"You can't tell a book by it's cover!"

It is a very hot boxing day in Dunedin. Everything around here outside is getting hot. I got up early because we had to get rubbish bags and a wheelie bin out at the gate. They were full of rubbish from the Christmas dinner. The recycling wheelie bin was full of plastic drink bottles. Since then I have been slowly unpacking cars and returning things we have used back to their place in house or garage. Now I have the house to myself and am stopping for a cup of tea.
The surprising "book" of yesterday.
I went into town before 8 a.m. yesterday. My first job every Christmas morning is to set up a portable carport shelter type thing in the car park of the church. We use this as cover for people rinsing dishes, it can be cover from the sun or rain, and over the years has been both. I set up the frame work and noticed a young man riding a skateboard up and down the road. I recognised him as a man who had visited our drop-in centre. He had a week earlier asked about the Christmas dinner. When I was sliding the tent type cover onto the frame and struggling to reach all the corners, he skated over and said, "Wanna hand with that boss?"  There he stood, unshaven, studs through lip, eyebrow and ears and tattoos in different places. "Oh yes that would be good!" I replied. So together we completed the task. Later as our guests began arriving early he came to me and said, "Can I help... I could give out name tags?" I hesitated, thinking about elderly pensioners being welcomed by this apparition. Anyway he got to grabbing a clip board and welcoming people. Then he moved to hosting at a table. Then he did something else where he saw a need. He seemed a simple guy, and indeed had trouble writing, but just floated around being a real treat to the people he assisted. "You cannot tell a book by its cover!" as my mum used to say.