Humans of Hamilton #4

Conversation with a man with a walker this morning.

Man - It's hump day!

*I misunderstood what he said and replied...

Me: Maybe later

Man - No, hump day..

Me: Oh, I thought you said it was a hot day.

Then he lit a cigarette and proceeded to ask me what I was waiting for.

Me: A bus

Man - What bus?

Me: Errr...the number 4.

Man - Ah, the Bayfront.

Me: Yep *checks phone for time*

He then coughed up a lung and walked away.

Humans of Hamilton #3

Door to nowhere.

The past few days the street activity seems to have picked up. Maybe it's the cooler weather that makes people desperate. There's a man now sleeping on the sidewalk not far from my bus stop in the morning. I've seen the dancing man a few times, still dancing, outside of the Salvation Army building. There was a girl running around asking people for bus tickets. Homelessness is quite visible in this city. Some people are clearly on drugs, while other probably should be. Old, young, male, female - they've all got a story, a reason for being there. The moment it gets real for someone like me - an outsider looking in - is when you recognize a face in the crowd.

It was the Fall of 2009, and I was working at a coffee shop. We started having live music on the patio that year. There was a teenaged boy sitting alone and through my boss's son, I learned that he was homeless. I believe he was 17, and had left home for all of the usual reasons, unsuitable parents, drug use, alcohol, that sort of stuff. You could tell the kid had a good heart, but was stuck in crappy circumstances. He had made mistakes, lots of mistakes - but we all wanted to help the kid because he was young and it was getting colder. He used to sleep between two condo buildings at night, and as soon as we opened in the morning he was there for his morning coffee. My boss would give him food, and even brought him a plate of thanksgiving dinner leftovers from his home. We all wanted to see him get off the street and get a job.

I last saw him either late 2009 or early 2010 and he had a job at McDonald's or something and was living in an apartment with some guy. I always just sort of figured he was doing okay. Then I just never thought of him again...until yesterday.

Yesterday, between the girl selling her beaded jewellery and the mohawked skateboarder with the cardboard sign and a dirty upside down hat, I saw a guy who looked just like him. He was more chiseled - less of a baby-face than before, but the smile was his. But he had a twitchiness to his movements that wasn't there before. A sure sign of drug-use. His clothes looked okay, but too big. It broke my heart to see him again in a place like this. I wanted to pull him over and get him onto the bus with me and take him away from all of this. But I know I can't help him. I saw him again today and I wondered if he noticed me, would he even remember me. I know he's in his 20s now and is in charge of his own life, but I really hope he eventually gets off that street. I don't want to see him shivering in January.

Bus Woes

This sign is a lie...sort of.

I'd file this as a "Humans of Hamilton" except this isn't so much about the people I encountered, but more about my own issues with various public transit systems yesterday. Those of you who also take the bus on a regular basis will (maybe)  understand my frustrations.

My day began rather smoothly. Perhaps too smoothly. I'm housesitting for a few weeks, turning my two bus commute into three (each way). I caught my first bus at the downtown terminal and travelled to the train station to catch my usual bus. This was flawless. It was the third bus were things got dicey.

My third and final bus stop is a minute up the road from where I'm dropped off. I usually wait a few minutes, and then I'm at my office by 8:30 A.M. But when I got to the stop there were signs posted on the pole stating that my stop has been temporarily moved. First off, I didn't know where because I'm unfamiliar with the side streets in the area. I asked a guy and he didn't know either. So I walked in the direction I thought was correct and found it. Only on this post the sign said that the stop was temporary starting at 10 A.M. At this point I'm down the street, and around the corner from my usual stop. I see my bus coming, so I start to run, but I hit a red light and have to wait to cross. I sprinted to catch it but missed it. I believe my reaction was "FUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKKKKKKKKK!"

So I quickly email my co-worker to tell her I missed the bus and would be 15 minutes late. It's not a big deal, but I hate waiting. This also meant I'd be working 15 minutes later. This sucked especially because it was a Friday. When I looked at the signs on the post more closely I noticed that it did say "10 A.M." in very tiny, messy printing that was hard to see because it was wrapped around a pole. Really, big block letters would have been helpful!

The reason for the bus confusion was caused by a huge street party event called "Super Crawl." The artist community on this one street hold regular "Art Crawl" nights, where there's art, music, and food. Once a year they hold a huge event that shuts down a huge section of a busy road. I'm all for supporting the arts, but the bus detours threw me off!

My day at work was pretty good. I went out for lunch with my co-workers and got to know a few more people in the office. It was nice feeling like I belong in my new situation. My co-worker John, who is my bus guru called my desk to tell me how to get home on the detoured bus. I got on and talked to the driver - and paid special attention to the street signs so I wouldn't miss my stop. Again, I got on the bus with no problems whatsoever.

When I arrived at the station my third and final bus of the day was sitting there with it's doors open still. I walked towards it, but drove off before I could get on. I tried waving down the driver, but it left without me. So again, I was waiting - this time for 20 minutes.

The bus arrived and was supposed to have left the station by 5:40 P.M., but the driver got off the bus and didn't get back on until 5:50. So basically I was half an hour behind my usually schedule at this point. I was mad. I was tired, grumpy, and had no tolerance for the "basic bitches" sitting behind me. I wanted to tell them to shut the fuck up so we could just ride in silence. Before heading to the house, I stopped at a coffee shop for a hot chocolate and a piece of cheesecake because after the commute from hell, I felt I'd earned dessert before dinner.

Humans of Hamilton #2

Thoughts from the bus 

Flashing lights from three police cruisers. Officers standing on the street wearing blue gloves. Crime scene?

I noticed some street art I'd never seen before. I want to take pictures of them. I tell myself that I'll go back there on foot some day, but I probably won't.

At the bus stop the street people are more active than normal. Two punks sit with cardboard signs and an upside down baseball cap. A man with long red dreadlocks literally gives them the shoes off his feet. He has another pair in his backpack.

A older woman wrapped in a blanket asks me for money. I have none. My bus pass is all I have. I tell myself not to be weakened by their sad eyes. I have nothing to spare. The bleeding heart next to me in line gives in.

A flock of pigeons battle it out for a discarded pizza crust on the street. They flap and swarm, pecking at each other trying to win the battle. I cover my head hoping not to get caught in the crossfire.

A man with a Jamaican accent dances in front of a store front playing loud hip hop music.

A girl stands on a the corner holding a shiny new electric guitar. She looks like she's trying to sell it. I feel terrible for this thought, but I wonder if she stole it....she probably stole it.

Police are riding up and down the streets on bikes. I wonder if they hate their jobs - having to pass so many idle people begging on the sidewalk.

A girl jogs by. I think she's a brave soul for jogging down this street.

I get on the bus and leave this place for another day.

See you tomorrow, Hamilton.

Humans of Hamilton #1

I know I've been rather quiet over the past few weeks since I announced I got a new job, lots has changed in my life and for the better! I don't really have time to get into every detail of what I've been up to, but if you like photos I have some on Instagram. Follow, like, comment...whatever you want. I went to Niagara Falls, a peach festival and a rib fest!

The purpose of tonight's post is to reflect on my first week of A) Working in another city and B) Taking multiple buses to get to said city. Not so much a narrative of the trip, but people I've observed in my new surroundings.

I know not many of my readers are familiar with Canada, particularly the part of Canada that I live and work in, so I will give you a bit of an overview. I got a job working as a writer and content coordinator for the digital division of a huge media company. This is an amazing opportunity for me, so nothing was going to stop me from going for this - not even the fact that the office is located in a semi-crappy neighbourhood in a less than affluent city.

I've grown up in a very clean and conservative suburban city. While my politics are progressive, and I tend to go against the grain in terms of my views and social status, I'm still very sheltered. That said, please don't take offence to what I'm going to write, these lists are meant to be humourous and light. I understand there is a bigger issue when it comes to homelessness, poverty and mental illness and I don't mean to degrade anyone. I'm just noting these things as I observe them as an outsider.

Humans of Hamilton might be weekly thing, but maybe not. I'm not making any commitments. Here is my list from my first week of commuting to work:

1. Two teenaged girls in matching leggings and similarly dyed hair asked me if I knew where they could find a clinic. We were standing near a hospital.

2. A rather large woman on the bus sat near the front, dressed all in black and had wild red hair worn up with a sparkly headband. She wore make-up that would rival Mimi from Drew Carey.

3. A young woman was crossing the street just singing to herself. Just singing like no one was around.

4. A teenaged girl wearing a very fake/cheap looking hair piece/extensions designed to create a huge bump on top of her head. Picture Elvira.

5. A young woman with a shaved head and bandana selling homemade jewellery off a blanket on the street. She was there two days in row.

6. Numerous shirtless men walking around with unkept hair and cigarettes hanging out of their mouths.

So many idol people in parks and alleyways - smoking or bumming smokes. There's a beautiful park in the centre of downtown with a huge, opulent fountain. I'm sure when the steel mills were booming and the city was thriving this was a symbol of that. But now that fountain is probably where the homeless bathe and the pigeons poop.