He is alone today

6th of December, 2017
A runny nose and a sore throat, that is all. Go to work anyway, there is stuff to be done.
Shower, the warmth is good. Put the cream on the nose, the nose that has lost its Rudy-ness. The cream works, it is an antibiotic.
And take a walk though town, today the trucks are driving through the pedestrian zone in a most aggressive way. The shop for the clothing store has one truck and the bakery has the other. Pass them both at the town gate, they have stopped at their- respective buildings to load and unload. See Dolores leave her seat at the bus shelter and struggle over to a car waiting for her. She has difficulty walking.
Sit down in the bus shelter, take out the notebook and the pen. Write the date, and feel the nose running, the throat swollen.
The bus arrives, it stops to let a car pass, and then moves forward and opens the  doors.
Give the driver his coins, wish him a good  morning, take the ticket and sit down.
At the railway station get a cup of coffee -Yormeis cafe. Sit down opposite to the man called Hedgehog. Remember how, years ago now, he had distributed chocolates to his friends on the sixth of December, Nicolas' day. He is alone today, well wrapped up, with a hat, scarf, and winter boots.
On the way to platform six see a small group of evangelists. They are waiting for customers, waiting around a stand with all their publications. They look up, hopefully, and then continue talking to each other. They have been there every morning for the past months.
On the platform, wait. And wait. The train,when it does arrive, is much shorter than usual,
Sit down beside a man in an olive jacket. He is fast asleep. Opposite, a young woman wearing a pale grey parka with a fur embellishment trimming the hood. She has fashionable large dark glasses
and is listening to the sound of the film that she is watching on her 'phone using a pair of blue-green headphones. Under the parka she is wearing a collarless striped blouse.
'A man with a beard joins the group around the small table, he takes out a newspaper and starts to read.
There are hardly any seats left, and by the time that the train reaches Moosburg it is clear that those that will board there have standing room only.