ARRIVAL!

‘You’ve got to arrive in Brighton by train’, we’d been told. ‘There’s no other way’. So with four suitcases and Suzi’s handbag we were on the platform and creating our own six o’clock news.

Our own piece of personal history. Texts went out to London, Manchester, Ireland and Scotland announcing: we’re here! Our family and friends, many of whom lived north of the border, knew we’d booked a B&B for three nights.

But where would we be after that? It was anyone’s guess. A pair of Brighton virgins, we knew no one from whom we could grab a free lunch, far less a free bed. With our combined ages nudging the hundred mark we could hardly go to the YMCA. We couldn’t return home: someone would be sleeping in our flat tonight; we’d rented it out to help finance our adventure. Flanked by the early -evening commuters, we headed towards the barrier, as excited, exhilarated and nervous as teenagers on a first date. Like good ex-teachers, for weeks, months, we’d been doing our homework – which included a fortuitous subscription to this newspaper - but still there was this delicious assault of the new. Never had a railway station or the month of May felt so good.

Outside, seeing Queen’s Road for the first time, we were like rabbits caught in the headlights.

We must have looked lost, but it wasn’t for long.

‘Sean! Sean!’ I’d never seen the smiling man in my life, but he’d seen some guy in the movies or on TV who looked like me, which must have been during his better days, when he had money in his pocket or a roof over his head.

While Suzi guarded the cases I walked over to him: he held out a Big Issue.

When your first taste of a place is the warmth of a homeless person you know everything’s going to be alright.

He pointed us towards the taxis. As we headed to Kemp Town we experienced an odd paradox. We were amidst strangers, but thanks to him, we suddenly felt at home.

In the months to come we saw him fairly often. He always smiled. I was about to say, ‘come rain or shine’, but when you’ve lived your life in inclement Scotland you quickly learn that the sun always shines in Sussex!

I don’t know if he still has the station pitch, but the next time you buy an Issue from one of the guys, enquire if he remembers ‘Sean’, and if he does, tell him we’re asking for him.

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