I was driving along the Canal on my way to my workshop. Near the bridge sat an elderly man, staring at the water and smoking a full-strength roll-up. I parked my car so I could observe him closely, absorbing his features. It was one of those moments where you know: ‘something good is happening here’. You just know it, you feel it and you must act on it right away. I had an invisible connection to this man. Remarkably he never noticed me, despite our connection. Quite bizarre. There he was, sitting unperturbedly amidst the noise of the city, caught in his own world, while I’m nearby caught in mine. Pretty amazing when you think about it. Judging by his posture and the lines in his face he must have had a hard life. Like an old oak tree, this man’s bark was coarse and weathered.