A lady with an incredible character

From time to time I thought we would give you some little snapshots of some of our clients that makes working at Ben’s so rich and interesting. Also it will be a small glimpse into some of the lovely diverse people we deal with. How especially amazing it is when you think that they are often battling with incredible hardship and pain and of course their addiction that they can hold onto their individuality and bring colour and joy into other people’s lives too.We had a lady who was an incredible character. She would often take on the persona of the people she was around or someone she’d seen on the television or read about. This made for some very interesting conversations at times! One day she came in and when it was lunchtime she asked what we were going to have. We told her that there was chicken or sausage casserole. She said she would have the sausage casserole, as she wasn’t able to eat the chicken. We were interested to know why she was unable to eat the chicken. Her face showed great surprise that we had asked and she said we should know that being Jewish she was unable to do so. This put the staff in a dilemma as obviously the “pork” should have been the issue. We tactfully tried to get her to see that “pork” was probably what she shouldn’t eat. Nothing would persuade her otherwise, and so she sat down and ate her sausages with great delight! Regularly out of her bag she would produce all kinds of herbs and spices that she would add to her food to improve the flavour. For nearly two weeks she had staff grating ginger and garlic over her meals and we were told of all the amazing benefits that were in them. One week she regaled the staff endlessly with her trips to the Himalayas where apparently she had spent a good deal of her time.  It was lovely to hear her describe so graphically all the places she had visited and the food she had eaten. We were told of the customs and the different costumes and everything was so alive when she told us. Then one day we saw her sitting reading Michael Palin’s book about his trip to the Himalayas and she sort of admitted that she had never been! But for us it had been a lovely journey and I know that it was for her too…while it lasted! These people are very precious. You never forget them and they manage to bring some light into what can at times be a dark world.