Les Hannah, day 5, part 1

I spent the night completely awake and completely outside the station beneath a canopy because it was raining. About 1am the police ran all of the drunks and homeless people outside, in part because I think they wanted to but also because there were repairs taking place within the station and the workers who were doing the repairs did not want to be bothered by these people. Additionally, there were two men who were transporting large tubs of tar, like the roofing tar used in the States, by way of two very large motorized “wheelbarrows”. I am not sure what else to call them as I had not seen a device such as this before. The tubs were huge, like large cattle troughs, and the “carts” were like a wheelbarrow in one aspect, but also like a four-wheeler ATV in another.

I walked around in circles all night to stay awake and warm; wearing my heavy raincoat also provided me some protection from the elements. Occasionally I would see patrols of four to six police with at least two dogs, usually German Sheppards, go past the doors; of course they were on the inside, inside the dry, warm station.

Outside, however, I was not lacking for “entertainment.” Returning to the issue of the drunks, I was amazed at the happenings of the evening. I watched for the next five hours (the station opened again at 6am) several drunks take turns robbing each other, beating the living hell out of one another, and come within inches of dying – multiple times over.