A seemingly reputable young man began banter with me I was not concerned at first but his ignorance caught my interest our chat commenced when he saw me ordering a pint of cider with a schnapps on the side this lethal combination can be extremely benign ‘Have you got a rough one ahead?’ he asked ‘No a few rough ones behind me,’ was my indifferent reply I then heard the worthless news about his new car he had just acquired and subsequently had stolen he seemed exceedingly angry about the whole situation ‘The evaluation of you as a human being,’ I told him ‘is not how irate or angry you are right now but how soon you can get over it and comprehend that no matter how high you climb or how far you run in this farcical neighbourhood every now and then you’re better off staying on the ground or at the starting line.’ on my way to the pub an hour earlier that very same evening I passed a homeless man sitting next to his dog his dead dog with a tongue hanging from his mouth just far enough to touch his filthy blanket I passed him by and like many others did not give him any money ten yards later I turned back to look at him he bowed his tired head to his dog and began to weep and, I’m sure, like many others, I still did not give him anything an hour later this asshole got his priorities a little skewed and ruined my night he stood before me as it rained upon him inside and somewhere in the distance a homeless man wiped away his tears, raised his head, and thought: ‘Fuck this. If it rains I don’t need an umbrella. I’ll rise above the clouds.’