Showing posts with label homelessness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homelessness. Show all posts
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Used cigarette butts don't taste any worse and they might even be healthier![/caption]
This evening my friend Florida Pete showed me the latest thing in "safe smoking" apparatus for street people: a short length of clear plastic tube.
Pete was wearing at least two too many jackets to be comfortable when he came to visit me this evening in McDonald's. It wasn't long before he was so dozy he had to go back outside -- to look for a place to crash. But first he put on a bit of show and tell.
He started with a nifty little LED flashlight some one had dropped. It also doubled as a red laser pointer. Neat!
Then he showed me what he said a community health nurse had given him earlier in the day outside the Kingsgate Mall at East Broadway and Main Street. At first glance it looked like the sort of glass tube used for a crack pipe but no, it was about two-and-a-half inches of flexible plastic tubing. It was the simplest of devices for "safely" smoking used cigarette butts.
Used cigarette butts don't taste any worse and they might even be healthier![/caption]This evening my friend Florida Pete showed me the latest thing in "safe smoking" apparatus for street people: a short length of clear plastic tube.
Pete was wearing at least two too many jackets to be comfortable when he came to visit me this evening in McDonald's. It wasn't long before he was so dozy he had to go back outside -- to look for a place to crash. But first he put on a bit of show and tell.
He started with a nifty little LED flashlight some one had dropped. It also doubled as a red laser pointer. Neat!
Then he showed me what he said a community health nurse had given him earlier in the day outside the Kingsgate Mall at East Broadway and Main Street. At first glance it looked like the sort of glass tube used for a crack pipe but no, it was about two-and-a-half inches of flexible plastic tubing. It was the simplest of devices for "safely" smoking used cigarette butts.
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Homeless binner's ransacked bike and trailer. Prior to being moved along in the alley.[/caption]
Chris Jensen's disappearance from the Fairview area on Wednesday evening was neither unusual nor necessarily unwelcome. What was unusual and what caused several of South Granville's homeless population to take notice was the fact that he went away without taking his bicycle, attached trailer and most of his worldly possessions.
Well I've just seen him -- darn the luck! Only one day missing; that wasn't much of a break, but by the looks of him he wasn't off having a picnic.
Homeless binner's ransacked bike and trailer. Prior to being moved along in the alley.[/caption]Chris Jensen's disappearance from the Fairview area on Wednesday evening was neither unusual nor necessarily unwelcome. What was unusual and what caused several of South Granville's homeless population to take notice was the fact that he went away without taking his bicycle, attached trailer and most of his worldly possessions.
Well I've just seen him -- darn the luck! Only one day missing; that wasn't much of a break, but by the looks of him he wasn't off having a picnic.
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Sick as a dog. Even the camera's seeing spots.[/caption]
It's awkward to be ill when you're homeless. All I wanted to do this morning was go back to bed -- forever -- but that was easier said than done.
It's easier done in the summer than the winter. In the summer you can always find a corner of a park. Today all those corners would have been sodden wet.
Sick as a dog. Even the camera's seeing spots.[/caption]It's awkward to be ill when you're homeless. All I wanted to do this morning was go back to bed -- forever -- but that was easier said than done.
It's easier done in the summer than the winter. In the summer you can always find a corner of a park. Today all those corners would have been sodden wet.
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"No officer, the eyes are close but my friend was clean-shaven and had smaller ears."[/caption]
I saw him slouching into the McDonald's last night dragging a giant black hockey bag. That told me lots. I knew he wasn't over here just to get some fresh air.
He didn't see me. He only came over to me because he saw my laptop. He wanted to borrow part of an AC adapter -- the wall plug part he didn't have. He was kneeling down to look at my adapter and only then looked up at me.
"Oh, it's you" he said, in his distinctive gravelly voice, more a statement of fact than anything else.
I took in the cleanness of him, the dryer-sheet smell of fresh laundered clothing and his slightly mussed appearance, particularly both his eyes -- his black eyes. The bruising had to be a few days from fresh but he still brought to mind a tall, rangy, raccoon.
He had a story all right and he told it to me. In a nutshell: room broken into and burgled; took law into own hands; arrested; homeless again after five years off the streets.
How sad, but sadly not unusual. And of course he made a bee-line for Fairview -- why wouldn't he? A fellow who had been so visibly homeless in and around the South Granville area when I came out on the street in 2004.
"No officer, the eyes are close but my friend was clean-shaven and had smaller ears."[/caption]I saw him slouching into the McDonald's last night dragging a giant black hockey bag. That told me lots. I knew he wasn't over here just to get some fresh air.
He didn't see me. He only came over to me because he saw my laptop. He wanted to borrow part of an AC adapter -- the wall plug part he didn't have. He was kneeling down to look at my adapter and only then looked up at me.
"Oh, it's you" he said, in his distinctive gravelly voice, more a statement of fact than anything else.
I took in the cleanness of him, the dryer-sheet smell of fresh laundered clothing and his slightly mussed appearance, particularly both his eyes -- his black eyes. The bruising had to be a few days from fresh but he still brought to mind a tall, rangy, raccoon.
He had a story all right and he told it to me. In a nutshell: room broken into and burgled; took law into own hands; arrested; homeless again after five years off the streets.
How sad, but sadly not unusual. And of course he made a bee-line for Fairview -- why wouldn't he? A fellow who had been so visibly homeless in and around the South Granville area when I came out on the street in 2004.
I always try to take The Vancouver Sun newspaper to bed with me in my parkade; my bike trailer gets to sit on newspaper in case it wets itself -- those darn drippy beer cans, and it only takes six big broadsheet pages to do the job.
That's how I found this headline staring me in the face last night. Ugly subject, ugly awkward headline. The worst thing about it wasn't how the whole thing turned on a comma, the worst thing was that I understood it perfectly, and that was because politics itself increasingly makes no little or no sense.
Naturally the headline will be as absurd as the subject (not to mention the resulting post).
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Tent city! A leaky condo on 7th Avenue.[/caption]
As I rode towards my sleeping spot last night -- past the gently dilapidated apartment buildings of Fairview, running down like old clocks, with their mildew smells and their small, $900-plus suites -- and then past a few of the tent cities, oops... leaky condos, on 7th Avenue surrounded by scaffolding and draped in green mesh -- I couldn't help but reflect on how lucky I was to be homeless. When I arrived at my parkade, cozy and dry and smack up against another leaky condo... let me just say that gladness filled my heart.
Tent city! A leaky condo on 7th Avenue.[/caption]As I rode towards my sleeping spot last night -- past the gently dilapidated apartment buildings of Fairview, running down like old clocks, with their mildew smells and their small, $900-plus suites -- and then past a few of the tent cities, oops... leaky condos, on 7th Avenue surrounded by scaffolding and draped in green mesh -- I couldn't help but reflect on how lucky I was to be homeless. When I arrived at my parkade, cozy and dry and smack up against another leaky condo... let me just say that gladness filled my heart.
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The Go Green bottle depot is closed December 25 and 26 this year -- like usual.[/caption]
For many "homed" people -- and homeless -- Christmas retains it's deeply religious meaning: marking the birth of Jesus, as Easter marks his death and resurrection. For people living on the streets, Christmas also marks the annual death and resurrection of their city and all it's services -- both public and private -- libraries and restaurants. Almost everything shut down on December 25th -- actually doors close early on the evening of the 24th.
The city shows a slight pulse on the 26th and consciousness returns on the 27th. But the Body Civic doesn't fully come back to life until January 2nd.
Christmas itself is very much a celebration behind closed doors with friends and family. If you're homeless, living out-of-doors, then this is the one holiday that really leaves you out in the cold because Christmas Day is the one day of the entire year when city life truly takes a back seat to home life.
To a person living on the street the city is home. Christmas for them is a little like when the power goes out in someone's home or apartment. And the city is also, very often, a homeless person's home-based business.
Christmas and Boxing Day are the two days a year when a homeless person can't earn money from collecting bottles, because all but one of the bottle depots that I know of are closed. I've just been told that the Regional There aren't a lot of free meals Christmas Day. And never mind if a homeless person has some money put aside, there aren't a lot of restaurants open. Umm... so what looks good at the 24-hour convenience store?
Basically for a few days over the impending Christmas holidays a homeless person has to live off their hump, and even if things have been lean and they don't have much surplus, we can all take heart from the fact that it's virtually impossible to starve to death in two days. Click the image to enlarge.
The Go Green bottle depot is closed December 25 and 26 this year -- like usual.[/caption]For many "homed" people -- and homeless -- Christmas retains it's deeply religious meaning: marking the birth of Jesus, as Easter marks his death and resurrection. For people living on the streets, Christmas also marks the annual death and resurrection of their city and all it's services -- both public and private -- libraries and restaurants. Almost everything shut down on December 25th -- actually doors close early on the evening of the 24th.
The city shows a slight pulse on the 26th and consciousness returns on the 27th. But the Body Civic doesn't fully come back to life until January 2nd.
Christmas itself is very much a celebration behind closed doors with friends and family. If you're homeless, living out-of-doors, then this is the one holiday that really leaves you out in the cold because Christmas Day is the one day of the entire year when city life truly takes a back seat to home life.
To a person living on the street the city is home. Christmas for them is a little like when the power goes out in someone's home or apartment. And the city is also, very often, a homeless person's home-based business.
Christmas and Boxing Day are the two days a year when a homeless person can't earn money from collecting bottles, because all but one of the bottle depots that I know of are closed. I've just been told that the Regional There aren't a lot of free meals Christmas Day. And never mind if a homeless person has some money put aside, there aren't a lot of restaurants open. Umm... so what looks good at the 24-hour convenience store?
Basically for a few days over the impending Christmas holidays a homeless person has to live off their hump, and even if things have been lean and they don't have much surplus, we can all take heart from the fact that it's virtually impossible to starve to death in two days. Click the image to enlarge.
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He's trying to tug on your heart strings -- is it working?[/caption]
Above we have "Mr. Invisible." He's panhandling in his own fashion Tuesday morning in front of the McDonalds on West Broadway, near Granville Street. Last we saw him, he was about two kilometres east on Broadway in front of the Michaels Arts & Crafts store; he was cocooned in a sleeping bag with the word "invisible" written on a slip of paper pinned to the bag. He was panhandling then also.
His technique apparently works -- Tuesday morning I watched his inert form suddenly come to life and pop up like a slice of toast when a woman offered him a twenty-dollar bill. 'Tis the Season to be a panhandler!
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Brian is hard to take when he's awake -- I can only imaging how hard it is to be him.[/caption]
Here's Brian (or alternately Richard) sleeping at his "campsite" in the alcove of the former location of SportChek on the west side of the Crossroads complex on Broadway Avenue near Cambie Street. When he's not sleeping he's mostly ranting uncontrollably at the people passing by his spot.
Not only does he fit the stereotype of a homeless person, he could be a "poster child" for street disorder. I see him also as a challenge of our compassion and tolerance, not to mention forbearance. I personally don't like his habits one bit, but that shouldn't stop me from helping him -- should it?
Brian is -- forgive me for saying it -- barking mad. He is also filthy, in both his demeanor and habits -- and you don't want to know what's in those paper cups. He's as truly pathetic as the city's panhandlers all pretend to be. Aside from being elderly, mentally ill, and an alcoholic, he's badly crippled, having lost all his toes to frostbite some years ago.
He's the kind of homeless person who needs help the most, just as he's one of the most difficult to help. There's no way he can be kept inside -- he says he's claustrophobic -- except against his will. He what people used to call incorrigible -- not able to be changed or reformed -- so he's given disability money and left to his own devices.
If there's a better solution than just giving him whatever degree of help he'll accept and leaving him be -- gritting our teeth and turning a blind eye, and a deaf ear, then either no one's thought of it yet, or it's too expensive.
My friend Florida Pete, who sometimes camps and drinks with Brian, tells me he helped clean up the campsite some days ago, and it shows. Pete also told me he gave Brian a belt and made him promise to use it to hold up his pants. Thanks Pete! Click the images to enlarge them.
He's trying to tug on your heart strings -- is it working?[/caption]Above we have "Mr. Invisible." He's panhandling in his own fashion Tuesday morning in front of the McDonalds on West Broadway, near Granville Street. Last we saw him, he was about two kilometres east on Broadway in front of the Michaels Arts & Crafts store; he was cocooned in a sleeping bag with the word "invisible" written on a slip of paper pinned to the bag. He was panhandling then also.
His technique apparently works -- Tuesday morning I watched his inert form suddenly come to life and pop up like a slice of toast when a woman offered him a twenty-dollar bill. 'Tis the Season to be a panhandler!
A bit obscene but at least not heard
[caption id="attachment_8248" align="alignnone" width="497"]
Brian is hard to take when he's awake -- I can only imaging how hard it is to be him.[/caption]Here's Brian (or alternately Richard) sleeping at his "campsite" in the alcove of the former location of SportChek on the west side of the Crossroads complex on Broadway Avenue near Cambie Street. When he's not sleeping he's mostly ranting uncontrollably at the people passing by his spot.
Not only does he fit the stereotype of a homeless person, he could be a "poster child" for street disorder. I see him also as a challenge of our compassion and tolerance, not to mention forbearance. I personally don't like his habits one bit, but that shouldn't stop me from helping him -- should it?
Brian is -- forgive me for saying it -- barking mad. He is also filthy, in both his demeanor and habits -- and you don't want to know what's in those paper cups. He's as truly pathetic as the city's panhandlers all pretend to be. Aside from being elderly, mentally ill, and an alcoholic, he's badly crippled, having lost all his toes to frostbite some years ago.
He's the kind of homeless person who needs help the most, just as he's one of the most difficult to help. There's no way he can be kept inside -- he says he's claustrophobic -- except against his will. He what people used to call incorrigible -- not able to be changed or reformed -- so he's given disability money and left to his own devices.
If there's a better solution than just giving him whatever degree of help he'll accept and leaving him be -- gritting our teeth and turning a blind eye, and a deaf ear, then either no one's thought of it yet, or it's too expensive.
My friend Florida Pete, who sometimes camps and drinks with Brian, tells me he helped clean up the campsite some days ago, and it shows. Pete also told me he gave Brian a belt and made him promise to use it to hold up his pants. Thanks Pete! Click the images to enlarge them.
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Abbotsford religiously moving their homeless people from one camp site to another.[/caption]
What is it about Abbotsford and homeless people? They just go together, like... fish and chips, Tex and Mex, Israelis and Palestinians. Ohh my! scratch that! Where did that come from? Maybe it's my knee-jerk reaction to the so-called "Dignity Camp" for Abbotsford homeless, which a well-known Christian minister has been working hard to set up.
Abbotsford religiously moving their homeless people from one camp site to another.[/caption]What is it about Abbotsford and homeless people? They just go together, like... fish and chips, Tex and Mex, Israelis and Palestinians. Ohh my! scratch that! Where did that come from? Maybe it's my knee-jerk reaction to the so-called "Dignity Camp" for Abbotsford homeless, which a well-known Christian minister has been working hard to set up.
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Suitably shitty photo of the fence a building manager has put up to stop homeless incursions.[/caption]
Near the southwest corner of West Broadway Avenue and Hemlock Street an apartment building manager has spent months shoring up the defensive fortifications of one corner of his property.
First he tacked up a "no trespassing" sign; then he added three orange traffic cones in front of the sign. Finally he replaced the cones with a new section of fence to entirely block access from the lane. All to stop an unseen person from pooping on his property. The safe assumption is it's a homeless person -- the building manager is positive he knows which homeless person. Unfortunately he's wrong.
Suitably shitty photo of the fence a building manager has put up to stop homeless incursions.[/caption]Near the southwest corner of West Broadway Avenue and Hemlock Street an apartment building manager has spent months shoring up the defensive fortifications of one corner of his property.
First he tacked up a "no trespassing" sign; then he added three orange traffic cones in front of the sign. Finally he replaced the cones with a new section of fence to entirely block access from the lane. All to stop an unseen person from pooping on his property. The safe assumption is it's a homeless person -- the building manager is positive he knows which homeless person. Unfortunately he's wrong.
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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.
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.
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Venting his frustration or frustrating that vent?[/caption]
This fellow has cocooned himself in his sleeping bag in front of the Michaels arts and crafts store on West Broadway Avenue. He's done this a few times, and each time he's had a slip of paper pinned to his sleeping bag inscribed with the word "invisible." That was actually the theme of this year's Homeless Action Week -- the invisible homeless. But that ended weeks ago, and it was only five days long anyways (we homeless people have a shorter week than the rest of you).
He might actually know his stuff, because every pedestrian I saw walked right by him as if he wasn't there. But he was there -- I could see him. But that might be because I'm homeless, and I too have been invisible on occasion.
Venting his frustration or frustrating that vent?[/caption]This fellow has cocooned himself in his sleeping bag in front of the Michaels arts and crafts store on West Broadway Avenue. He's done this a few times, and each time he's had a slip of paper pinned to his sleeping bag inscribed with the word "invisible." That was actually the theme of this year's Homeless Action Week -- the invisible homeless. But that ended weeks ago, and it was only five days long anyways (we homeless people have a shorter week than the rest of you).
He might actually know his stuff, because every pedestrian I saw walked right by him as if he wasn't there. But he was there -- I could see him. But that might be because I'm homeless, and I too have been invisible on occasion.
Never mind second-hand cigarette smoke, Vancouver's poorest smokers care about finding second-hand tobacco, in the form of cigarette butts. Now those poor nic-heads doing their butt runs downtown have a potentially new obstacle or opportunity, depending, thanks to the City of Vancouver's pilot program to recycle cigarette butts.Yesterday, The Cigarette Waste Brigade pilot project began with the installation of 110 recycling receptacles in four areas of the downtown business district. These will naturally be the areas identified as being commonly littered with the most butts -- and, they will, just as naturally, be well-known hot spots for people looking for butts for the tobacco. Now some or all of that potential bounty will be in locked, steel receptacles -- bad for the casual seeker, but good for the hardcore picker who's "handy" with locked boxes -- "Thanks for keeping our butts dry, suckas!"
Being homeless isn't illegal -- yet, but there's already a fine line between living on the street, and breaking the law. Florida Pete crossed that line yesterday in a park near Kingsgate Mall, at Broadway Avenue, and Main Street. Police issued him with a $115 CDN fine for -- Pete insists -- smoking a cigarette in the park, though the ticket lists the offense as being intoxicated in public. Pete's on the far end of alcoholism, where a person needs alcohol just to function, so, technically, he's a walking by-law infraction. Pete explained to me that the same offense on a city street is a $165 fine. and that he got off cheap because he was in a park. if Pete had any intentions of paying the ticket -- that's something like 2300 pop cans -- the police miss-spelled his last name.Speaking of police issuing tickets to the poor, and homeless ...
After it was revealed in the spring that the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) were issuing most of their fines for jaywalking to people in the Downtown Eastside, the so-called poorest postal code in Canada, I wrote a post suggesting we make the DTES a car-free zone. Fortunately, the Pivot Legal Society, and the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU), took a less trivial approach, and filed a complaint with the Vancouver police board, chaired by the city's mayor, Gregor Robertson. The complaint, based on the VPD's own data, alleged 95 per cent of tickets for illegal street vendors and 75 per cent for jaywalking were issued in the Downtown Eastside. The Province newspaper this morning is reporting that the police board have dismissed the ticket-target complaint. Click the images to enlarge them.
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Jonathan is a man of property, this letter proves it![/caption]
Last evening, Jonathan tells me, he was picked up by the Vancouver Police; arrested, handcuffed, subjected to an extensive medical examination, tossed into a paddy wagon, driven around for about an hour, and finally released around 9:00 p.m. All because he was found sleeping in a parking lot, just North-East of Broadway, and Granville -- someone saw him, and called the police -- because he was sleeping in a parking lot. Well, okay, Jonathan admits it's doubtful as to whether he was wearing his pants at the time -- he says he's slowly recovering for a serious medical condition, and ... well, you know the expression, "too much information?"
The good news is -- his medical condition's clearing up, and -- Jonathan's a free man, a little chaffed around the wrists from the handcuffs, and understandably emotionally bruised from, what I consider mistreatment. But, unfortunately the police detained his shopping cart. It's not such a biggie in this continuing season of mild weather, but he is homeless. He lives out of that shopping cart. His sleeping gear, blankets, food, and drink, a guitar -- basically all his worldly possessions are in that cart. And the police are holding it for what? Questioning?
Jonathan's been through this drill before. He knows exactly where to go to pick up his shopping cart. See the piece of paper he's holding? The police have definitely told Jonathan where to go. Click the image to enlarge it.
Jonathan is a man of property, this letter proves it![/caption]Last evening, Jonathan tells me, he was picked up by the Vancouver Police; arrested, handcuffed, subjected to an extensive medical examination, tossed into a paddy wagon, driven around for about an hour, and finally released around 9:00 p.m. All because he was found sleeping in a parking lot, just North-East of Broadway, and Granville -- someone saw him, and called the police -- because he was sleeping in a parking lot. Well, okay, Jonathan admits it's doubtful as to whether he was wearing his pants at the time -- he says he's slowly recovering for a serious medical condition, and ... well, you know the expression, "too much information?"
The good news is -- his medical condition's clearing up, and -- Jonathan's a free man, a little chaffed around the wrists from the handcuffs, and understandably emotionally bruised from, what I consider mistreatment. But, unfortunately the police detained his shopping cart. It's not such a biggie in this continuing season of mild weather, but he is homeless. He lives out of that shopping cart. His sleeping gear, blankets, food, and drink, a guitar -- basically all his worldly possessions are in that cart. And the police are holding it for what? Questioning?
Jonathan's been through this drill before. He knows exactly where to go to pick up his shopping cart. See the piece of paper he's holding? The police have definitely told Jonathan where to go. Click the image to enlarge it.
Many people who have lived out of a shopping cart for a while, call it "home" -- seriously. And they can take housekeeping quite seriously,also.
I watched this home owner "renovate" while I was sorting a load of bottles at the Go Green Return-It Depot. When I arrived, everything was piled around the cart, and it all looked like the sort of scattered mess of person and possessions I'd seen many times before. But no -- this was a man with a plan, which he carried out slowly and methodically. He house-cleaned, he renovated, he even did some landscaping. I became quite interested in how it would turn out, and, after I had cashed out my bottles, waited on the finished product. I wasn't disappointed. After he was all finished, he happily let me take a photo -- he knew he'd done a good job.
I think what ultimately puts it in a field by itself, is the shade tree. It's more than a finishing touch, it's a crowning glory. Greenspace is the sort of detail most shopping cart owners overlook. I bet it's been paying off big time, through the run of cloudless, sun-filled, days we've been having. Click the image to enlarge it.
My laptop, and I were lapping up Wi-Fi on West Broadway last night when Florida Pete came along, making his nightly, Westward migration. Above, he shows off an Ovation acoustic guitar he expertly repaired -- really, you can hardly see the gaffe tape! In spite of the large hole in the back, or perhaps because of it, the guitar sounded as good as Pete's ability to play it (cough). Below, is a look at the showroom of his home-based business -- Pete is quite the entrepreneur; the nick-knacks, doo-dads, and other found objects in his shopping cart, are for sale, and are carefully arranged, within the limits of time, space, and inebriation, to maximize their sales appeal. Click on the images to enlarge them.
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Chris is working hard to eat healthy. Click the photo to enlarge.[/caption]
This is Chris, aka "Shopping-cart Chris." Some people also call him "Chuckles," because, well, he chuckles a lot. He's the "limpy," in one of my posts about Canadian healthcare going to the dogs. Chris was nice enough to let me take this photo of him getting ready to bed down in his sleeping spot. I was fascinated by how carefully he'd arranged things -- I moved a box to keep it out of the shot, and he asked that it be put right back where it was. Chris is a pretty fastidious person, but there's more to it here, than that; This spot has no lighting of its own, so after dark, he'll only have the not-so-close street lights, and other ambient light sources, to see by. The milk, cereal, bowl, and spoon, are set out that way so he can wake up and have a late night snack without fumbling in the dim light. He has clearly done this before.
Chris is working hard to eat healthy. Click the photo to enlarge.[/caption]This is Chris, aka "Shopping-cart Chris." Some people also call him "Chuckles," because, well, he chuckles a lot. He's the "limpy," in one of my posts about Canadian healthcare going to the dogs. Chris was nice enough to let me take this photo of him getting ready to bed down in his sleeping spot. I was fascinated by how carefully he'd arranged things -- I moved a box to keep it out of the shot, and he asked that it be put right back where it was. Chris is a pretty fastidious person, but there's more to it here, than that; This spot has no lighting of its own, so after dark, he'll only have the not-so-close street lights, and other ambient light sources, to see by. The milk, cereal, bowl, and spoon, are set out that way so he can wake up and have a late night snack without fumbling in the dim light. He has clearly done this before.
Playing the Name Game -- Chris is called "Shopping-cart Chris," to distinguish him from "Bicycle Chris," who is occasionally confused with another Chris, who some people used to cal "Bicycle Chris," but more commonly goes the the name "Toad."
-- Quote from a young homeless guy named Brooklyn, aka The Green Man, correcting my supposition that he's exclusively about fresh and healthy greens and fruit, and wouldn't go near something like Baconnaise.
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