Life on the Streets: Day 2 – Part 4

Day: Thursday
Time: 0515
Location: Town Hall Station




Finally figured out how the hell to get out of this station.



------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Day: Thursday
Time: 0556
Location: Opera House – North side




Getting my sunrise picture of the Bridge from Opera House since I got a sunset picture of the Opera House from the Bridge.

So beautiful here at sunrise. I wish I saw it all yesterday.





------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Day: Thursday
Time: 0610
Location: Opera House – North side

Just saw someone who looks like a VCA 04 Alum jog by. Funny… yesterday afternoon there was a woman getting off the ferry who looked like her mom. Now they are two Califonians it is reasonable to wonder if it is a look alike or not, they are loaded enough that it actually wouldn’t surprise me if the elf princess and her family were here.

Ahh HA! The poor’s dislike of the rich is beginning to settle in deeper than it did the other night passing the restaurants in Darling Harbor.



------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Day: Thursday
Time: 0725
Location: Milson’s Point




WOW!

Busy morning. My pen is warming up so the ink is flowing WAY better than it was. Glad I got this 2nd jacket, but I really should try finding a beanie of some sort. Decided I’m going to be shoeless while begging. Not to be more theatrical, but because this is the longest I’ve ever left shoes on.

Also should find homeless shelters. There is one on Bourke St. but then again… Bourke does run from the harbor all the way past the Sydney Cricket Grounds, so, a bit more than a mile potentially. That is not too bad, but still… my feet don’t like me right now. Since it’s Thursday, I should probably try to find a church service on Sunday to go to and report on how the Christians react to someone who hasn’t showered in five days and is wearing his farm cloths in the city. Maybe I will go shoeless to add to the theatrics that day.




------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Day: Thursday
Time: 0817
Location: Albert & Phillip St.




I fell asleep on the dock at Milson’s point shortly after finishing writing. Guess I really need sleep (like, consistent good sleep) setting out on my quest to find the homeless shelter on Bourke.



------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Day: Thursday
Time: 0844
Location: Bourke & Cowper




Reached the beginning of Bourke. Sun is telling me the jackets can come off.



------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Day: Thursday
Time: 0921
Location: Bourke & Short St.




Found it.

The name is “Edward Eager Lodge”, I find this name ironically appropriate.

It is run by Methodist in association with “Wesley Missions”. The same organization that had the ad in the subway station.

“So Edward… did you talk to them?”

Well… no actually.

I don’t know if what they had on the sign, “Assisted living” is the PC term for “Homeless Shelter” but below that it also mentioned something about being a hostel. Now usually I have the “give it a go” mentality. But a conversation I had with Joel (one of the Sweedish guys at Pink House) the morning I left the hostel just came into memory. The question was asked, “Do you feel like you are kinda mocking them?”

Now, “mock” in the sense of “imitation”, yes, that is certainly my desire. But “mock” in the sense of “make fun”, well… God no! That is not my goal in the slightst. But now that I’m here, I’ve managed to fool quite a few homed people, and I am a good actor, but if these people have a way of making a bit of money to help with expenses, I am NOT going to flat out lie to other people that want to help homeless by saying “no, ignore the Yankee accent, I’m not a backpacker, I’m a native homeless Aussie… I swear!” Besides, if I tell them the truth, I’ll end up paying my true share of the cost because I’d feel bad otherwise. In other words, the night in a homeless shelter won’t happen here.

Irony is, next time I go break from the project to go online and lie to my own Madre, I’ll find some other group of strangers to not lie to.

Sad huh…



------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Day: Thursday
Time: 0939
Location: Bourke & Short St.

While writing out the above section, a girl actually paused, looked, and smiled back at me. Most of you probably think I think that is important because of my addiction to women (I will admit, she was hot), but it is actually much deeper. Whenever I’m sitting somewhere and people walk by, I usually give a little smile and nod kinda thing. 99% of people so far have pretty much ignored it. I even had one guy who was ALREADY smiling look away and frown.

But a non homeless person took the time to acknowledge me and return the smile. God bless her. Most of you who know me, know how much being around people means to me. In fact, I usually get sick when I haven’t been social for too long. If you know this, you must have some idea of the toll this experiment is beginning to have on me is.

I’m going to walk to Central and head back to Circular Quay to walk to the Royale gardens and sleep on a patch of grass in daylight instead of cold hard cement at night.