Each morning at about 6.30am for several months I was woken by someone – I never saw who it was - shouting out over and over again at full volume “I’m Still Here”.

It seems likely that he was a resident of a hostel. Even in the early morning there were a lot of people hanging around in various stages of inebriation; altercations and fights would occasionally break out.


But each morning he would shout out. It was a cry of triumph – and of defiance.

The hostel has now gone. I do not know what happened to the man. But I can still hear him each morning while walking to work.