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stella41b -> RE: Don t Dig Here (10/23/2008 7:15:31 AM)
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Picture the scene.. it's the middle of the night, 2am or 3am. The snow of previous days has stopped falling. It's too cold. I'm lying on the seats in an empty railway carriage trying to get some sleep. The railway carriage is empty, as is the whole train, and is standing right in the middle of a large area of sidings which form part of Warsaw Grochowek railway depot, some two miles east of Warsaw East station. Earlier that day I had heard it was minus 15 degrees. Outside the snow is knee deep and frozen. You cannot see out of the window of the railway carriage. It is frozen. Ice comes over the window frame. Frozen snow has formed on the metal luggage rack above the seats where I have been trying to sleep. The luggage rack is so cold your skin sticks to it when you touch it. I am or was at the time, street homeless, no money, no friends, nowhere to go. I was also dog tired having not done much more for the previous two days than walk the streets of Warsaw looking for somewhere to sleep. I took out all the clothes from my bag and put them on, so that I could be warm enough to get some sleep. At that point I didn't care if I was going to wake up or not, I just needed to sleep. I woke up again, but felt drowsy. But this time I knew that my drowsiness was due to the cold and not fatigue. I was coming down with hypothermia. Shattered as I was and needing to sleep I forced myself to get up. I felt pain whenever I moved, I wanted to just lie back down and go to sleep. I got my things together and decided to leave the railway carriage, the sidings, and walk back towards the night bus stop to catch a night bus back to the city. Every step I took was a step back towards life. This is just one of numerous examples from my life when I have been faced with the choice of either becoming a victim or becoming a survivor. I am here. I am not a victim. I am a survivor.
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