portrait of an obscure fellow I happened across on Christmas Eve 1999. I was sitting outside Cologne Cathedral, down and out, feeding my Big Mac to the pigeons thinking how I was in for another rough night sleeping at the train station with the various other like-minded lunatics being both low on money and forgetting to book a hotel in advance. It was to be my second night sleeping at the train station. Out of nowhere this old fellow tapped me on the shoulder and asked me to follow in broken English. He showed me the giant paintings inside the church, giving me a rundown of each one - in Spanish which I hadn't a clue what he was saying. Afterwards he took me outside again, telling me if I had nowhere else to go I could stay at his family home in Italy. Scribbling down an address he pushed it in the palm of my hand then produced a gold crucifix. Placing it on my forehead he recited some scripture in Latin, patted me on the shoulder and was gone as quick as he arrived.
...
A strange moment in time.