Pictures and Words

12:00 am – Gavin dropped me off. As soon as he was out of sight I got a bit jumpy with the sleeping bag. I felt like an obvious and immediate target. I jumped every time someone even slightly tougher-looking than me glared my way, and if you’ve met me you’ll know that’s pretty much everyone. After about 15mins of this I remembered what someone had commented, about valuable members of society being most at risk and tried to look less valuable. This helped me both look and feel more calm.

12:20 – After wandering around for 20mins admiring how bright Melbourne looks at night, I read that going wide eyed at everything probably wasn’t helping me look more tough, and definitely wasn’t helping me find somewhere to sleep. I’m woeful at directions but great with maps, but even with a map I was lost and confused. Eventually I worked out where I was and set off for the nearest park. Passed the Queen Victoria markets; there was a security guard in there. Like that whole area, it was really brightly lit (Melbourne is really freaking bright at night) so it wasn’t particularly tempting for a place to sleep.

(The first night, at least, I wanted somewhere a bit hidden, a bit out of sight to sleep. I’ll decide night-by-night whether or not this is the best strategy)

Once I saw that there was a security guard, it was suddenly a lot more tempting. He was more than likely there to stop things from getting stolen (Gavin here- I originally read “things” as “thugs”. It didn’t make a lot of sense), but I saw him and thought “Hey, this is such a great sleeping-place that they’ve put a guard here to stop me.”

12:34 – Got to the park. Passed another guy in a sleeping-bag sleeping under a tree, which really helped put my mind at ease. Clearly this park is safe to sleep in, evidenced by the simple fact that there’s someone sleeping here.

12:40 – Possum jumped down from a tree and ran across the park. Possums aren’t known for clawing people’s faces off while they sleep, are they?

1am – 7:19am – Slept. Obviously I can only speak for this one park for this one night, but let me say now- there is no possible way that my presence caused someone else to miss out on a spot to sleep. There were literally more than two dozen equally good places to sleep. Its completely impossible that someone “missed out” because of me.

I slept okay; intermittently at first. I kept having dreams of angry people from the comments coming along and stealing my things. It started to rain lightly at one point, but when I awoke I was dry again, so it can’t have lasted long. I was using my jacket as a pillow when I went to sleep, but in the morning I was wearing it, so I must have gotten cold during the night.

I was worried about someone taking my stuff as I slept (as was shown by my dreams) so I ended up using my backpack as a pillow, so I’d notice if anything happened to it, and putting anything that could fit into my sleeping bag with me.

7:20 – I’d set an alarm on my phone for 8, but I woke up several times throughout the night, and at 7:20 it was clear that I wasn’t getting back to sleep again. There were a group of women doing yoga about 30m from where I was sleeping.

I walked back out the way I came, noticed another homeless person sleeping under a tree. They’d arranged their sleeping bag in such a way that it completely covered their face, which I thought was a clever way to do it. I don’t think I’ll be able to do that, as I’ve got the wrong kind of sleeping bag. It would nicely keep the rain and bugs off though.

I could also see that the first guy I found had a dog tied to a bench near the tree he was sleeping under. Probably a good thing I didn’t spot that last night. I would have been much more nervous about sleeping in the park if I thought you needed a dog for protection.

I’m an extremely sound sleeper, which I’m hoping will be an advantage this month. At one point in the night, I half woke-up thinking that I was in a hotel room, the breeze was an air-conditioner, and the sound of traffic was the sound of a fan.

My plan at the moment is to try and find a different place to sleep each night (or day) so unless I have a lot of trouble finding somewhere, I won’t be going back to that park, great though it was.

8:34 – I’d just spent half an hour sitting on a bench in the city, writing everything up, when I ran out of things to say, so I put the pen and paper away and just watched people walking by. One woman caught my eye, and without me even saying anything, shook her head and muttered “Not here, bud.” I assume she assumed I was looking for money. Just thought I’d record her reaction to me literally doing nothing more than sitting on a bench and looking at her.

9:30 – Sitting on another park bench (I figure I’ll very quickly get sick of my own company, so I’m enjoying it while I can) outside a place called “Tropicana Juice Fruit Bar”.  They have several flags up- New Zealand, USA, Italy- not really places that I think of as “tropical”.

Everyone who sits down sits with their back to me. I’d have assumed this was a coincidence, except one guy sat down, noticed me, then moved chairs so he had his back to me.

I’m hoping that someone will leave a meal half-eaten so I can grab a bite or two before the plate is cleared away, but I’m not too worried.

Just observed an interesting exchange; a woman was enquiring about a certain dish, so when the waiter brought it out for another patron, he first showed it to her. The man who ordered it offered her a bite, so she could see what it was like, which she accepted. Neither of them knew each other. I just thought that it was kind of nifty.

I was worried I’d get bored, but as long as there are people to watch, I don’t think I will.

10:02 – Lady walking past Tropicana: “Oh my gosh, there’s a pineapple on the table! How funny!”

10:56 – Asked 4 groups of people if they had any spare change. First 3 were sympathetic and polite but unable to help. Fourth guy looked bewildered and asked how much I wanted. I wasn’t sure how to answer, so I said $2, which he gave to me. Thanked him profusely.

11:00 – A guy saw my sleeping bag and started chatting. He used to be homeless – in winter it’s impossible to sleep on the ground; it’s just too cold. He said that my best bet would be to catch a train out to whoop-whoop, find a football field and find a football field to sleep in. Will try that in a few days time.

He also told me that all the parks in the city have automatic sprinkler systems that come on at night. That explains a lot.

I’m writing this on the riverbank near Federation Square. It’s really nice and peaceful. I might try sleeping here tonight. Mid-morning and there’s already a guy sleeping on one of the benches, so I’d say they’re in demand. I’ll come back tonight and if there’s room, I’ll sleep on the ground somewhere.

11:12 – Observation: almost none of the people sitting along the riverbank speak English.

11:13 – A lady just walked by in full work-out gear, counting her steps while listening to music… and smoking a cigarette. Obviously very health-conscious.

12 noon – Had a dry spell for a while there – about 20 people in a row to either didn’t speak English or were distinctly unfriendly, so I stopped to watch some trapeze artists in the city (I love Melbourne). Got up again, and the second guy I talked to gave me $4.15. $4.15! I feel rich. “Get some food” he said, and so I shall.

12:05 – Both people who have given me change so far have been in their late/early 20s. Theory: Every human has a limited amount of change that they can give out in their life, and most people run out by the age of 25.

12:43 – After a lot of wandering around the city, found a supermarket. If you ask someone for directions, they’re much more likely to chat, and when you check to see if they have any change, they look genuinely sad that they don’t have any.

Was 20c short at the supermarket, so asked two people if they could spare some change. Second lady gave me $2. Bought a 1.5L bottle of water (99c, and the bottle should last me for a while), a jar of Coles-brand orange spread ($1.39) and peanut butter was on sale, so I bought a jar for $2. The cheapest bread was $1.94. There’s no way I would have been able to do 28 Days, 28 Dollars down here – cheap bread is what got me through it.

Sitting at a food court writing this, listening to two girls chat about a weird boy that one is dating. One of them threw away half a sandwich before I could ask if I could finish it.

1:00pm – Found a lovely, grassy food court. Made two pieces of orange spread-on-bread and one slice of peanut-butter-on-bread and then lay down for a nap. When I went to sleep my feet were the only thing in the sun.

3:30 – Woke up because the sun was in my eyes.

I got up and put my shoes on, and an extremely tall man in a sharp suit passed and looked at me. I nodded in greeting to him, and he reciprocated in a friendly way.

A few seconds later he stopped near a man in an identical suit and I realised they must be security for the area. They had a long conversation which involved them both looking over to me several times. I’ve never before been so sure that someone was talking about me, but had such little idea what they could be saying. Neither of them tried to move me along in any way, but I thought it was time to move on anyway.

3:40 – Rather than walking back to the riverbank on the other side of town, I headed for the nearest park, a few blocks away. The grass grows in strange patterns here – a swirl of green, healthy grass surrounded by brown, barely-alive grass. I’m taking this as a sign that they don’t use sprinklers overnight.

7:40 – Woke up. My body must be replacing food with sleep. 12 hours sleep in the last 20. Had another 4 slices of bread with spread/peanut butter, did a lap of the park seeing if anyone has any change. Monday night must be couples night. No one did. Couldn’t find a loo so had a cheeky wiz in some bushes. Returned to where I slept earlier and watched the sun set.

9:50 – Went to sleep for the night.

Change Begged: $8.15

Ate: 7 slices of multigrain bread with peanut butter/orange spread.

Slept: Flagstaff Gardens – 6 hours

QU Food Court – 2.5 hours

Carlton Gardens – 6 hours

Songs Stuck in my Head:

-TMBG “New York City”

-TMBG “Birdhouse in Your Soul”

-Evil Dead the Musical “We Will Never Die”

-Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds “People Just Ain’t No Good”

Strangest Thought of the Day:

“I wonder if there’s a Mary Poppins/Captain Planet fanfic where they get together” (Gavin: I had a bit of a look, but couldn’t find any. Leave a link in the comments if you have better luck.)

Tomorrow: Day 2