broken by the ripples

Tuesday, 27th February two thousand and eighteen
After finding the misplaced glasses, leave the house. The alley is cold and dry, the weather is not as cold as yesterday, but without a thermometer it is hard to tell. Walk downthe alley, pass the church, cross the main market and go down the theater street to the town gate. From there, see the bus stop, there are both the bog cotton man and Dolores. Dolores is an older woman, she has a seat on the bench in the bus shelter. The bog cotton man is standing at the pole on the top of which the bus stop sign is fixed, that is, at the bus stop itself. Say good morning to both of them, and spend a short while looking out over the river, the river reflecting the street lamps, and the brightly-lit windows of the hotel opposite reflect on the water,all these reflections broken by the ripples on the water. Like the reflections in the wet street depicted by a french impressionist painter.

The bus has arrived, and the town official too, the one that looks like a teacher; They all board the bus, be the last one. Pay the driver, and take the remaining seat at the very back of the bus. Watch the people board and leave the vehicle at every stop on the way as it rushes through the streetlight illumination. The fifth stop is the railway station, get off there. Hurry across the station forecourt, past all the bicycles, hundreds on their stands, go up the stairs, and into the cafe.
The woman with the mark on her chin looks up after she has finished dealing with her current customer. She just says 'large coffee", or 'grosse cafes" as a question. Agree. She has a Slavic accent, and has a problem with the correct gender of the word Kaffee. Masculine it should he, but she makes it feminine. It is of no matter.

The coffee is brown warm and bitter, and the waiting room has people all thrown by sight in it. The chubby man in his blue overall, the fidgety men forever adjusting his bags and things, and a workman falling asleep over a table in the corner.
Start to write these notes, leaving out the bit about the shower, the cleaning of the shoes, the early morning sound of the 4 am alarm clock.