Precious And Useless At The Same Time

Yes, I rode to work today.

When it is cold he spends the night on the grating beside a building near where I park. I see him often sleeping here. When it gets really cold he disappears. I don't know where he goes. But, most of the winter he is here in the morning when I ride by.

I don't know his name. I've never talked with him. I'm not sure he lives in our world at all. He is nearly always in the midst of an argument with some unseen antagonist. And, when he is not he is looking off in the distance. I sometimes wonder what he sees.

It's funny how things sometimes come together. I took the picture of the grating this morning. I had decided to write about this gentlemen as I past by him earlier. At lunch I took another photo.

I saw the smoke and said to myself, "That can't be good."

An abandoned building had caught fire. It filled the area with smoke. You can read about it by clicking here.

This was another space where the Downtown homeless would often take refuge from the cold. Hopefully, no one was stuck in the building. Of course, they shouldn't have been there to begin with. They were trespassers. Still, I hope no one got caught by the blaze.

I will be sorry to lose another of the old buildings. They are both useless and precious at the same time. I guess the same could be said about the fellow who sleeps on the grating beside a building that I ride by every morning.

• 29F/-2C and a few clouds for the ride to work.
• 40F/4C and dark for the ride home.