The Reluctant Neighbourhood

When it comes down to it, a neighbourhood is a grouping of people who live in separate units gathered together in one place.

This is what my Eastern Home is shaping up to be. There were so many people there this weekend that a few units drove through and left. 

(Having found no space available that was large enough for them.)

There were the usual few, including my one “canary;” meaning if he is still there, then it’s okay to be there for the weekend at least. He’s been there for a year, or so I’ve heard.

A couple were large and wondrous looking coach RVs. Others were older models who had long since seen better days, and then there were the other vehicles: Vans, cars, pickup trucks.

Everyone seemed to know that this place would be okay, that you would not be harassed here . . . for now.

One such man living in a van was a man who was, shall we say, a year shy of being eligible for a government pension who had recently run out of unemployment benefits. 

He was and is still finding it hard to get a job, nobody wants to hire someone with that much life experience it seems, or so he said. Everybody has a story, they say.

I know that Stampede is on (a large and famous festival, the largest this city has every year) and so more tourists are coming.

The true test of if this is truly things to come will come in winter (if we are all still allowed to be here by then).

Winter is always the gauge of those who are here by sheer will (or blockheaded stubbornness as is my case) or those who are here by no other option. 

This place that has become my stop in my Eastern Home has become my true gauge of the local economy. 

It is a 60,000 square foot big box retail space in a large big box mall area. It should be filled by something, yet it has been empty since winter.

I still find it funny that the parking lot lights come on at 4pm and don’t shut off till mid morning.

I will still do what I always do, for I can do no less . . . keep trudging onward. It just seems that there are more and more people trudging on alongside me.

As always: Keep your head up, your attitude positive, and keep moving forward!