Campers

The usual high volume of traffic you generally see on King Street was no where in sight as I headed downtown yesterday

I avoided the central business district deadzone and instead took a little stroll down the bike path that runs through the downtown area.

Soon I was at the homeless camp under the South Street overpass.

I think it is really cool that the city has set up porta-potties and dumpsters to keep the place sanitary. This virus bullshit has been a real burden on the homeless. I remember years ago when I was freshly de-institutionalized, I really had no where to go as various incidents in the past had made family and friends reluctant to help me much until I could demonstrate that I was making serious progress on my addictions and mental health issues. In the meantime, I was staying at a place called The Grove Street Inn, which was the sort of place where you don't have to pay anything to stay there. It was also where they kicked us out early in the morning and we couldn't come back until late in the afternoon.

It was in that manner that I learned first hand what it is like to spend the whole day on the street with no place to go. It becomes a kind of lifestyle that revolves around libraries, coffee shops and restaurants, public restrooms and parks. Nowadays, all those places except the parks are inaccessible. The complete absence of public toilets is the worst hardship for the street folk, so I was glad to see that these portable facilities have been set up. Hopefully, Amherst will soon do the same.

The homeless encampment is actually somewhat arty with some cool murals painted on the stone walls.

Down by the Mill River overpass, I saw this graffiti in support of the President's re-election.

It was repeated nearby, although someone added a prefix.

Here is something scrawled on the path that is not only non political, but poetry by Dylan Thomas that is quite appropriate for these times.