Pictures and Words

And now we are back on numerical track! Here we have Day 4, which was Thursday last week (for those of you playing along at home).

12:48am – Woken up by a security guard. “Sorry mate, can’t let you sleep out here. They’re watching you on the cameras”.

I’ve no idea why I was only woken up 4 hours after I’d already been asleep for 4 hours (actually, the last guy who woke me up at Fed Square did so at about 1 am as well), but he was polite and friendly about it, so I packed up and moved along.

I should point out that with the exception of the one unfriendly and unhelpful Tram Information Man, all authority figures so far have been polite and friendly. Perhaps it’s because I’m young and agreeable? I’m not sure, but I was expecting a lot more hostility than I’ve received so far.

1:10am – Wandered away from the building in search of a public loo. Couldn’t find one, so used a discrete back ally instead. Briefly considered sleeping in a concealed churchyard, but still curious to see what sort of attention (from police) sleeping in public in the city would draw, so I settled on a park bench.

7:30am – Woken up by the traffic, I lay on the bench for about 10mins before getting up and starting my day.

Most of the time, passers-by ignore me (with the exception of when I’m asking them for money), but when you’re sleeping in the middle of the city, you get glares of contempt, disgust and down-right revulsion. People really dislike people sleeping in their city.

When I was on the ground outside the building, people either didn’t notice me, were mildly curious when they did, or shied away in fear. My mere presence seemed to indicate that they were in “a bad part of town”, and they’d walk a bit more cautiously for having seen me.

7:40 – Got up. Walking past the church I saw a guy asking for change, being ignored by everyone who went in. That seems a little incongruous, doesn’t it?

I gave him my last dollar. He’d seen me get up from the bench I’d just slept on, so he was shocked and asked me if I was sure. I’m hardly having trouble surviving, so I told him to keep it and kept going.

Pulling out my map, I decided to check out the Queen Vic markets, both for begging potential or the possibility of cheep food.

8am – Passed the State Library of Victoria, which someone recommended to me as free entertainment. It opens at 10am, so I sat outside and did some writing.

On the way to the library I got $2.05 from a lady smoker, and 95c from a guy at the traffic lights.

10am – Library opened. They only allow “small bags” inside for our safety and convenience. I don’t fully understand what they mean by this, but I paid the dollar required to use the locker service.

10:15 – Used the internet for 15mins, checking out the homeless forums (forums.homeless.com.au) and found a particularly interesting thread on why people “choose” to be homeless, which I sent to Gavin to repost (Gavin: You can find it here).

10:30 – Spent a couple of hours reading a biography on Jim Henson. If I could have my lie reflect any entertainer’s, it would probably be Jim Henson. Amazing, fascinating man.

I also learned that Candice Bergen (Shirley Schmidt in Boston Legal) is the  daughter of famous ventriloquist, Ed Bergen.

1pm – This isn’t a “library” in the sense that I’m used to. 95% of the books are in “archive”, with the remaining 5% being randomly chosen. To access the bulk of the library, you have to become a member. (As I’m not in possession of a library card, I’m unlikely to become a member any time soon.) (Gavin: I’m not sure if he actually meant “library card”, as having a library card usually means you’re a member already.)

The book that I really came in to read is Justine Larbalestier’s latest novel, “Liar”. I’ve read her blog for years now, and when I came across her novel “How to Ditch Your Fairy” in a bookstore last year, I loved the first few chapters so much that I bought it straight away. To my surprise, there’s a shelf of Young Adult fiction here, and one of the first books I came across was “Liar”.

2pm – My 4 hours were up, but it was raining outside, and I was so keen to finish the book that I went and found someone to give me 85c so that I could stay for longer. Great, great book. I thoroughly recommend it. I’ll probably buy a copy of it first chance I get. Afterwards, I started through Humphrey Carpenter’s biography of Spike Milligan.

6pm – Didn’t particularly want to pay another dollar to stay in the library for the last hour. It was still raining out, so I stayed undercover at the library.

I wanted something a bit different for dinner, so I got enough change from people to get a piece of sushi: 25c from one guy, a dollar from another and 45c from a girl. I’ve never had so many people give such small amounts (I’m not complaining, that was all they had. It’s possibly an effect of asking people outside a library).

On the way up to “Sushi Sushi”, I saw a homeless guy with a cup out, so I gave him 50c. A piece of tuna sushi is $2.30, so on the way back to the library, I gave him the rest of my money: another 55c.

9pm – Lying outside the library thinking (I’d already grabbed an MX and done the sudoku by this point), a girl came up and, unasked, gave me $1.20. She must have been someone who said no earlier, then had a change of heart?

My phone finally died (straight from 2 bars to dead. What is the point of the bar system if it goes from 4, 3, 2, 0?) but fortunately there’s a power-point outside the library.

9:30 – It’s still lightly raining. There are plenty of undercover space outside the library, but again, I don’t want to risk taking up valuable real-estate. When it’s raining, this would be the first place I’d go, so I leave all the covered areas, and set up on a park bench under a tree. It offers partial cover while it’s raining lightly. Only the occasional drop comes through.

10pm – I drift off to sleep.

Up Next: Day 5

Guess what showed up in the mail today? The much anticipated “Day 2” letter. It turns out that Peter posted it in a regular red post-box, rather than one of the yellow ones used for express letters. As such, the next-day delivery guarantee was voided. But here it is now. Enjoy.

7:40am – Woke up. It seems I was right – no sprinkler system in that park. Got out my bread for breakfast, and discovered there were ants right throughout my bag. None in the bread or spread, but there were heaps in the peanut butter. Picked then out and had some peanut butter on bread.

8:45am – Asked a few people for chance, no one was interested. Asked a lady putting money into a parking meter. Since she already had her wallet out, she gave me 50c. I think today I might try to get $8.90 for a all-you-can eat place I saw on Collins street yesterday (Gavin: I think this was a dumb thing to do).

9:20am – Someone in the comments referred to what I’m doing as a “camping holiday”, and now that I’m a bit over 30 hours in I can see what they mean. Because I don’t have any kind of substance abuse problem, or the added pressure of trying to find a job and somewhere to live, as long as I have enough money to get food, I can spend the day doing what I like.

As I’ve said many times, I had absolutely no idea what this would be like going in. I heard people say that I’d be gang-raped and murdered within 2 days, and others say I’d be fine as long as I didn’t do anything stupid. So far it’s been pretty much as I predicted, my main issue isn’t going to be food, shelter or safety. It’s going to be boredom.

Some other things that people predicted:

-  Every time I pick somewhere to sleep, someone else will miss out.

Blatantly untrue. By far the least accurate prediction (except perhaps the one about me being killed within 48 hours. Check back in 14 hours and we’ll see).

So far I’ve spent both nights in parks. If I wanted to, I could easily spend the rest of the month sleeping in either park, and not put anyone out even slightly. These parks are huge; they could easily sleep one hundred people.

In winter, I suspect this could be quite a different matter, ditto when it’s raining. If it rains during February, I’ll let you know my findings.

- Genuinely homeless people will recognise me as a fraud instantly.

Jury’s still out on this one. I’ve had direct face-to-face interactions with three homeless people so far. One of them stopped and had a chat, the other two were walking and didn’t stop; just gave me a once-over and kept going. This could mean anything from “I can see you’re faking it” to “hey, nice shoes”.

- You gonna die!

Not yet! 26.5 days to go (Gavin: Only 20 from now).

10:15am – Asking people for change as I walk, mostly getting “no”s. A pair of guys walked past: the first said no and kept on walking, but the second guy stopped. As a result, the first guy turned around and fished out a couple of coins as well ($1.10 all up). I wonder if I would have gotten anything if they had been alone.

10:30 – Passed a JB Hi-Fi and noticed that they publish a free magazine. I picked one up and had a read; interesting stuff. Apparently their motto for 2010 is “More for your den in 2010”. Seriously? That’s the best they could come up with?

They had DVD reviews, but being in the business of selling DVDs, they couldn’t really say anything negative. I could see them trying though: “If you’re looking for the ultimate (can’t make this word out) story, this isn’t it, but still a must-have for…”

11:25 – So that feeling of complete freedom has turned into a sort of listlessness and lack of desire to do anything. I think the fact that 99% of people on the street act like I’m personally inconveniencing them doesn’t help. I’m usually a very driven person (Gavin: he’s driven everywhere), but right now I’m walking about a block, sitting down for 30mins to an hour, getting up to ask people for change, getting rejected. Lather, rinse and repeat.

The worst are the people who ignore you. Rejection is okay, but the people who clearly hear you saying hello and ignore you completely are horribly demoralizing. The pest people (aside from the ones who actually give you change) are the ones who look genuinely sorry they can’t help you. They could be lying, I have no way of knowing, but they look like they would help if they could, and that in itself helps.

11:39 – It never rains, but it pours. Saw an older man in a suit standing on the street. So far I’ve received nothing but hostility from men in suits, so I’ve started to avoid them. This guy was standing around, looking like he had nowhere else to be, so I approached him. A quick chat about how life was sure to get better and a joke about how he didn’t want to look like a drug dealer because he only had aspirin in his pockets later, he gave me $4.10 and wished me all the best.

The next lady I spoke to? $5.40. No idea about why the sudden change in fortunes, but we’ll see if it continues.

11:54 – 55c from one of the two ladies who were smoking. For the first time in my life, I’m loving smokers. They’re standing around, probably bored, so even if they say no, they’ll probably be nice about it.

I think the lady sitting next to me is wearing a wig. Pretty sure it’s rude to ask, but I’m dying to know.

I’ve got enough for the “All-You-Can-Eat” Chinese place. Trying to decide whether to have it later when I’ll be hungrier, or go now while I’m close.

Phone’s down to 2 bars. Looks like I’ll have to charge it once every two days. Haven’t been able to refill my water bottle since finishing the water this morning, which is most annoying.

12:40 – Decided to wait until 1 and grab the all-you-can-eat then. I found a toilet in which to refill my water bottle. While I was writing, a guy sat next to me and started counting his change. I don’t normally ask people while I’m writing, but I’m not going to pass up an opportunity like that. He gave me 50c and asked me what I was writing. “Diary” I said (Gavin: which it is, in a way), “It helps to pass the time”.

It’s true’ without pen and paper, I think my head would quickly be bursting with thoughts. It also really helps to pass some (but not much) of the time.

1:26 – Okay, spending $8.90 on “All you can eat” was a bad idea (Gavin: Ha! I knew it!). Blegh, I thought I’d be able to get through at least two or three plates, make it worth my while, but compared to what 9 bucks will get be at the supermarket, this was a complete waste of cash. After one plate of food I was flagging, and halfway through the second I just couldn’t eat any more.

On the plus side, I had a nice variety of food: some beef, some chicken, some vegetables, some tofu and lots of rice. Maybe the variety makes it worth doing? (I won’t be doing it again)

Two guys sat next to me while having a conversation. One had an interesting theory that compared sending his daughter to school, with the Sims. He said that in the Sims you can get a Sim ready to go to work, but you can’t control them once they’re there. Similarly, he can make sure his daughter is well-rested and has used the toilet, but once he drops her off, he can only hope she behaves herself.

While I was eating, a guy came and asked me for change. Surprised, I said no and he moved onto the next guy. I think that from now on, whenever I see a homeless person asking for money, I’ll give them some. Things aren’t as tight as I was worried they would be.

About an hour before lunch, a guy collecting money on the streets for sick kids asked me to contribute. Everyone else has noticed the sleeping bag and realised not to ask. I stopped and had a chat, told him I was looking for money myself, and we wished each other luck and went our separate ways.

1:40 – I was looking for the outdoor food court I had slept in yesterday, but noticed that I was right near the riverbank, so went down there instead. Fell asleep in the shade near an old woman doing the same, while her husband (I presume) sat and sketched the river.

6:40pm – Woke up. I feel like I should be doing (and blogging about) something more interesting than just sleeping all the time, but I’m so tired. I wonder why. Do I not sleep as well outside? Is it because I’m eating less? Am I ill and simply not aware of it? Is it all the walking? Does my brain get sick of being left alone and just switch off?

Apparently there’s a Rosies van outside Flinders Street station at nights. I might wander up and grab a cup of tea. Of course, I might just fall asleep instead.

9pm – Didn’t fall asleep. Just lay on the grass, thinking for a couple of hours. As I said yesterday, I suspect I’ll quickly want to do anything other than sit by myself thinking, so I might as well enjoy it while it’s still a novelty.

After a few hours of sitting on the grassing, thinking about who I am and what I want to be, and whether what I’m doing here is morally okay or not, I got up and wandered over to Federation Square. In Federation Square, there’s a giant TV which plays the same 10 or so adds over and over again. Apparently it’s also a free wi-fi hotspot, which is quite cool. Lots of people on laptops taking advantage.

I settled down there, had some bread, and watched two cute German girls, the adds, and anything else that passed by until about midnight, when I drifted off to sleep.

Day 2

Money: $11.10

Sleep: 7.5 hours (Something unintelligible) Gardens, 5 hours Birrarung Mann (I’m not sure of this. Peter’s handwriting is completely abhorrent).

Food: 9 slices of bread with spreads, 1.5 plates of Chinese food.

Strangest Thought: Hitler standing at the plate, ready to bat, playing baseball with kittens being catapulted instead of baseballs being thrown.

Up Next: Day 3