Out in the cold . . .
I was coming out of M&S on Upper Liffey Street a few weeks back, having purchased a woollen jumper when a fella sitting on the pavement to the right of the doors asked “Have you got any spare coins”. I reached into my pocket and as I did so he remarked “It’s cold”. I said “It is”, having cycled to town with a woolly hat & gloves on, and told him, “I hear from the weather forecast that the following Tuesday temperatures will dip to -2 during the day”. He smiled at this saying “I don’t fancy being out in that”, which made me laugh. He then thanked me for the change and wished me well.
I left him, still laughing at his humour and walked around the corner onto Abbey Street upper, crossed the road, passed the Luas stop at the back of the Jervis Centre, turned onto Millennium Walkway ‘the Italian Quarter’, whereupon I observed in front of the Spar shop, a dishevelled dressed red-haired man lying face-down on the pavement with one of his shoes hanging off a foot and a strong smell of beer. A woman was standing beside him with a mobile phone in hand and a concerned expression on her face. As I walked past a man in front of me stopped and looked back at them. I commented to him “At least he is still alive”, which he made no response to. He then walked back towards the woman. I followed him and upon reaching her, he asked something I couldn’t make out but I did hear her response, which was “I have called an ambulance and it is on its way”.
Another man then stopped and asked after the man. The woman again repeated that an ambulance was on its way. He bent down and began rubbing the fella’s back, offering him words of encouragement. At this the woman asked “Could you stay with him for a bit while I pop into the shop”. He nodded and she left.
Standing there having watched this transpire, I got a similar sensation to the one I had had around the corner; namely being warmed up by being out in the cold.
(c) Poraic Cahill
Read more from Poraic on Writing.ie here.
About Odd Life:
From a German man accusing his ex-girlfriend of attempted murder by use of her 38DD breasts, to a 107 year old having a shoot-out with the Arkansas SWAT police, the author Poraic Cahill chronicles the strange & bizarre he encounters in Odd Life.
Order your copy online here.
About More Odd Life:
More Odd Life is a continuation of the strange and sometimes absurd situations the author Poraic Cahill has encountered, whether that be reading about an Indian man with an appetite for kitchen knives or observing a blind man leaping at a lamppost. At the same time, the book also chronicles the author’s attempts at trying to find a job in writing, Ms Right & something to write about.
Order your copy online here.
