Expect Nothing

One evening, while Bob and I were busking around Covent Garden, we were approached by a very glamorous and attractive young woman. To judge from the way she was dressed – in a glittery black outfit with dazzling jewellery around her neck that must have been worth a small fortune – I think she must have been on her way to the theatre or the opera in the nearby West End.

She saw Bob and me and stopped for a second.

‘Oh, how sweet. What a beautiful cat,’ she said, smiling, then taking a photograph on her rather expensive-looking phone.

It hadn’t been the most profitable evening, so as I often did, I very politely suggested she pop a pound or two into my guitar case for the photo opportunity.

‘Any contribution appreciated. It’ll go towards a coffee or a treat for Bob here,’ I said.

I might as well have asked her if I could pawn the necklace around her neck. Her face was transformed. The smile disappeared to be replaced by a scowl.

‘How very impertinent of you,’ she said, marching off in a huff.

Such encounters weren’t unique. They simply confirmed something that I’d come to understand even before Bob and I had got together. A truth that unfortunately applies, not only on the streets of London, but everywhere.

Often in life it is best to expect nothing, because that way you will never be disappointed.