and was immediately recognised

by another inspector

who greeted him with,

"Fuck me! How have you got a day off?"

I can't remember how Steve replied exactly 

but I remember him being amused

and happy to see his chirpy colleague.

They talked loudly above the wailing

of the met along the tracks.

The met was barely empty.

It had just gone 4 pm.

It was a week before Christmas, 2019.

It was raining hard.

Steve was wet but smiling big.

He was leaving the job after 10 years,

was having Christmas and new year off

before starting the new one.

His colleague was shocked and appalled

but happy for him.

When he got off 2 stops later

I watched him walk up some steps

back out into the rain,

before the met pulled off again.

I heard his colleague say to another inspector,

"He worked nearly every day".

And in that a decade 

in the life of some guy called Steve

was summarised for me.