Homeless dude and Rosemary
Yesterday I went out for coffee with Rosemary. We had agreed to meet because I happen to own a book that she wanted to read (Terry Pratchett's Thud! as a matter of fact) and we figured since it's been, oh, well, about two months since we've seen each other, meeting merely to exchange a book seemed a little stupid. So, our plans included said coffee at a Starbucks. I made an eager attempt to not be late, since the TTC generally doesn't agree with my plans. For once in my life, though, the buses and subways worked out just right, and I found myself waiting at the appointed meeting place about half an hour early.
Here, a man approached me and asked if I would like a TTC token, only two dollars. Save Fifty cents. He looked a little dishevelled, but was coherent, which is more than can be said about most people I see begging in the streets. He even started cracking jokes "I accept all major credit cards, cheques..." It was actually pretty funny, in a sad sort of way. Eventually he wandered off, and Rosemary turned up. We walked to starbucks, found it packed, so walked to another starbucks, and, well, taht one was packed to, so we walked a little further to another starbucks and it was packed, too, but it had an empty patio. Perhaps it was empty because it was cold outside and it looked like rain, but it was better than nothing.
Inside, who should we meet but the same homeless dude from outside the subway station. Having held a breif discussion with him, he recognises me and says hello. He has just purchased a sandwhich and a coffee, and departs.
Rosemary and I take up station outside in the cold with our drnks and proceed to talk about everything from doomsayers and the end of the world to the ugly dog across teh street and how only three out of four people wash their hands after using the washroom. Conversation of this random nature continues for a while. At one point, it started to rain, so we moved to a table with an umbrella, but otherwise the weather didn't really disturb us any.
Regardless, eventually the cold and rain catches up to us and we realise that we should probably go home, since it was getting late, dark, and more cold. Walking back to the subway station, you would never guess who we run into. Homeless dude. I knew that he was actually in need of some food and wasn't just about to run off and spend him money on something that would keep him from getting back on his feet, so I didn't feel any resignations in giving him some change I had left over from the coffee shop. Plus I sort of felt I owed it to him, after seeing him so often in one day.
And really, thats the story of homeless dude and rosemary. With emphasis on the homeless dude, because that was the more anecdotal part of the story.
Here, a man approached me and asked if I would like a TTC token, only two dollars. Save Fifty cents. He looked a little dishevelled, but was coherent, which is more than can be said about most people I see begging in the streets. He even started cracking jokes "I accept all major credit cards, cheques..." It was actually pretty funny, in a sad sort of way. Eventually he wandered off, and Rosemary turned up. We walked to starbucks, found it packed, so walked to another starbucks, and, well, taht one was packed to, so we walked a little further to another starbucks and it was packed, too, but it had an empty patio. Perhaps it was empty because it was cold outside and it looked like rain, but it was better than nothing.
Inside, who should we meet but the same homeless dude from outside the subway station. Having held a breif discussion with him, he recognises me and says hello. He has just purchased a sandwhich and a coffee, and departs.
Rosemary and I take up station outside in the cold with our drnks and proceed to talk about everything from doomsayers and the end of the world to the ugly dog across teh street and how only three out of four people wash their hands after using the washroom. Conversation of this random nature continues for a while. At one point, it started to rain, so we moved to a table with an umbrella, but otherwise the weather didn't really disturb us any.
Regardless, eventually the cold and rain catches up to us and we realise that we should probably go home, since it was getting late, dark, and more cold. Walking back to the subway station, you would never guess who we run into. Homeless dude. I knew that he was actually in need of some food and wasn't just about to run off and spend him money on something that would keep him from getting back on his feet, so I didn't feel any resignations in giving him some change I had left over from the coffee shop. Plus I sort of felt I owed it to him, after seeing him so often in one day.
And really, thats the story of homeless dude and rosemary. With emphasis on the homeless dude, because that was the more anecdotal part of the story.
posted by James @ 4:55 PM
2 Comments:
At 1:51 PM,
AnotherBigNerd said…
What kind of homeless dude can afford to eat at Starbucks? In my day as a poor student I couldn't afford a fancy foccacia bread and frappuchine. In my day we ate KD. And we didn't have this fancy milk and butter and ketchup. In my day we used water and just boiled the hell out of it over a hotplate in our basement apartment that was about as big and warm as a cardboard box.
My ex-girlfriend recently reminded me of the day I wanted a sandwich but only had EQUALITY chicken nuggets and 20 cents so I cooked the nuggets and went to school and bought two pieces of bread and made a sandwich taking advantage of the free condiments (tomatoes, onions, ketchup and mustard were my fruit and vegetables...where I got my vitamins).
But I paid my dues. I drank my no name 7-11 coffee with a big fat "My friend works here" discount with the hopes that one day I could afford to get a proper coffee or half caf mocha latte like those lucky people going to Starbucks. One day I can have a panini (when you're poor you don't eat anything that ends in INI because INI means small and small isn't filling).
Now I learn all I had to do was move to Toronto and hang around a subway station being grubby and selling things I found on the ground. Lucky SOB. I wish I was homeless.
At 7:24 PM,
James said…
That subway token got him two bucks, which was enough for the coffee, and he definitely had some other change. Homeless dude probably had more money that I did... Trust me, I wouldn't have gone to starbucks myself normally, I'm too poor. I cut back to two meals a day to save one third of my food budget. But this was important...
Also, KD is useless - it's too expenisve. What kind of student were you? A Bag of spagetti noodles costs less for the sheer number of meals you get out of it. Also, a ten kilogram bag of rice costs maybe five dollars.
EQUALITY meat is terrible, I'll give you that. But your average grocery store has in-store bulk packages of chicken burgers that are not sixty percept recycled newspaper for an equally low price. Ten bucks for fourteen chicken burgars full of white chicken meat goodness ain't bad.
And the best part is, you can spend your time reading with a hat infront of you outside a subway station and make the money you need to eat while studying! If you didn't live in residence and out on the street, you could easily save that much more money - kill two birds with one stone. Only, you'd be hard pressed to have anywhere to cook this food you could buy, so really, in the end, i think the best option is just to work your ass off in the summer, eat two meals a day and learn how to ration your spagetti and Aunt Jemima's pancake mix.
Post a Comment
<< Home