One morning last week, I had to drive to an office away from my own regular place of work, for a meeting at the start of the day.

The weather had been unseasonably cold, and as I drove along the side of a field, I caught sight of three adorable horses, wrapped in their winter coats, leaning their heads over the stone perimeter wall onto the pavement where people walked by.

At the same moment, I noticed a young man walking towards them on the pavement wearing big headphones and clearly in his own world (of music – I presume!),

But to my utter delight, after hesitating, he turned back and patted each horse on its nose, gently and unassumingly before I lost sight of that happy scene.

I think my heart was warmed by this event because the contact between man and horse(s) was not arranged or pre-determined, rather it was a set of circumstances which conspired, in the moment, for the horses to be stood at the wall and the random man to recognise their need.

Only after a hesitation, and then by going back to the horses, was their need for recognition and physical contact met which they seemed to crave.

How nice it would be if we could all try to see the need in others and respond by look, nod or touch to let them know that they are not alone.

My next blog will be: Empty Home

William Defoe