It’s raining today. It’s going to rain all day and all night. Me [I live in a house] - I’m going inside, but you? You live outside, remember? So, maybe you can just go to a shelter and stay dry. Actually, no you can’t. You have to be out of the shelter by 7:30am along with your 400+ temporary shelter-mates, rain or shine. How ’bout a library? Nope. Not an option. Okay, maybe you just find a doorway, or some steps, or maybe a bridge underpass. S**t! None of this sounds like fun.
Face it. Some days it’s going to rain while you’re out here. I’d be wary of going under a bridge to stay dry. You weren’t there first, and the folks that were aren’t very welcoming. Seeking shelter under a bridge is a great way to get your ass kicked, get mugged, raped if you’re a woman, or killed. Beware of the people under the bridge.
You’re just going to have to tough it out. There’s going to be a downside to each and every rainy day. Here it is. You’re going to get wet. So are your clothes. So are your shoes. So are your socks. No problem, just change clothes, right? Wrong. You’re homeless and you don’t have a spare pair of anything. By the way, you’re going to stay wet long after the rain has stopped.
Going barefoot! Good idea! Not.
Staying wet starts to get to you after a while–especially your feet. No matter what the temperature, your feet feel cold and they get swollen. And you have to keep walking so that you don’t get arrested for loitering. (Funny how that works! I could stand in the same spot all day long without a cop even noticing me, but you can’t – you’re homeless, and cops don’t like homeless people. They like to arrest them.)
You can feel the blisters starting to form. Your shoes, which weren’t the right size to begin with because you got them from a mission, start to get really heavy. It’s a labor to walk. S**t, this hurts. Don’t worry. After you’ve been out here for a while the blisters will turn to calluses. Today, your feet and legs will just get numb and they’ll stay that way as long as your shoes, socks and pants are wet–usually a couple of days.
Your pants are wet up to your knees. Splash! That’s what you get for walking too close to the road. Drivers love to splash homeless. Now you’re soaked. S**ks being homeless on a rainy day.
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