Though the wine man came alone, he was not unsociable. A couple once asked where he had purchased his booze. He replied quite honestly and seemed keen to strike up a conversation but they wandered off.
Later on, he became in need of a lavatory and asked if I would watch his things while he was gone. Actually he didn't ask. He simply informed me that he would be five minutes. I added "trustworthy" to his developing list of virtues.
For the next three weeks, the man drank uninterrupted. I was sitting elsewhere but could see him there, staring off into space for an hour or three, drinking his bottle and then leaving.
Did he work? Did he have a wife? Children? Was he psychologically sound? Was he a theatre-goer as I'd first suspected? It didn't seem likely but he could have been. Or did he just love the Barbican? I'd become quite fond of it myself.
I'd seen staff remove members of the public before and issue bans. Either he was very careful or he'd just been lucky. Then again, he wasn't menacing. He wasn't anything, really. A man, sat in a large public building every weekend, covertly drinking a bottle of wine. He'd probably carry on doing so for years to come.
Later on, he became in need of a lavatory and asked if I would watch his things while he was gone. Actually he didn't ask. He simply informed me that he would be five minutes. I added "trustworthy" to his developing list of virtues.
For the next three weeks, the man drank uninterrupted. I was sitting elsewhere but could see him there, staring off into space for an hour or three, drinking his bottle and then leaving.
Did he work? Did he have a wife? Children? Was he psychologically sound? Was he a theatre-goer as I'd first suspected? It didn't seem likely but he could have been. Or did he just love the Barbican? I'd become quite fond of it myself.
I'd seen staff remove members of the public before and issue bans. Either he was very careful or he'd just been lucky. Then again, he wasn't menacing. He wasn't anything, really. A man, sat in a large public building every weekend, covertly drinking a bottle of wine. He'd probably carry on doing so for years to come.
2 comments
I hope they let him stay.
I used to regularly pass an elderly man who sat on a chair on the pavement on what I assumed was outside his house.
Just watching the world go by I guess.
My Nan used to lean on her low front wall and catch people as they passed by to engage in everyday chit chat.
Some people must just like having folks around them of any description.
Lonely and sociable I guess.
If they are happy sitting around then fine.
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