30 before 30: No. #6 – Pay for a stranger’s meal

Firstly, a reminder of the list …

1. Learn to ride a motorbike
2. Go skydiving
3. Learn how to ski/surf
4. Eat a vegetable that you’ve grown from seed
5. Deadlift 100kg
6. Pay for a stranger’s meal
7. Swim Boscombe to Bournemouth pier
8. Learn how to play poker
9. Do the splits
10. Have visited 30 countries
11. Cycle London to Brighton
12. Go to the opera
13. Read the bible entirely
14. Get a tattoo
15. Sleep under the stars
16. Repair a bike puncture
17. Go to a life drawing class
18. Engage in a clinical trial
19. Go to Shakespeare’s Globe
20. Go to an outdoor screening of a film
21. Sell a piece of artwork you’ve created 
22. Carve a pumpkin
23. Do a pull-up 
24. Go stand-up paddle boarding
25. Climb the three peaks
26. Write and record a song
27. Learn to play chess
28. Visit someone in prison
29. Read a famous trilogy 
30. Become a doctor

This is the 10th strikethrough, which means I’m a third of the way there!
It also means i’ve still got 20 the do it the next 234 days, which means I really need to pick up the pace because that’s about one every 10 days. EEK.

So this one wasn’t quite as successful as I expected. Number 6: Pay for a stranger’s meal.
I think what I had imagined when I added this one to the list was this romanticised opportunity – to see a cute young couple on a first date and just pay for the bill for no reason other than just to bless them; that sort of thing.

Instead what happened was that I was walking into the supermarket on one of those bitterly cold icy evenings where there was a whipping wind. Outside there was a man sat begging. As any of you who know me well know, I really do hate the cold more than anything else in the world. I felt so moved by this guy sat out in these awful conditions. He asked if I had any change (I think i’m not the only one who would say I don’t think I’ve even used cash since the start of the pandemic), so I said no but asked him if I could buy him some food. His request is very simple; a Big Mac from McDonalds.
I promised that after my shopping I would indeed pick this up on my way out. Much to my infuriation the queue was very large (note to self for future: order, shop, then collect!) But I waited thinking, ‘at least it’ll be nice and hot’.
Much to my disappointment, when I came out, the man had gone.

I was then left to mull over my thoughts and feelings on it. Likely this man had received some money from a stranger (which is what he was ultimately asking for) and hadn’t wanted to wait around to see if I was going to come through on what I said I would.

Naturally I am a highly cynical person and felt that I should have seen this coming, but I had to also think about putting myself in this stranger’s shoes. How long would I have waited on a cold night like this for someone I’d never met before, who’s character I didn’t know, to do something like this?
I’m not entirely sure, but what I can say is that this whole thing gave me a whole lot to think about and I feel that this certainly will not be the only time I tick this one off the list.