In the days following my return to Maine, the most important task was to complete the Travel Report, which would detail all the days of the preceding year. Since I worked every day, then every day would have to be accounted for. This was a much longer task than it needed to be.
Although all the days are listed in the blog, foolishly, I did not list the corresponding day of the week. This combined with the fact that no post was published on the same day it describes (some, being published many days after their associated days), made matching the posts to days of the week particularly difficult. There are probably still errors in it, but for now, it is as close to accurate as I could do. It took a good seven days to complete it. Here it is...
A LIVING MAGAZINE AND HOMECOMING
June 21, 2015 to June 21, 2016
Feel free to download the PDF above (choose "download" at he top right of the page). Each daily post is linked to the numbers running down the far right column (1-367). It was a quite trip to go back through each post again.
I worked in a variety of different places around the South Portland and Portland areas, including Starbucks on Congress Street, the Portland Public Library, and even Congress Square Park on one day...
Bought lunch at my favorite place on Congress Street: Sun Oriental Market.
The whole lunch was less than $6.00, a great option for budget-minded folks.
Ate at Congress Square Park. The park even has free Wi-Fi!
I've also used the South Portland Public Library and Deb's dining room table a couple of times. The string of great weather that started in Eastern Massachusetts for me has lasted - with only a couple minor interruptions - through the last two weeks. Storms blew up on a couple afternoons and rain is usually short-lived.
On one of my walks back over the Casco Bay Bridge to South Portland from Portland, I saw this guy...
Looks pretty comfortable. No idea if it was a nap or a camp site.
The sight caused me to consider how Portland is with respect to street life compared to the other New England towns and cities. Anecdotally, I have seen more "panning" (holding signs on the side walk or at intersections) and "sitters" (folks with no place to go during the day, sitting along the streets), than any other city except for Boston. Even Cambridge and Arlington (where I spent the final days of this Journey) wasn't as obviously homeless as Portland, Maine.
Compared with when I left, I'd say Portland is slightly better off, but that is a guess. What I've learned from the very many other cities and towns I've seen is that though there are many homeless folks out there, very few of them are actually shelterless. In the South, Midwest and West, missions take care of most people, in the Northeast it is shelters. The people who truly have no where to sleep are often mentally disabled or mentally ill. Very few of them choose to sleep in doorways or on park benches.
I think the same could be said of the Portland population of street people. Let's define street people in this context as those without a house or apartment, and without a job. They usually have a place to sleep, but no private space to call their own. What I have tried to emphasize in this blog is that, were these people able to find camp sites or even sleep spots as I did over 280 times in the last year, I think they could enjoy a more meaningful and private experience. In most cases that I have observed, people consider themselves permanent residents of the street and are not interested in finding privacy.
These folks have mostly given up the idea of having private time, or they simply enjoy being around the other people in their community. They truly do have a community--complete with romances, disputes, financial dealings, partnerships, social obligations, and plenty of drama. That is their normal existence, in the same way that people who pay rent or mortgages and hold down steady jobs have romances, disputes, financial dealings, partnerships, social obligations, and plenty of drama.
Interestingly, the street people seem to have even more drama. My hypothesis for this is that they are in positions to have more problems societally, socially, interpersonally and personally because of the nature of their lifestyles. They are simply more at risk for these things. But additionally, I think that they enjoy the distractions of this drama, though they might never admit it.
I have shown throughout the last year, that a person with a regular source of income, who wants to enjoy a more dignified life, complete with privacy and less drama could save money by sleeping outside and working during the day. If rent for an apartment is $800 a month (let's say), then in ten months $8,000 could be saved toward a mortgage, land, security deposit on an apartment, etc...
It can be done without "living" on the street, nor submitting to that community. Being without a home does not need to be a "problem" at all. People who are able to be organized and judicial about living for a temporary amount of time in a Nomadic way could certainly find an exciting and rewarding way to live. Younger people would probably benefit the most from this kind of thing. Thankfully, there will soon be a manual published as a guide to this by...oh, you know who. Ha!
I continued on across the bridge...
On the next day, I headed back into Portland to work again. This time I walked up State Street to Longfellow Square...
I did as much work as I could at Starbucks and then headed back to South Portland, but first enjoying a bit of summer salsa...
Party in Congress Square.
Bummer.
The next three shots show a tanker moored way out on the island side of Casco Bay, off Portland's Eastern Promenade...
Look at the left hand side for a small red dot on the horizon.
Closer.
She's pretty large! Notice that the ship is empty, floating far above the waterline.
It was still fairly early evening. I wanted to go and see if an old private spot I'd discovered was still around. I headed down through the Knightville section of South Portland to Thomas Knight Park. In 2011 I'd spend many days around that area, exploring. I even used the spot in question as the location for my character, Chance, in the very short story, Chance in Plain Sight. Now I was back and eager to see if it had changed...
Looking down the embankment.
Chess tables under the bridge.
When no one was around, I stepped over the granite wall and made my way down the embankment, then across the rocks along the water's edge to the place...
It wasn't bad. All the wood I'd stored there was still standing against the trees that shelter the spot. It isn't large enough for a tent (although it might be excavate-able for such a purpose). I would keep it in mind as a possible sleep spot.
The next day I worked most of the day at Deb's...
Later, I needed a break and headed into downtown South Portland. I bought some discount sandwich meat ends (which I would pay a different kind of price for), then on my way back, I saw a small break in the bushes along the path across from the Armory and Fire Station. I snuck in to find a whole bunch of possibilities for sleep spots. It was an ideal area in so many ways. There were multiple natural barriers to the actual spot I settled on. Yet, it is quite nice, being sheltered under a small but full elm tree, and best of all abuts a 300 foot stretch of beach, facing the Fore River and the West End of Portland across that river--it is the sunset direction. Strangely, there were no places around the small cove where people would be able to see down to my beach, except for the parking lot of a small car dealership and repair shop...
I was very psyched to find a relatively safe and private spot so close to the center of South Portland. It was only a mile away from Deb's, half a mile from the Mill Creek Park area (which had my bank, the grocery stores, and library near it), and only about two miles from downtown Portland. It was a major score, one that I wished I'd known about or thought to look for back in 2011.
Now I had a spot to use when I was done at Deb's (around July 14th), and a base of operations for whenever I was in the Portland area. I drew all kinds of messages and symbols in the sand as I thought about all that was coming up...
A diagram of the US, with my pathway around it.
The shape of the overall path I took for the last 20 months
resembles an infinity symbol (hard to see here).
It took another couple of days to complete the Travel Record. There was some rain, and I had finally run out of money from not writing here at the blog. My plan is to spend the next two weeks (July 1-14, 2016) helping Deb take care of the house and Buddy (our three-legged cat) while she is in Germany.
I write this on the last day of June. The day before, we brought Buddy into the vet for a recheck. He is in very bad shape. There is probably cancer in his tongue, he drools constantly, and he can't clean himself. This is a really hard thing to watch as he has always been very fastidious. For some reason (probably because he is a fighter and has an unusually strong desire to survive) he still has a strong appetite. But he is losing weight, regardless of how much he eats. He is nearing the end of his life. Deb and her kids have been so supportive for him and love him dearly, as do I of course (I took care of him from 2003 to 2014, when Deb took over, allowing me to go on my cross country adventures).
I'd always wanted to see him again of course, but was skeptical in the last couple of months. It was just another circle being completed to be with him after I'd returned to Maine. It will be a truly sad day when he is finally laid to rest.
The visit to the vet cost all the rest of my money, and now - just like I knew would happen - I am back in Maine and unable to eat. So, I will continue to publish here at the blog, planning the Maine Journey (the next Journey) and ask that if you are still enjoying the blog, awaiting the next Journey, and are able to send a few dollars to help me eat, it certainly would be appreciated. It is turning into another period of hunger.
Thank you!
Hey Brother - you have my thoughts and prayers and sympathy .... Buddy sounds like a real gem of a cat. Wish I could reach out and cure - but old age is something no being can escape. Wish I could give you one of mine to help ease when the time comes - having my brood helped a lot with Tiggers. We have some real gems too. PM any time Bro
ReplyDeleteWell, he's my boy. True that old age has no cure. He's a trooper to be sure. I will not be getting another pet until I have some financial security--as great companions as they can be. :-) Thanks!
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