Man in the stairway on newspaper

Date	Celsius ° (C*9/5)+32=F	Place of run	Duration	start time	5 laps on the stairs (up and down)	Sprint 16 floors	Escalator	weather
26 Feb	≈ -7	Moscow, Russia	≈ 19:30	08:01		1:02.48	52.30	sunny

Words:  462

Well, I cut 23 one-hundredths of a second off the best time.  Still didn’t make the supreme goal of 60 seconds.  I climbed up and down slowly two times in preparation for my assault on the record.  Near the top, I again was paddling, searching for a handhold a couple times. 
Someone had swept up the butts strewn around the 14^th floor, so I didn’t really have a clear point of reference as to my position.   Hence, I wasn’t really sure when I was at the top.  I think I could have put a bit more effort into it--probably not 2.48 seconds, though.  I might have one more stab at it--on Friday. 

The first time up, I passed a dude laying in the stairway on some newspapers.  It was the first time that I had seen any such person.  I had often wondered if homeless people come into these buildings.  There is quite a lot of space that is heated, but not used when you think about the stairways and entryways, etc.  I wasn’t bothered by his presence, although I didn’t appreciate the cigarette he was smoking.  For some reason, possibly it was a psychological refusal to admit it, I didn’t really smell the smoke.  As I climbed, I thought of the bananas I had bought last night, and the bread.  I guess someone who had more empathy would have gone back into the apartment and grabbed the bananas.  But then, maybe he wouldn’t have wanted them—I think I have quite strange tastes sometimes. 

           

When I passed him on the second time up the stairs, and he was standing.  As I continued, I heard the papers shuffling as he cleaned up his area.  On the way down, I couldn’t tell where he had been. 

As I neared the apartment last night, I passed a guy who was asking something.  I took my earphones out and asked what he wanted.  He didn’t ask for money right away, so I didn’t give him any.  I understood that he was asking directions for somewhere.  What he really wanted was to be let into one of the buildings.  I think I would have allowed him if he had been right outside my entrance.  Then he said he was cold.  I thought, “It’s not that cold out here.”  What a way to rationalize my inactivity!  Of course it was cold.  Not as cold as Iowa right now, but after you have been out there for an hour, your hands hurt.  I could’ve let him in the place, but then other people in the apartment building wouldn’t have liked that very much.  I can hear the arguments now:  He’s lazy.  I work for a living, why should I let this creep come into my house?