A Different Drummer

So every day, without fail, as I exit the metro on the way to work in the morning, and as I enter in the evening, the same thing happens. In front of the station there is a big, smiling old lady, always sitting in the same spot on the ground, always with a big black garbage bag full of packets of tissues for sale. She is there all day, or at least from 9am when I arrive until 7pm when I am leaving. And every day, twice a day, without fail, she sees my coming, gets a huge smile across her face, and tells me she loves me. In English. At first I ignored her, because I assumed she was begging for money. But she has never, ever, asked me for money, or held her hand out to me, or even looked like she would want me to give her money. She doesnt even try to sell me tissues!

Sometimes I reply to her statement of love with an affirmation in English, sometimes I bust out the old "Ana Behabuk Aawy" (I love you very much) in Arabic, but whatever, she is definitely becoming a valued part of my day. Its good to be loved, right? Especially at 9 in the morning after going to bed at 4am - after a tired, crowded metro ride, it is good to have someone letting you know that you are loved. And today I was thinking, I should really do something nice for this lady just to show my appreciation for her sentiments.

On the materialistic level, I am assuming that she is poor - you dont see middle class ladies sitting on the ground selling tissues very often. She could definitely use a little extra cash, I am sure - so my materialistic side tells me just to walk past one day, tell her I love her in arabic, and pay her 50LE for a packet of tissues, which is a whole shitload of money for her, and nothing for me. But then I realise this is kind of cheapening her, and it isnt very imaginative or interesting, and its kind of arrogant and belittling, especially seeing she has never even looked like she wanted my money.

So my other idea was to bring her a big bunch of flowers. This is cooler on the fun side, I'm sure it doesnt happen to her often, and I am sure it would bring a big smile to her face for the rest of the day. But I have two main concerns - firstly, the cost of the flowers would probably pay for something much more valued in her life otherwise, so it is a bit wasteful. And secondly, I am worried that her husband might be around the station somewhere as well, or that word might get out, and the last thing I need on the way to work is an old-timey ass-beating from a bunch of random Egyptian men.

I brought some awesome belgian chocolate with me to Egypt. Should I just give her a box of that? It is incredible chocolate, the 80% cacao type where a tiny bite fills your mouth with an explosion of chocolcateyness for hours....Maybe she would appreciate a box of fine Euro-styling chocolate? I cant see a downside to this one.

Any suggestions? And no, I do not want to have sex with her. She is too old, and she is Egyptian, and I am always in a hurry to get to work so it would just mess up my schedule. And sometimes you just have to keep things on the platonic level.

Fire away in the comments with your ideas on what to do....