When I am bored I give myself mental challenges. Nine times out of ten I achieve nothing.
Today is a good day, I live in a suburb that happens to have a lot of homeless people. A lot.
People think about the how – the reason, and they think about the solution – give them a bed.
I’m thinking about the place they choose to be. It is the same place every night, and it is chosen.
Safety of course is paramount. Being public matters. But perhaps rather than random events leading to an eventual place, what if the place was the destination all along, starting years ago?
When I first arrived in St Kilda, I recognised it from my future, and I have lived here three times so far. You could argue the same thing for me – my subconscious will keep contriving to return me here.
Nostalgia is very real, and recognising the future is at least real in my understanding of the world. Either work for this.
Now I need to work out why the streets, and not just the suburb in general. There may be more to the visibility or vulnerability aspects . Perhaps, just perhaps they are trying to reconcile a trauma they associate with the place, by publicly demonstrating their pain?
But the point is that place has power. It may be more of the story than recognised.