Streets of DC Chronicles Part I
As many of you know, I work a few blocks from the White House in the District of Columbia. Each work day I walk a little more than a half mile down 18th Street in the morning to work and back up it in the evening. On my mini mini-trek each day, I walk by anywhere from 3-5 to 20+ "homeless people." Needless to say, I've seen some memorable things in my 2 years walking this route in DC.
A couple of weeks ago while walking up 18th street I noticed two homeless guys in the middle of the sidewalk yelling at each other. As I got closer, I realized one had taken the street light cover (about a foot long and 6 inches wide plate of metal) and was screaming at the other guy who had his fists up. Their screams were intelligible, but i was wearing my coat hood and a beanie, and were more insistent. The other homeless guys were yelling at the guys to stop the scuffle but refused to leave the steam vents they were perched on top of. As I walked by, the one with the vent actually whacked the other guy who was fighting him off with fisticuffs. Maybe they were trying to attract the attention of the cop on the corner as it was a cold night or one took the others spot on the steam vent.
Monday night, I was working on a paper at the office and walked by there again. The guys were cuddled up on their steam vents, one said good evening to me and i noticed the street light cover perched next to the street light it belonged to.
As many of you know, I work a few blocks from the White House in the District of Columbia. Each work day I walk a little more than a half mile down 18th Street in the morning to work and back up it in the evening. On my mini mini-trek each day, I walk by anywhere from 3-5 to 20+ "homeless people." Needless to say, I've seen some memorable things in my 2 years walking this route in DC.
A couple of weeks ago while walking up 18th street I noticed two homeless guys in the middle of the sidewalk yelling at each other. As I got closer, I realized one had taken the street light cover (about a foot long and 6 inches wide plate of metal) and was screaming at the other guy who had his fists up. Their screams were intelligible, but i was wearing my coat hood and a beanie, and were more insistent. The other homeless guys were yelling at the guys to stop the scuffle but refused to leave the steam vents they were perched on top of. As I walked by, the one with the vent actually whacked the other guy who was fighting him off with fisticuffs. Maybe they were trying to attract the attention of the cop on the corner as it was a cold night or one took the others spot on the steam vent.
Monday night, I was working on a paper at the office and walked by there again. The guys were cuddled up on their steam vents, one said good evening to me and i noticed the street light cover perched next to the street light it belonged to.
2 comments:
In my somewhat sheltered existence living in the Capital city of North Dakota, I’m both restless thinking that the rest of the World is passing me by, and grateful that I don’t have to experience those things that are less than appealing in other cities. As a 43 year old North Dakotan, I have never seen a homeless person, accept on TV. I know intellectually that there must be some in this State but they are never visible to the eye. What strikes me as really strange is that there are any homeless people in Washington DC at all. Doesn’t the United States Capital city have places for them to live and to get trained for reemployment or something? It’s hard for me to comprehend that we as nation could let that happen to another human being. Call me naive, but it just seems so wrong that it would be so.
Excellent, love it!
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