To say that he mixes with the crowd is an understatement: he plunges into it, wallows in it. One can keep track of him not so much because of his height, but because he is the virtual centre of a whirlwind. Disappearing in one spot, he pops up in another for a moment, then is lost to sight again for a long, underwater stretch, only to surface like a diver at the other side of the street … He has been seen to emerge with three buttons missing, uniform torn, hands scratched … but eyes sparkling with pleasure, looking delighted to be alive.4
