LUXEMBOURG-VILLE — Despite expressing feelings ranging from pity to disgust, a majority of commuters hurrying past a man drinking beer outside the Gare at 8:15 a.m. admit that they are simply jealous.
“That’s shameful to be getting drunk in public, so early in the morning while everyone else heads off to have a productive day at work,” said Jean Barchem, who wakes up at 5 o’clock every day to travel from his village in France to a law firm in Kirchberg where he often puts in 12-hour days. “I almost wish I were him.”
“Totally disgusting, and it doesn’t look like he’s had a bath in weeks,” said Sarah Banquette, who spends up to an hour getting ready each morning before catching a bus near Virton, Belgium at 6:38 a.m. to get to her dull administrative job in Cloche d’Or. “It would be nice to switch places for a few days, even if I do prefer wine.”
“Can’t the police do something about people like that?” said Alistair Kirby, a junior accountant who commutes to Luxembourg from Trier and only rarely has a seat on the train. “He makes the rest of us feel terrible about our lives.”
Sources indicate that by 6 p.m., the man sitting near the Gare entrance had enjoyed a relaxing lunch and two long naps, and had woken up in time to drink another beer and watch weary commuters sprinting to catch their overcrowded trains and buses for their tedious journeys home.
