This week in Poutine Talk:
Join Aviva Las Vegas this week in poutine talk as she waxes
poetic on "Dumpster Divers, Bum Markets and Squeegee kids,
oh my!" There is more to your neighbourhood than Starbucks:
so get out there an mingle babies!
THE HOOD:
When I moved to this city, 6 months ago this was the only
apartment that I could find that was in my price range and
hey, so
what if I was almost in the Alley, near the dumpsters. It
had high ceilings and a big closet. Not a problem all those
people rifling through the bins all night. We call them dumpster
divers, and they seem to be awfully busy.
Some of them are all suited up in dumpster diving gear, others
dressed like they are going to afternoon tea. They roam up
and down the alleys of our neighbourhoods pushing shopping
carts and sorting through cans, bottles and other recyclables.
They sell the other items they find in front of the liquor
store, making it possible to see the blouse or old porno magazines
you just threw away, for sale, cheap.
THE COFFEE HOUSE
The coffee house seems to have shifts. When I walk by in
the morning on my way to work, a bunch of old men and their
dogs are sitting outside on the terrace smoking their cigarettes.
At about ten a.m. the unemployed crowd comes around, and in
between that the office workers and freelancers shift comes
in.
I used to smoke and so I would sit outside and watch people
going by. Now am I one of those people going by watching them.
Later at night a crowd of gay men seem to converge, and finally
all the Asians in their trendy clothes and smoking cigarettes.
All the noodle houses and Sushi bars are full too.
When I used to sit there all the crack kids would come by
and ask for money or cigarettes. If you don't smoke these
people couldn't care less about you. I always used to give
out smokes, I was like the mother Theresa of the cigarette
world. I also used to give out money. Now I don't give out
anything, I am just plain nasty.
NEIGHBOURHOOD
As you wander farther down my street lies the park that is
shared by dog walkers since it is a dog run, but also by street
kids smoking crack, dressed like punks with thick rasta hair,
and big dogs. There is something comforting about the squeege
kids, even though I have never exchanged a word with them,
and don't drive a car. One of my friends threatened to run
over one, and the squegee kid spit on my friend.
A few block over is this huge bad ass high rise tower in
black glass that has never failed to remind me of Gotham city.
Across the Park is an old stone hospital that is falling
apart and run by nuns. In it is housed an all night center
of some sort for street youth, and a hospice for persons dying
of AIDS. On the corner of the street is a coffee shop with
a long outside terrace stretching along its side. People sit
out, year round, because you cannot smoke inside.
ON DUMPSTER DIVERS
I haven't yet discovered a person living in a dumpster. I
heard a story that a person in the United States was living
in a dumpster and they had stolen merchandise stashed there.
The police came and took the stuff away, but the dumpster
dweller ended up getting off because the police conducted
an illegal search and seizure. They grabbed the stolen stuff
from the dumpster without a warrant.
There is nothing like being woken up in the middle of the
night to the sounds of one of them rearranging the 200 or
more glass bottles in the shopping cart. Very little that
can be done about it though. One night woke up to the fact
that somebody had set something on fire in the dumpster in
the alley across the way. It was a very surreal moment. I
called 911 and the firemen came and put it out.
PEOPLE
After a while many of them become familiar to you. There
is one older well dressed lady and I find myself imagining
"is she rich, or is she just one of those people that can
really pick the treasures from the trash. One of those ladies
who find vintage flapper dresses at the Salvation Army and
turn around and sell them for a couple of hundred dollars
each at the high end Vintage store. Hmmm.
Recently I saw a man that had two young children with him
who stood by the dumpster and watched as he jumped in.
Sometimes they work in pairs, sometimes alone. They have
either a shopping or granny ,cart, a duffel bag or are on
bicycles with garbage bags attached
There is the lady who mutters to herself and gets very angry
if you will not give her a cigarette. I try to block her out
most of the time, because she is not someone you want singling
you out.
In front of the Supermarket is a tall one eyed beggar with
matted hair. One day a friend of mine pointed out that the
person we just passed begging in front of the drugstore is
only a child. We were unsure of what to do, and went back
and questioned the little boy on what he was doing on the
street. His answers were extremely evasive, and then suddenly
an almost cunning look came to his eye, and he said :"Hey
Joe: come over here," and the one eyed man reassured us that
he knew the boys mother and it is okay if he is on the street
as long as he get s home at a reasonable time. " Well then,
we thought, and walked along.
Then there is the lady who is rail thin and wears too much
makeup, reminiscent of a time gone by. Then again, did people
ever wear that much makeup? She wears clothes that accentuate
her thinness, carries branded shopping bags from upscale stores.
She looks like she smokes a lot of cigarettes. My friend who
has lived here longer than me and seems to know everyone,
told me that she went nuts when her daughter died, started
wearing her daughters clothes and still does. Don't they wear
out?
What about the huge man with the diabolical laugh, who walks
through the downtown streets and then perches himself on a
corner with two plush puppets that look like dogs and does
a nonsensical show for himself and delights in insulting people
under his breath as they go by if you do not give him money.
In the little mini park near my house, 3 short men sit and
drink. Their noses are red sinewy bulbs. They are always cheerful
in the morning and seem to delight in the fact that they do
not have to work and have the leisure to sit around and get
pissed at 11 am. I don't acknowledge them either, if I can
help it. They are drunk past the point of comprehension by
noon, and sometimes an ambulance comes to get them by 3.
STUFF
It is amazing how much stuff the dumpster divers find in
those alleys. I know not just because I can see them taking
stuff out of the dumpsters, but also because they set up small
markets at the corner in front of the liquor store. Here is
a list of some of the things you might find:
Old "Barbie" dolls in various states of undress and dismemberment,
shoes, jewelery, pieces of jewelery, appliances that I assume
don't work, or if they do, they're stolen. Old porno magazines
(ewwwww,) LP's, jackets, lingerie (double ewwwwww,) playing
cards, plush animals, old cups and saucers, just to name a
few items.
Not al of us want to buy stuff at the bum market. After all
it is from the garbage. Some of us don't mind. Far better
are the deals of the Japanese girls, selling their tiny trendy
little clothes from a blanket set up in the park. It does
help if you are a size 2, but keep your eyes out for the odd
chic and disposable Hermes scarf priced at .75 cents.
From the bum market continue on to the liquor store, just
a stones throw from the crack head/dog walkers park/ just
a short walk to the hospital, the mailbox, the bookstore,
the coffee shop., the market that sells rotting fruit, and
the alley that leads you to home.
-End-
Well, that's it for this week in poutine talk! Stay tuned,
stay beautiful, and most important of all get to know your
neighbourhood. There is more to it than Starbucks.
Ta-Ta, Stay Beautiful,
Kisses! Aviva Las Vegas
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