about him it was a mad early morning in the city , vehicles roaring and people bustling ; an elderly man crossed four lanes of rush hour traffic from lime street station to st georges hall , oblivious to the danger and the cars which zipped past , swerving to the accompaniment of curses and burning brake pads ; at another junction a little further on , where the road turned down to the river and the pier head , two youths ambled leisurely between as cars filtered , now fast now slow , from left and from right , and one of them stumbled over his own feet and sat arse down on the low bonnet of a flash sleek jaguar .