Roberta Writes – Esther Chilton’s writing challenge and CFFC #poetry #photography #streetart

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Esther’s challenge this week is to write a poem or prose piece using the word kind. You can join in here: https://estherchilton.co.uk/2025/08/13/writing-prompts-78/

Act of Kindness (shadorma prose)

When I was eight, my sister, Catherine, was four, and Hayley and Laura were fifteen months and six weeks old, respectively, my family moved to a small coastal village called Fish Hoek in the Western Cape. Our cottage was a temporary furnished rental for a period of three months while the partly built house my parents purchased was finished.

Mom was busy all day long with the babies, so Catherine and I walked to the beach on our own. Our route took us through the town and past the local grocery store. Catherine and I had been taught to be kind and helpful to others, especially elderly people. I had also been a Brownie for a few months before my family relocated from Johannesburg. Helping others was an important part of the Brownies Association’s ethos.

During one of our walks through the town, we happened to see an elderly lady struggling to carry heavy shopping bags. In those days the bags were made of brown paper and the bottoms had to be supported or they broke. Naturally, I immediately seized this opportunity to be a good Brownie and rushed over with an offer to carry the old lady’s bags for her. She accepted gratefully, and I carried the two heavy bags to her flat a few streets away. Her apartment block had stairs and no lift, which necessitated my carrying the bags up four long flights of stairs before we finally reached the door to her flat. I remember my arms aching from carrying those bags with the bottom one cradled in both my arms and the second laid on top of it. It was most uncomfortable.

The lady was pleased and invited us in for a cup of tea. This was the beginning of a lovely friendship. Once a week, Cath and I would visit this old lady and have a cup of tea with her. She always provided a delicious spread of homemade biscuits. She loved to crochet and showed me some beautiful pin cushions she’d made. I admired them so much she gifted me one on the day of our last visit before moving to our new home. I kept that pin cushion, bright green with white edging, for years and years.

I have often wondered over the years what happened to her. I hope she was happy and managed to get her groceries home without incident. I have no idea how she would have carried them up the stairs.

impulsive

small act of kindness

brightened life

of widow

living far from family

aging in quiet solitude

CFFC

Dan’s CFFC challenge this week is afternoon. You can join in here: https://nofacilities.com/2025/08/18/time-of-day-evening-cffc/.

All the photographs below were taken in the afternoon. The first three are London scenes from the balcony of our hotel room near Westminster Bridge and the street art consists of photographs of construction walling street art taken in Bruxelles, Belgium. These pictures all relate to one length of construction walling.

Picture caption: You can see The Shard in the background.
Picture caption: Close up of The Shard
Picture caption: I snapped this street art picture on the way to the airport on our last day in Bruxelles
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Published by robertawrites235681907

I am a writer of young adult fiction and poetry

Published

100 thoughts on “Roberta Writes – Esther Chilton’s writing challenge and CFFC #poetry #photography #streetart”

  3. Oh! Robbie what a wonderful story from your childhood you two must of been like two angels heaven sent …to help the lady.

    I loved the photos too, My hubby used to have to walk over Waterloo bridge every day and evening when he worked in London…infact his old office is now a hotel.

    The street are is absolutely stunning 💜💜💜

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  5. A lovely story, Robbie. You helped the woman, but she gave you the attention you might have needed at the time. Times are different now, aren’t they? I can’t imagine letting children of 8 and 4 go wandering around.

    Fun street art photos!

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  18. A lovely story. I still remember my Brownie promise ‘.. to help other people every day…’ I’m not sure I was as good as you Robbie at keeping it, but as the eldest I did do a lot of shopping and other things for my mother.

    I love those wall murals.

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  21. Hi Roberta
    Thanks for your great example of kindness.
    We like your photos of the street art. Most of these murals have the same style. They remind us of comics.
    The Fab Four of Cley
    🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

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  24. Awwwww, what two kind young girls you were…I love street art. There are some very talented street artists. I also loved watching the “pavement artists ” many years ago. As a young girl, my auntie and uncle took me up to London one night, and I have been fascinated by street art ever since, as well as eating chestnuts hot from the brazier…Childhood memories are some of the best, I think 🙂 xx

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  25. Your photos are wonderful, Robbie. I love seeing true street art (not graffiti) and you captured some great examples.

    The best part of this post is your story and your poem. Thank you for sharing that lovely memory with us. It speaks to the goodness humans are capable of.

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  26. A lovely story of kindness, Robbie. The old lady must have been so grateful. Your poem explains it so well.

    I love street art, and your pictures are excellent examples. It brightens up the day and makes people smile. (Except the curmudgeonly, who see it as vandalism!)

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    1. Hi Viv, in hindsight, I think we did cheer up this elderly lady’s day. I think she must have been very lonely living far from her children and with her spouse passed on. This street art is legal, so it isn’t vandalism. If it’s against the law I suppose it is vandalism but much of it is very nice from an art perspective.

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    1. Hi Wayne, children don’t think about things like this to deeply but rather act on instinct. In hindsight, I think this lady was very lonely and delighted to have the company of us children. Your comment is very kind, Wayne. I’ve always enjoyed people and especially elderly people. They interest me and I like to hear their stories.

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  34. Love the story & poem of the old lady. I would be wondering what happened to her, how she got along after you were gone, too.

    Your balcony pics a sensational. And…thank you for the street art pics!

    All in all, this is one terrific post Robbie.

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  35. Robbie, thank you for sharing this beautiful act of kindness—and for pairing it with your shadorma prose, which holds such quiet grace. It made me pause and think: is every true act of kindness also a kindness to ourselves? In reaching out, we connect… and that connection nourishes both giver and receiver.

    Your post reminded me how powerful even the smallest gesture can be. Thank you for holding space for gentleness in a world that moves far too fast.

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