I’ve experienced an unprecedented amount of encounters with crazy bums this week.  Like, a LOT of encounters.  Almost every time I ride the train.

A few of the highlights.

The Crazy Bum Couple. I’m standing on the platform one afternoon this week waiting for my train.  I hear a loud fight half in English, half Spanish.  Turn around, and there’s a homeless couple yelling at each other about the direction the train is going to run (uptown or downtown).  It was the uptown side.  They were also oddly short people.

Anyway, the guy has a purple bandage around his arm at the elbow.  When I noticed it again, I saw that his elbow was broken.  The joint totally did not line up at all.  This purple bandage was the equivelant of an ace bandage, but there was a huge bump below where it ended the size of a baseball.  It was his elbow.  There’s no way it was in the socket.

Of course, they got right in the same car I did where the discussion continued.  It was also interlaced with him screaming about how he wasn’t going to effing move out of the doorway when people tried to get on and off.

The Pundit. Yesterday, there was a guy waiting on the platform having a very detailed discussion about the qualifications for being President of the USA.  He was very up to date on current events.  I thought he was talking to someone on the phone with a bluetooth or something.  Turns out…nope.  He was talking to himself.

He also got on the same car as me where the “debate” continued about how many rights do Americans really need.  Does new technology really help us?  Did anyone really ask for the microwave to be invented?  This discussion was at full volume as if he were talking to everyone on that end of the train.   Not at all angry, and he actually made some good points.  Unfortunately, he was just talking to himself.

How did I know he was crazy?  He had a pair of black nylon stockings tied around his mouth like a surgeon’s mask.