Albert eased his cold, aching bones into the embrace of his\nsleeping bag, stuffed old newspapers in around his toes, shucked his collar\ntightly around his chin and prayed for no snow. The freezing wind coming off\nthe Taff was already flecking his tattered ginger beard with the icy remnants\nof his wet breath and inserting itself between the flaps of his hat and his\nears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lucy, his half-breed whippet and collie, curled against his\nbody and he pulled the over-blanket he wore as a cape during the day tightly over\nher body, affording them both a shared warmth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\u201cDon\u2019t know we\u2019re going to get much sleep tonight, Lucy\ngirl,\u201d he said to her, \u201cgot a feeling, like.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lucy nosed his face, her sad brown eyes seeming to say, \u201cI\nlove you, Albert\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYeah, I know,\u201d he said back to her, \u201cI love you too. One\nday things will get better and it\u2019ll be all fields, ice-cream, sunshine and\nbones.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said that to her every night, a promise to himself as\nmuch to her. Albert was full of promises, he made so many there was little room\nin his thin body for anything else and he filled that room with trivia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Every day he would spend an hour in the library, which was\nall they would allow. In that hour he would learn a piece of information of no\nuse, but simply amused him. Today he learned Venus is the only planet in the\nSolar System rotating clockwise. He tried to picture it in his mind: the Earth\ngoing around counter-clockwise, Venus the other way. \u201cMadness,\u201d he concluded,\n\u201cthe days would go backwards.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He knew it worked differently, because for a street person,\nhis knowledge of celestial mechanics was second to none, but it amused him to\nthink like that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He looked up from his bench as the clock tower started\nchiming midnight. Lucy whimpered as he moved and he rubbed his face against her\nmuzzle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMerry Christmas, Lucy,\u201d he said, \u201cMay your days be merry\nand bright.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He looked at her and choked slightly. \u201cAnd may all your\nChristmases be white.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Albert Handsmann DPhil closed his eyes and hugged his dog\ncloser as the first drops of snow started to fall, then sleep took him and he\ndreamed of steaming baths, hot meals and warm beds. Around him the treetops\nglistened, while excited children listened for sleigh bells in the snow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tim Slater found them as he walked his dog; stiff as slabs\nof meat in a butcher\u2019s freezer. He prodded the body with his stick, then\nfumbled for his mobile as snow fell from Albert\u2019s still features. The old man\nsmiled back at him, a curious look of contentment on his frozen face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Somewhere, an excited young voice shouted across the fields,\n\u201cIt\u2019s Christmas!\u201d and music rang out from an open window. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Snow is falling<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All around me<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Children playing<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Having fun<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s the season<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Love and understanding<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Merry Christmas everyone<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Albert eased his cold, aching bones into the embrace of his sleeping bag, stuffed old newspapers in around his toes, shucked his collar tightly around his chin and prayed for no snow. The freezing wind coming off the Taff was already flecking his tattered ginger beard with the icy remnants of his wet breath and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10158782359051062_103813597863211":"","twitter_1225722811282530305_1225722811282530305":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,101],"tags":[104,106,107,105],"class_list":["post-214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2","category-december-2019","tag-merry-christmas-everyone","tag-street-people","tag-wales","tag-white-christmas"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbrNJE-3s","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":215,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214\/revisions\/215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}