Zzzzzzz

Yes, I would nod off too, if I had to sit all day on the footpath waiting for someone to come along and buy my bananas.

I always marvel at the long, thin days so many people have to work just to scrape a living: sitting hour after hour on the hard ground, or behind a kiosk breathing in the traffic fumes, or stuck in a little cave of a shop or stall surrounded by piled-high goods exactly the same as those that everyone else in the street or market is trying to sell. Or inside a no doubt stuffy and smelly Barney costume, hoping to attract children to buy a balloon. Or on a street corner chained to a couple of mobile phones, hawking calls for a few cents each.

It's pretty rough, the way the cookie crumbles for so many people, and I do my best to remember that when the umpteenth street vendor tries to attract my attention. And I'm constantly impressed by the good humour and patience that so many of them show. It's humbling.