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Ice ice baby. At 2 p.m. this puddle was frozen over in the shade.[/caption]
To rip-off Charles Dickens, today it was autumn in the sunshine, and winter in the shade. Definitely a day to add another layer of wicking outerwear. Personally I was dealing with a cold, which sucked. I didn't go to all the trouble to quit smoking so I could cough myself silly till two in the morning; so topping it off, I was tired all day.
But I shouldn't feel too sorry for myself. A cold snap like we're having should remind us all of the sad plight of Vancouver's most disadvantaged -- all the awesome women who only have yoga pants in their repertoire of bottom-wear. The wind and cold must just go right through that fabric. Maybe that explains the brisk strides I see them taking.
Someone at the bottle depot expressed concern for how I must have slept last night -- Like a lamb, I told them, after I stopped coughing. But, they persisted, it got down to minus five! Not, I corrected them, inside my sleeping bag. I was warm and toasty until I unzipped this morning -- that was bracing.
There was a sign by the cash register at the bottle depot to the effect there was an extreme weather alert for tonight, which triggered emergency shelter openings. Google tells me the temperature outside right now is 4° C, with an expected low of 0° C. I've comfortably slept rough in a temperature of -15° C, so no shelter for me. Everything other homeless people have told me about them for nine years, has crystalized my view of shelters as dirty, bed-buggy places where you can easily get your stuff stolen. I believe it's safer and cleaner on the streets of Fairview, where I've never seen a bedbug.
Just to drive the point home. I have a storage locker. I was lucky to get it, and I've treasured having it for nine years. I work hard to pay for it each month. I would never knowingly put myself at risk of having my stuff infested with bedbugs, for fear that I might bring that plague back to my storage locker, and all the other customers' storage lockers. Click the image to enlarge it.
Ice ice baby. At 2 p.m. this puddle was frozen over in the shade.[/caption]To rip-off Charles Dickens, today it was autumn in the sunshine, and winter in the shade. Definitely a day to add another layer of wicking outerwear. Personally I was dealing with a cold, which sucked. I didn't go to all the trouble to quit smoking so I could cough myself silly till two in the morning; so topping it off, I was tired all day.
But I shouldn't feel too sorry for myself. A cold snap like we're having should remind us all of the sad plight of Vancouver's most disadvantaged -- all the awesome women who only have yoga pants in their repertoire of bottom-wear. The wind and cold must just go right through that fabric. Maybe that explains the brisk strides I see them taking.
Cold comfort?
Someone at the bottle depot expressed concern for how I must have slept last night -- Like a lamb, I told them, after I stopped coughing. But, they persisted, it got down to minus five! Not, I corrected them, inside my sleeping bag. I was warm and toasty until I unzipped this morning -- that was bracing.
There was a sign by the cash register at the bottle depot to the effect there was an extreme weather alert for tonight, which triggered emergency shelter openings. Google tells me the temperature outside right now is 4° C, with an expected low of 0° C. I've comfortably slept rough in a temperature of -15° C, so no shelter for me. Everything other homeless people have told me about them for nine years, has crystalized my view of shelters as dirty, bed-buggy places where you can easily get your stuff stolen. I believe it's safer and cleaner on the streets of Fairview, where I've never seen a bedbug.
What bugs me most about homeless shelters
Just to drive the point home. I have a storage locker. I was lucky to get it, and I've treasured having it for nine years. I work hard to pay for it each month. I would never knowingly put myself at risk of having my stuff infested with bedbugs, for fear that I might bring that plague back to my storage locker, and all the other customers' storage lockers. Click the image to enlarge it.
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