WNYC Newsroom intern Marine Olivesi sporting a “new” pair of gloves. (Photo by Stephen Nessen)

It's cold out there today. So cold that even someone who was probably wearing all the clothes he owns at once took pity on me.

I was out reporting on Chanukah preparations in the Jewish community... and I was having a hard time. People in Williamsburg were not very chatty, to say the least. I stood for an hour or so in the chilly wind, outside of the string of packed bakeries on Lee Avenue. I walked from one to another in the hope of warming up and getting lucky --neither happened.

Then I moved to the East Village, looking for a fresh start. Manhattan's streets were as cold as Brooklyn's and I spent about 45 minutes on the sidewalk of 2nd Avenue and 7th street, in front of the famous Moishe's bakery. There, I did get some good tape from customers snapping up baked goods for the celebrations. Three hours after leaving WNYC, I had a couple of hot quotes -- and frozen hands.

Because I wanted to catch customers bustling out of the bakery, I kept my microphone and recorder in my hands the whole time. And these hands were quickly turning violet. I had lent my gloves to a friend a month ago, and never asked for them back. So here I was, chasing sound bites in the New York cold, bare-handed.

Then, the stuff movies are made of happened.

A homeless man was holding a sign asking for money, standing under scaffolds on the other side of the street. I'll always wonder whether he noticed me and my microphone before I walked passed him. In any case, we exchanged a couple of words as I headed north to the L train. He suggested I do a story about the homeless during the holidays. Next thing I knew, he was fumbling through the pockets of the multiple worn-out hoodies that were layered on him. He pulled out an extra pair of black fleece gloves and insisted I take them.

Now, that's something to warm you up.