Morning Run... #2

Another morning run. It was 7am or so, maybe before 8am.

Walking back home, there was an old man with a stack of cardboard boxes. On top of that was a trash bag full of empty aluminium cans. The cans fell over from the stack of cardboards, both of which added up to his height. I thought of going over to help him out, but he picked the trash bag up while holding onto the stack of cardboard all by himself.

Walked a bit further down, and there was this handicapped middle-aged man on the road. He wasn't in a car but was in a wheelchair. He only had one arm and one leg, and he was kicking himself forward, rolling forward in his wheelchair alongside the double yellow lines. I thought of going over to help him out, but he seemed to be managing well.

Walking yet a bit further down, I saw this old man on a old 70's bicycle. He was cycling along a jogging path, and the path was slightly upslope, maybe 5' or so. He was clenching his teeth gums, and trying very hard to cycle up the gentle slope. I thought of going over to help him out, but he seemed to be managing well.

I watched him reach the top of the slope, tired and breathless, as he started to use his legs to push himself on his bicycle forward.

All of this happened within a span of 30 minutes.

On The Bus #28... or The Sleeping Ah Beng

So there was this non-Chinese guy who looked to be in his late 20s who boarded the bus. He held a plastic bag in one hand, and both his arms were tattooed all the way up to the sleeves of his shirt.

So he sat two seats away from me on the bus.

He took out two sandwiches from his plastic bag (now empty), and began munching away at one on the bus. He held the other one in his other hand with the plastic bag. Halfway into chewing on his sandwich, his eyelids drooped and he fell asleep.

I watched him fall into a slumber, nodding away with the rhythm of the bumpy bus ride. His half-eaten sandwich was still in his hands.

Then he dropped his half-eaten sandwich onto the bus floor.

He jumped wide awake, and picked up the sandwich to put in his plastic bag. He resumed chewing the remainder of the first sandwich, and took another bite off the second sandwich.

While chewing halfway, his eyelids closed on him and he fell asleep again, holding the second half-eaten sandwich.

A bump somewhere along the road made him drop his second and last sandwich onto the bus floor.

He jumped wide awake again, and picked the sandwich off the floor and put it in his plastic bag.

He chewed up the rest of his sandwich and went to sleep again.