give him that note and there he was, I handed him the money and he was, well, quite happy. (Yes, you need discernment to know which person really needs money and who is going to waste it. I think I got this right).
A week later, it wasn't much longer than that, I was walking along the same road. (No surprise there, it was my route to the shops). Fifty metres further down from where I had found the £5 note I trod on another piece of paper. This one was white with purple print and shaped like a £20 note. I stopped and looked down at my feet, it was a £20 note. I picked it up and looked around, there was no one in sight. Now £20 would be a substantial loss to anyone so I didn't just pick this up and walk on. I stood there and looked for any movement, any person but there was none so I carried on walking. Now you might be thinking I am going to give it to that beggar? Ah, well, yes and no. I might be willing to hand over £5 but £20? I doubted that would be well spent by him. I shopped and used that note to buy my food and on my way home I handed him the £10 note which formed part of my change. He was both shocked and overjoyed. Over the next fortnight I handed over the other £10, which I would have been doing anyway but from my own resources.
Now this story would read just a little differently had it not been for a zoom call I had with friends a year later. As I recounted this tale and one person said to me “Had you handed over the £20 note then God would have blessed you with more many times over”. I thought about that and smiled, he might well be right but no one uses £50 notes.