Friendship – Far from the madding crowd

They were sitting shoulder to shoulder. Human contact in warmth, friendship and lightness. You and I would have called them lunatics. Bereft of order, their clothes were torn at strange angles. And they were dirty. Matted hair graced the lady’s head. Without being close, it was not difficult to imagine a strong smell coming from them. 

What was striking was the sheer humanness of the relationship going on on the little island within the roundabout. The lady had a book open on her lap. She had a pen and seemed to be underlining what she read out. The guy peered over her shoulder, had his face almost in her hair and – were they reading together? I felt the tear drop long after I had passed them. Love and friendship in a madding crowd. To think that the honourable members of society can hardly agree together?!