While on vacation this month, we stopped in my small hometown for a couple days to see the family and whatnot. My sister and I went into the local grocery store and I was thinking about the other shoppers and people working there when we were checking out.
Some of those people have shopped there their whole lives and others had worked there since they were in high school. On a complete coincidence, we saw an aunt and uncle of ours farther down the aisle — they gave me Luke’s land speeder as a Christmas gift when I was a kid. I only observed them, avoided contact because I didn’t want to socialize and gab — we had other missions and I wanted to keep moving.
But when we were paying for our purchases I was thinking — that’s one thing I miss, believe it or not, after having moved away to a bigger city. I go into the grocery stores where I live now and feel completely disconnected from the other souls.
I go into whatever store is closest to me not the local grocery store. I shuffle through because I don’t have any connection to any one. I don’t get the chance to hide from people because I don’t know any of them.
And I do miss that a bit.
I can relate to those sentiments.
Here we have a reasonable population (18K) but there's always someone who'll stop to talk on the street, in the grocery store, at the local. There's even the option to hide from folks (as Keamoose).
The pace of life is just right and it does feel good to know your friends (even though we have a large transient population). The folks who stick it out here are worth knowing and those that come and go are fun while they last.
The latest stir was when a group of concerned citizens staged a protest and brought the homeless folks some lawn chairs to stop them from sitting on the stoop outside the post office. You see, summer is settin' season here and the local businesses get a bit concerned about the loitering.
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Hard to believe there's a homeless faction up your way. Where do they go when the temp goes sub-zero? It's kinda funny but I'm being serious. :-)
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wow…the homeless question is a huge issue here. Yes we do have too many homeless folks here. Most are aboriginal. We do have some over night shelters with limited space but they aren't open during the days. The day shelter just closed a few weeks ago.
During the winter if folks can't make it to the over night shelters I've seen then sleeping in ATM vestibules. Also heard some sleep on the sidewalk under a building's heat exchange vents. When we arrived here it was December. On my first day it was dark and -20C. I was in the office doing HR stuff. When we went from the lobby to the second floor there was a homeless gentleman sleeping in the stairway. The HR rep gently checked if he was OK and reminded him to leave. "You'll see a lot of that" she said.
People are homeless here for a lot or reasons, Many come here from the communities to look for work, visit family, get away from their community. Some run out of money and can't get back, Some get sick. Some decide they don't want to work or have no skills.
More…it is about 3 years old.
http://www.homelesshub.ca/ResourceFiles/Falvo_Homelessness_Policy_Report_finalMAY25.pdf
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That settles it.. If I ever go homeless, I'll do so in Florida.
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