The dog has stopped convulsing for the time being. There’s nothing I can do for her until such time as my neighbors wake up and help me take her to the vet (who can’t see her before 11.) It will be a one-way trip for my old friend. Not much to add on the one subject most in the foreground for me this morning, except to note, again, the helplessness experienced when a sentient being suffers up close and there’s nothing you can do about it.

Morning. Yesterday, we found temporary shelter for a family of five put out on the street from one day to the next. In conversation with an woman last night, she told me she’d worked as a street “marauder” for the Red Cross i.e. one of a team who goes out and brings some help to street singles, families etc. She took a break from this after finding herself in tears in front of a man with no shoes who patted her hand and said: “don’t cry, it’ll be OK.”

People don’t realize, she said. In Toulouse, the crews come through in the early hours. Clear out the sleeping or tormented bodies, get them to move out of sight, and hose down the public spaces. When the day people head to work, they have no idea ,and can’t begin to imagine what they would have seen had they walked through the area in the middle of the night.

Sunday August 21st 2016. Work on the draft will happen somewhere in the rest of this day’s mix.