The word from the street
A note to our wonderful readers: Sorry for the sparse posting recently. We’re back to 2-3 postings a week. 
Tony and Philip
……………………………
TONY
“Man it’s almost cold today. I should’ve brought my jacket.”
PHILIP
Yeah, they said it was around 30 C yesterday. And humid too, eh?
TONY
“I didn’t like yesterday either, as a matter of fact.”
PHILIP
“I saw that they’re calling for rain for two days starting Wednesday morning.”
TONY
“Oh boy, well it gets me shivering just thinking about it. You know, it’s sometimes just better just to have it snow even when it’s cold too. It looks nicer, that’s one thing that’s for sure.”
TONY
“There ain’t nothing better than when it gets warm again after it’s been really, really cold. You know it was -30 with that wind the other night. That’s not for me, that’s for sure, not anymore anyway.”
PHILIP
“I’ve never asked you about your dad; what did he do for a living?”
TONY
“Oh he was a highway mechanic, fixing rigs when they broke down mostly.”
PHILIP
“That’s got to be one lonely job.”
TONY
“And lonely.”
PHILIP
“Dangerous, I bet.”
TONY
“Hot in the summer.”
PHILIP
“Weren’t you trained as a car mechanic?”
TONY
“Yeah, but I was never as good as my dad.”
PHILIP
“Hey, where did you sleep last night? I think they said it was going down to -20C with the windchill.”
TONY
“I got lucky. My friend let me use a bed in their house so it was OK. It even wasn’t in the basement, so it was pretty toasty too.”
TONY
“At least you know when it’s cold, there’s going to be hockey on. I’ll tell you, that’s the best thing I’m thinking about winter right now. Coo-oo-oold.”
TONY
“Cold again this morning, eh? This is going to take some getting used to, same as every year.”
TONY
“Boy, I am really, really cold right now. I’ve been cold since I got up. I’m sure it’s not the right thing to say but right now I hope global warming comes soon. And it’s not even really that cold yet, you know.”
TONY
“You need a jacket, Phil — it’s cold you know. Well, just walk over on the sunny side [of the street]. It’ll be warm enough for you there.”
PHILIP
“Where’d you sleep last night?”
TONY
“In the park, and I only slept about an hour with this heat. It’s killing me. I tell you, days like this even makes a basement seem a big-time luxury.”
TONY
“Boy, you could really tell that my body’s old. Last night, I was up near the drugstore, you know, up at Howard Park and Ronces and I was shivering my you-know-what off with all my sweaters and my coat, and there comes this kid on his bike, he doesn’t even have a shirt on. Makes me cold just thinking about it.”
TONY
“Feel my hands, both of them. Feel them.”
PHILIP
“Why would you want me to do that?”
TONY
“You’ll see. My left one is colder than the right one. I can hardly move these two fingers. Been that way for months. And when my hands are out in the cold, I can’t move them at all. I gotta see the doc about this, I guess.”
TONY
“I hear you put in the blog the thing I said about Edmonton having a dry cold.”
PHILIP
“Yup. Funny, eh?
TONY
“It sort of reminds me of when I was a kid. I actually kind of liked it when it was really, really cold.”
PHILIP
“Did you hear about Edmonton? Their temperature dropped to -46 degrees [-51 F]. Now that’s cold.”
TONY
“But you gotta remember it’s dry cold. And I know the difference, if you know what I mean.”
PHILIP
“Cold enough for you?”
TONY
“You gotta admit too, I’m tough enough for it. Not many people can say that, if you know what I mean.”
TONY
“You know, I almost got arrested the other night, you know when it was really freezing and there was no electricity?”
PHILIP
“This seems to be an all-too-regular occurrence, if you don’t mind me saying so. I mean the ‘arrested’ part.”
TONY
“Well what can I say.
“Anyway, I found this trailer so I got inside. One of my regulars owns it and I figured he wouldn’t mind even if he knew I was there. I was so damn cold I had to get out of the wind somehow.”
PHILIP
“So how did you nearly get arrested?”
TONY
“Well I had my bike light that I was using for light inside, and then it started flashing and a cop car was cruising by and the cop could see my light flashing from inside the trailer. So of course he comes to investigate and he finds me and gets me out, you know, to question me. So I just tell him the truth, that it was really cold and I didn’t break anything or steal anything. Well he tells me he could charge me with B&E, but he’s not that kind of guy, and besides, he probably would have done the same thing in my situation.”
PHILIP
“Sounds like a pretty decent guy … ”
TONY
“No kidding. That’s not even half of it. He has me get in the cruiser with him and we drive to down the Coffee Time but it’s closed just like everything else with the power problems they had. So we find some place that’s open, he buys me a coffee and then he drives me back to Ronces. It was bitter cold out there but at least he went easy on me.”
Homeless Man Speaks 