sqwabb

Overlooking Arbutus Ridge and beyond from King Edward Ave. and Arbutus St.

Homes, home, homes and more homes, That's one strong impression you get looking over the Arbutus Ridge neighbourhood. The other impression is that it all appears to be comfortably well off if not flat-out wealthy.

This impression of comfortable hominess continues for several kilometres in three directions beyond the Arbutus Ridge neighbourhood, south into Kerrisdale, west into Dunbar-Southlands and north into Kitsilano.

There's a mystery here, just a little orange one, but, all the same, what is it, and where has it come from? I don't recall it being there yesterday, so naturally I'm curious -- Though another binner, Toad, says it's been there for a while, it's a new thing in my world. Cursory examination, from a distance, suggests it is not hostile, animate, or particularly clean. A closer look is out of the question as it sits on something called "private property." Click the images to see larger versions.

Binning for bottles 'n' cans, for fun and profit, in the same back alleys, day-after-day, gives you, the homeless person, a unique opportunity to partake in the rhythms, and habits of a neighbourhood, if at a remove.You may know none of the renters, condo owners, or home owners individually, or by name, but you really can get a picture of their lives, particularly as they resolve into patterns of consumption and waste, and you draw all the useful conclusions you can. You may, actually, learn a lot more than that -- usually a lot of stuff you never want to know, which you just ignore -- well I do -- It's people's private lives after all.