So I finally find a welfare office.
They've made it almost impossible to find them in the phone book.
And I've been sent to a "employment training program"
over 60 blocks from where I stand outside the welfare office.
The Social services is on willow and 8th
I've been told I have to go to 38th and Victoria
I'm on foot, homeless, undernourished, in need of sleep, wet....
and I have to get 60 blocks further by 2 pm tomorrow.
between here and there are a number of hills, I'm pushing my belongings,
I still haven't had a shower, I was given no information at the welfare office about where to get a meal, clothes, shower, or any other services for the homeless
I have my dog, my guitar, and my cart with my sleeping bag, dog food etc.
I also have a bad knee.
My Anterior Crucial Ligament is stretched from a ski accident 15 years ago, and working heavy jobs in Audio Visual Presentation where I was pushing half ton carts of drape over carpet has torn it further over the years.
There's a bunch of munged up cartilage in there.
I specifically told the social worker about my fucked up knee, and the fact that I have other serious medical issues for which I have to go downtown for Tuesday.
Downtown is the opposite direction from where I'm being sent.
and I have to walk 60 blocks.
To an area where I can't play my guitar for a few coins and there isn't much else and nowhere to stay.
On broadway I could make a few extra dollars a day playing my guitar.
Where I'm going isn't a neighborhood for busking.
I could play for hours and only make a toonie there.
Why isn't it next to the welly office, or closer to civilization?
Or why don't they have a van to pick people up, since they service HOMELESS people who usually are pushing their belongings.
I'm pretty sure when I get there, I won't be offered a bowl of soup, a change of clothes, a dry spot to park my cart and rest, or a shower. Somehow I doubt there will be any services near there and I'll be given a little piece of paper that tells me where to go for a shower/food etc. and that paper will point me right back to the area I just came from.
as of 11 am I'm only halfway there in the pouring rain, and I started at 7:30 on my journey.
I'm probably the only one who sees something wrong with this picture. To me this seems like a human rights atrocity.
But in a country that doesn't keep poverty statistics for fear the world will see the true picture, being given the runaround for poverty services is the norm.
So.
I finally made it.
60 blocks slogging through the rain.
Cart, dog, guitar, slogging away through the pain in my knee, which is swollen now.
Nowhere near here is ther a place to get a daily meal.
There's no shower services for the homeless anywhere near here.
I'm 100 blocks away from where I need to go for my medical appointment on Tuesday.
There's nowhere around this facility to park my stuff and crash.
The neighborhood is all Asian.
Culturally, as a demographic, Asian peoples are not receptive to busking.
It's not part of their culture. Most here are speaking native tongues.
Bob Dylan and U2 are not going to fly on the street here, and I really don't know any J-Pop off the top of my head. Not sure it would work on an acoustic anyway.
There is nowhere to crash on the streets, the sidewalks are narrow.
The parks have few trees and bushes.
The people here don't even have my information from the ministry.
I have an MCSE and a CCNA, so I don't think their "basic computer skills" course is going to be of benefit for me.
Looks like I'm fucked.
and I have to return to the office where I signed up for Social Services to bring more paperwork in next week.
My knee is swollen.
They have nice computers and printers here.
There's almost no one here. Clients I mean.
Good place to be for computer use, if I had a home.
Supposedly they're good at finding one.
She raises her eyebrows.
"well, we try..."
So what did I get?
NO information on free meals
year and a half old info on places for shelter
3 tinsof sardines, some crackers, a bottle of water, and a cellphone
for GPS tracking of the homeless my undernourished mind "paranoically" thinks, but then again, pop the battery out and it becomes disabled.
All in all, they didn't have a clue where service were.
Yet 4 days later at "The Kettle", a mental health poverty services centre that's full of people on venables at commercial, I got a full list of clothes, shelters, food banks, etc. within 3 minutes of entering, an hour later I was given some fruit and a decent sandwich, a change of clothes, and with an onsite nurses recommendation, laundry and a shower. I can't eat there often though because I'm not a mental health care recipient, they helped me out though. If you have some spare time or money you should consider helping them out.
Who would take my crazy rantings serious at all if I signed up for mental health services. Hmmm. Crazy is the new burning pyre in many societies. Waas Nietsche really mad for a while? Or maybe people didn't like what he had to say.
I've been thinking about Orwell's "Down and Out in Paris".
He probably ended up there because he was rocking the boat, and it was only after his works became more widely read that they couldn't continue to suppress his mind. Hunger paranoia again I suppose.
On Wednesday I went to the Three Bridges Clinic.
An additional 100 blocks later. On my wrecked knee.
My tire on my little dolly blew out going away from the original place I was sent to. So I hiked to 3 Bridges with a pack of my belongings.
More weight on my messed up knee.
I got no medical assistance there. My second visit. 2 visits, no examination, oops, times up Mr. Taylor, please schedule another appointment. Condescension and smirking from the doctors for the smelly half mad homeless fuck who "thinks" he's intersexed, with no examination.
No specialist referral for my knee. No examination of my extra bits. No to my other health problems. McMedicine at it's finest.
And when I left the doctors office, my guitar, my source of income, was gone.
3 Paladin McSecurity guards gobbling about like plump idiot hens, 2 security cameras operating fine, but apparently only reserved for "crimes"
And me with no medical problems addressed, and no guitar to make money for food for the rest of the month.
36 hours without food later, another 40 blocks walking, and there I was at the Kettle, food in my stomach, a nurse with no smirking condescension on her face actually listening to my health issues and making arrangements to get something done.
They are trying to destroy people at the bottom, I firmly believe,
I'm almost certain I'll be dead soon now.
But at least I'm clean and I've eaten, thanks to the Kettle, the only place I've seen that has it right, everything in one location, for people with no cars to zip around with.
Funny eh?
Frothing mad idiot homeless man has to arrange a dogsitter now for his interview tomorrow at UBC Health Sciences Learning Institute for a Q/A Analyst position. Wonder how a homeless loser manages that eh?
At least the clothes I've worn for two weeks are clean, even though a T-shirt of Shiva is not really the best interview clothes.
I really should go barefoot. My shoes reek.
I guess they would, I estimate I've walked over 40 miles in the last 2 weeks with an 80+ lb load and a dog. I should throw away the heavy tarp I guess, but it works as a tent when the sky piss comes down.
What a great life we have in Canada.
I'm writing a new version of the Canadian anthem as I go. I'll share it with you if I survive to finish it.
I'm sure I'll have lots more to add to this thread.
