Good Afternoon;
Well Christmas is over.... no big letdown this year because it really didn't feel like much of anything this year. Don't know why, but a lot of folks I've talked with, in every socio-economic level, said the same thing. "It's not the weather, but it is missing something this year"
So....when I left here yesterday afternoon, I jumped on the train and went down to North Ave. with the idea of trying to sell some candy bars on the corner. My buddy Zach from Morocco was out there as usual selling flowers and stuffed animals. He told me the police had been running people off the corner all day so I decided to pass on giving it a shot. As I was sitting on the bench at the bus stop I kept getting the 'evil eye' from cops who drove by even though all I was doing was sitting there.
I walked back to the train and one cop followed me until I pissed off and annoyed and slipped through a shortcut he could not take his cruiser through. I was standing laughing and talking to an MTA policeman on the platform when the city cop roared around the corner, slid to a stop, and started to jump out of his car...unbuttoning his holster as he did so. He then noticed that I was chatting with a Major in the Mass Transit Administration police dept. and stopped dead in his tracks. When my friend Major ------- asked if there was a problem, he hemmed and hawed and stammered no and got back in his car and drove away. The Major began to laugh and said that most of the city cops on the street that day were 'pissed to be working, and had bugs up their asses' .
I wished him Merry Christmas and got on the BWI Thurgood Marshall airport light rail train that pulled in and rode it to the airport and then out to Hunt Valley and back. I tried to read and ended up dozing in and out instead, for a couple hours. On the last trip out from BWI I overheard a woman ask the driver where to get off for the Silver Spring Metro station on the D.C. subway system. After the driver was only able to get off at the next stop and catch the B30 bus to 'somewhere down there', another homeless guy and myself (HA!) by looking at our combined schedules and route maps, got her oriented and organized and gave her times and directions to get from BWI Business Park to Silver Spring Md. via Greenbelt subway station and the Metro.
While I was on the light rail and later on the subway I noticed the large number of homeless folks doing as I was, just killing time somewhere warm. I had a few dozen candy bars left and I ended up giving almost all of them out to people who were sitting or sleeping all bundled up with their bags arranged for both protection and anti-theft. I walked up and down the train offering chocolate bars to each of them, for many of them the only gift they would receive. When I got back to the shed and saw 11:00 pm. news footage of some of the different 'Xmas giveaways' in town and the huge crowds there, I saw what one of the men meat when I asked him if he had gone to any of them or the Xmas and Xmas eve dinners hosted by various charities, and he replied........
"hell no, it's a zoo.....and a feed lot..sit down, shovel it in, get out...no peace or sense of Christmas, no chance to relax and reflect or rejoice,
we (he traveled with a 'running buddy') are grateful for the 'care packages' of essential hygiene items and packaged food and find ourselves and a few others a private place and put together our own dinner....may be Spam sandwiches not turkey and stuffing, canned peaches not pumpkin pie, but also not gonna hafta sit around lookin grateful for a bunch of once-a-year-do-gooders tryin to burn off some guilt"
I also saw at least 3 families I know for a fact are NOT homeless, but go to every soup kitchen they can so as to save their money for dope, and sell whatever gifts or donated items they get. The 'feel good' Xmas TV clips don't always tell all. This city has loads of schemers and scammers who prey on their own needy.
Sleep was again 'warm and cuddly' with the new bag and quilt,
That and getting all my meds back in cycle makes a big difference. As I was leaving the Giant after my morning coffee/bathroom/shopping ritual I found a Starbucks card on the ground. I looked it up online and it's not registered and hasn't been used but 2 times in a year and a half, and still had $5.70 as a balance....that's just $0.30 short of 4 coffees..
..Merry Chrismahanakwanzakah to me!..
Jenn is supposed to pick me up about 7:00 pm. with the presents I have stored with her for Rachel, and drop me off at the 'exes' so I can give them to her for Chanukkah tonight. After spending a couple hours there, Jenn is picking me up and dropping me back at the shed. She says they need a sitter for the Grandmonsters on Wednesday, so I'm getting picked up that afternoon and spending the night in East Bumf....., MONKTON.....lol.
Now, time for dinner......
Later......................Dave
So....when I left here yesterday afternoon, I jumped on the train and went down to North Ave. with the idea of trying to sell some candy bars on the corner. My buddy Zach from Morocco was out there as usual selling flowers and stuffed animals. He told me the police had been running people off the corner all day so I decided to pass on giving it a shot. As I was sitting on the bench at the bus stop I kept getting the 'evil eye' from cops who drove by even though all I was doing was sitting there.
I walked back to the train and one cop followed me until I pissed off and annoyed and slipped through a shortcut he could not take his cruiser through. I was standing laughing and talking to an MTA policeman on the platform when the city cop roared around the corner, slid to a stop, and started to jump out of his car...unbuttoning his holster as he did so. He then noticed that I was chatting with a Major in the Mass Transit Administration police dept. and stopped dead in his tracks. When my friend Major ------- asked if there was a problem, he hemmed and hawed and stammered no and got back in his car and drove away. The Major began to laugh and said that most of the city cops on the street that day were 'pissed to be working, and had bugs up their asses' .
I wished him Merry Christmas and got on the BWI Thurgood Marshall airport light rail train that pulled in and rode it to the airport and then out to Hunt Valley and back. I tried to read and ended up dozing in and out instead, for a couple hours. On the last trip out from BWI I overheard a woman ask the driver where to get off for the Silver Spring Metro station on the D.C. subway system. After the driver was only able to get off at the next stop and catch the B30 bus to 'somewhere down there', another homeless guy and myself (HA!) by looking at our combined schedules and route maps, got her oriented and organized and gave her times and directions to get from BWI Business Park to Silver Spring Md. via Greenbelt subway station and the Metro.
While I was on the light rail and later on the subway I noticed the large number of homeless folks doing as I was, just killing time somewhere warm. I had a few dozen candy bars left and I ended up giving almost all of them out to people who were sitting or sleeping all bundled up with their bags arranged for both protection and anti-theft. I walked up and down the train offering chocolate bars to each of them, for many of them the only gift they would receive. When I got back to the shed and saw 11:00 pm. news footage of some of the different 'Xmas giveaways' in town and the huge crowds there, I saw what one of the men meat when I asked him if he had gone to any of them or the Xmas and Xmas eve dinners hosted by various charities, and he replied........
"hell no, it's a zoo.....and a feed lot..sit down, shovel it in, get out...no peace or sense of Christmas, no chance to relax and reflect or rejoice,
we (he traveled with a 'running buddy') are grateful for the 'care packages' of essential hygiene items and packaged food and find ourselves and a few others a private place and put together our own dinner....may be Spam sandwiches not turkey and stuffing, canned peaches not pumpkin pie, but also not gonna hafta sit around lookin grateful for a bunch of once-a-year-do-gooders tryin to burn off some guilt"
I also saw at least 3 families I know for a fact are NOT homeless, but go to every soup kitchen they can so as to save their money for dope, and sell whatever gifts or donated items they get. The 'feel good' Xmas TV clips don't always tell all. This city has loads of schemers and scammers who prey on their own needy.
Sleep was again 'warm and cuddly' with the new bag and quilt,
That and getting all my meds back in cycle makes a big difference. As I was leaving the Giant after my morning coffee/bathroom/shopping ritual I found a Starbucks card on the ground. I looked it up online and it's not registered and hasn't been used but 2 times in a year and a half, and still had $5.70 as a balance....that's just $0.30 short of 4 coffees..
..Merry Chrismahanakwanzakah to me!..
Jenn is supposed to pick me up about 7:00 pm. with the presents I have stored with her for Rachel, and drop me off at the 'exes' so I can give them to her for Chanukkah tonight. After spending a couple hours there, Jenn is picking me up and dropping me back at the shed. She says they need a sitter for the Grandmonsters on Wednesday, so I'm getting picked up that afternoon and spending the night in East Bumf....., MONKTON.....lol.
Now, time for dinner......
Later......................Dave
No comments:
Post a Comment