I first went camping, when I was a Boy Scout. I learned how to sleep in a sleeping bag, and to sleep on the ground. One must use their past experiences throughout life, if one wants to do well. Being homeless and sleeping on the ground is kind of like camping. Especially, if you use that as a frame of reference.
When the winter shelter closed the first of April, it did so, because the general thought was that by April the weather would be warm enough at night for one to sleep outside if needed. Of course, that arbitrary date does not always coincide with nature, so the first few weeks outside were pretty cold at night. One of my homeless friends told me I could stay with him and his friend. There was safety in numbers. One of the rules of being homeless is never reveal where you are sleeping, because you don't want to ruin it for other homeless people, especially if it is a good place. Needless to say though, it was a place that protected us from the rain, and we only had a couple of times where our lives were threatened. My friend got a sleeping bag for me, and he also carried some steak knives for protection. We only needed them the couple of times our lives were threatened. The difference though between camping and being homeless was that we slept on concrete, which was a little hard on the bones. So, sleep is a bit of a misnomer. I didn't sleep much at night. I slept more in the library during the day.
Another part of sleeping outside is that you always need to know where your stuff is. I had all of my things in my backpack, which I got from the Army/Navy Store. The other two guys hid their packs during the day. They got robbed. I kept my backpack with me. So, I didn't get robbed. They were a little suspicious of that. The other downside to where we were was that it was pretty close to some railroad tracks, and the trains would come by pretty much all the time. I tried to block them out, but it was pretty tough.
Thankfully, that place found out that we were there, so we had to move. I was taken in by another group of guys, and we slept closer into downtown. It was kind of amazing that we slept on concrete very close to a street, but no one bothered us. If anyone looked beyond a hedge, there we were. Hiding in plain sight. There was a custodian at one building who knew we were there, but he didn't seem to care. I slept better there than the first place. It still wasn't a bed, but I felt safe.
Another homeless friend got a motel room and invited me there. I stayed there a few nights in an actual bed until his money ran out from his disability check, and I was back on the street. As I have said before, the homeless community is just that. A community. They watch out for each other. I would not recommend it for everyone, but it would be nice if everyone volunteered at a shelter or some other community project, just to get the feel of what it is like. Some people see the homeless as pariahs on the community, but they are people just like you or me. They are looking to survive, and maybe get a little respect from others. Is that too much to ask?
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