The Friday kitchen team at the Islington Chinese Association is a different group of people from the Tuesday to Thursday one.
The assistant is Bobby whose wife is a volunteer at the reception on Fridays.
Yesterday there were two ladies I’d never seen before: a younger one (40s? 50s?) with an older one (70s? 80s?). Not sure if they’re related.
At one point before lunch was served, I saw that the old lady was in tears. (She was earlier talking to Bobby’s wife when she got in, talking about something unhappy by the looks of it.)
Bobby, in spite of being needed in the kitchen as lunch was about to be served, kept consoling the old lady, saying sympathetic and supportive things, “Let’s go for a cup of tea later, OK? Don’t dwell on it, OK?” He's a big man, but he was so gentle with her.
It was the way he was handling her that moved me: so kind and caring.
(London, 2022)
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