Continuation from yesterday.

Ed tells me he has a circuit around Maryland, but he always winters in Baltimore, sleeping out on one of the benches in O'Donnell Square. The eateries here he tells me, tend to feed the homeless any perishable leavings at the end of the evening, if they are lucky, this being better than scavenging in the bins, when the soup kitchens are not in evidence. He tells me he has no likes or dislikes, as to him any food is a luxury. The odd person, will stop and press a bill or few dollars in his hand, but unlike so many of his compatriots, he does not drink it away, his luxury is a packet of cigarette's rather than the ends he picks from the street and the bins.
His life is hard, but he is answerable to no one, responsible for no one, and owes nothing to anyone. He tries to attend Church each week, wherever he finds himself to be, he has a remarkable faith, that one day he will be in a better life, and that now is just a period to be borne.
His shows me his shoes, the uppers are of a good quality leather, the soles full of holes, repaired with card and plastic bin bags. I feel so affluent against his poverty.
I ask him if he blames anyone or any circumstances for where he finds himself today, as he thinks this through, I watch his remarkable face, contorting through those years. No, he says, one can always blame others, but at the end of the day the responsibility is ones own. He tells me he believes he married to young, and aspired to the good life, without taking adequate precautions, house, children in private education, a high maintenance wife, and a business he did not shore up for the future, he also sites the fact that as a child he was a loner, preferring his own company, than being with others, and this has remained throughout his life,
He is happy to talk, but only if he wants to, and feels he has been approached with respect.
Ed, is an amazing guy, I so hope he has weathered this winter with so much snow and temperatures own to 16 degrees.