Blind

On Sunday at the Big Kitchen in Golden Hill, while waiting for my friend Sonja, I was taking this photo of the wall of the cafe when a man sitting at the counter by himself said- 'I'd offer to take that for you but I can't see,'
'Oh, no problem,' I said, 'I've got it,'
Then, when I sat back down the man continued talking to me.
'I can only see shadows,' he told me, 'like black and white shapes,'
'Oh,' I said, 'that's a bit shit,'
He nodded his head, agreeing with me.
Then he started to tell me about his life.
'I was working and I just thought my glasses were wrong, so I kept changing my prescription,' he said, 'until one day they told me there was nothing they could do,'
'Bloody hell,' I said, wondering what the fuck I'd do if I went blind.
'I put all my kids through college,' he told me, 'and now my youngest daughter lives at home, she's my carer,'
I moved a few seats closer to him so I could more easily hear what he was saying.
'I like to read,' he said, 'so I listen to books,'
'Do you have that thing where people come and read to you, like the newspaper?' I asked him.
No, he told me, he was happy with his books.
'My daughter is studying to be a nurse and then she needs to get on with her life,' he said.
I was looking at the man and wondering how much he could see of me, and how much he could see of the omelette that was on the plate in front of him.
'Anyway,' he said and held his hand toward me, 'my name is John,'
I told him my name and took his hand.
He told me it was nice to meet me.
And just then Sonja came in and I introduced her to John.
And they shook hands.
And then Sonja and I started talking and a while later John interrupted us and said goodbye.
We turned to him and said goodbye.
'It was good to meet you,' John said, 'have a good rest of your day,'
We told him thanks and as he left I thought to myself that I would go back to the Big Kitchen and ask if he comes in regularly and come in at the same time and finish off our conversation.
Or start a new one.