people watching

for some reason i didn't buy a paper before i got on the bus today. don't know why cause i hate not having anything to do on bus journeys. Luckily there were enough interesting people on the bus to help me pass the time. Across from me there was an old guy. i'm sure you know the type. long grey hair, even longer beard. old suit and quite a few bags. sort of like the tolstoy guy who walks around manchester a lot. now don't misunderstand me- they're not tramps. no i like to think of them as wise old men. maybe the wizards or philosophers of the 21st century. anyway he was reading this paper intently while holding a pair of scissors. every now and again he would cut out an article and carefully place it in one of his bags. put away his scissors in his jacket pocket and carry on reading.
then he would obviously spot something else and carefully cut that out etc. i was trying to work out what type of article but there seemed to be a mix of news, pictures, comments and even offers. but he did seem picky. it looked liek one article nearly didn't get cut out even half way through. he cut the sides and looked like he was agonising over how much of it made the grade.

one strange thing struck me. he never checked what was on the other side of the page. like what he had was certainly the most important thing there. i mean you always check the other side don't you.

so i was just fascinated by this guy, what does he do with all the cuttings. does he have books full of them? does he make his own newspaper? are they plastered on his walls at home?