#SEstreetlife: The Snowstorm

Aawww... the gently falling snow looks so beautiful in this photo, doesn't it?  I was sitting in the snack bar of a nice, warm, Target store when I shot this photo, in December of 2018.  This is Richmond, Virginia, on West Broad Street, near Libbie, the west side of the city.  The lame part of this photo is that I was homeless, and when Target closed three hours early, because of the snow, I had to go outside for the night.  

I hiked through 4-5 inches of snow, while it was still coming down hard, to my sleeping spot, about 100 yards away.  I slept on this tiny little porch of an abandoned Bar-B-Q restaurant, that's it in this photo.  There was a tiny area, then three steps down.  I had two sleeping bags, two moving blankets, and 5 or 6 layers of cardboard boxes underneath me for insulation.  

The snow kept falling well into the night.  It wasn't a super cold night, it was about 25 degrees, I think.  I've survived two or three nights in the 11 to 12 degree range, two in Virginia and one in North Carolina, in a tent.  That's a few degrees warmer than the freezer in your refrigerator.  Imagine craling into your freezer, and spending the night.  Yeah, not fun.  

Unfortunately, my shoes and feet got all wet from walking through the snow.  I spent 17 1/2 hours huddled in this little area freezing my ass off, with bare feet, under my pile of blankets.  Then I had to put my wet shoes on my bare feet, and hike to a CVS, hoping they would be open.  The fast food places I usually went in the mornings didn't open, because Richmond isn't used to big snowstorms.  So I hiked up to CVS, hoping they would be open, with my bare feet, in wet, frozen shoes, and marched right into their restroom.  I dried my shoes and warmed up with the hand dryers for about 20 minutes.  Then I caught a bus to the library, I think, to warm up for the day.  

Later that afternoon, I went back to my usual McDonald's.  This is the patio of Mickey D's, and you can see the 10-11 inches of snow from the storm piled up on the benches.  Homeless life isn't all glamor.  Heh, heh.  Shit, it isn't glamorous at all.  Dealing with rain and snow while homeless fucking sucks balls.  Big fucking donkey balls.  Big fucking donkey balls with festering, oozing green sores.  I mean it REALLY sucks.  It's fucking miserable in the winter.  Cold rainy days between 35 and 40 degrees are actually the worst, dealing with 25 degrees and snow is actually a little easier.  But 17 1/2 hours outside in 25 degrees and 10-11 inches of snow was a rough night.  I wasn't sure I was going to survive.  I just tried not to freak out, and stay as quiet and warm as possible.  The abandoned restaurant has been torn down, and is now a Chase bank, I just checked the place on Google Maps.  It's right by the farthest west Pulse bus stop. 

 This is the time and temperature sign right by the McDonald's I went to nearly every morning, while I stayed on that little porch in the winter of 2018-19.  This wasn't the day of the snowstorm, just one of the many mornings that were well below freezing.  In times like that, you just try to stay alive day after day, hoping life will get better somewhere down the road.  This is why I don't bitch about the occasional 35-40 degree nights in L.A. (not very much, I still bitch sometimes).  #SEstreetlife, #steveemigphotos