Hope on the horizon...?

It’s been a full week since I’ve left the shelter and moved into my own place. There’s a lot to report so away we go.

The actual day of moving was busy, starting at 6:30 on the bus so I could be at the rental office at 8. It was cool, but the temperature was supposed to reach into the mid 70’s in the afternoon.

Went through the paperwork and then asked the social worker for a lift downtown since I had time to kill before I was supposed to pick up the moving truck at my storage unit. Stopped into the Habitat for Humanity thrift store that had just opened at 9, to see if they had a bed I might buy. But although they don’t handle bedding there was a lot of other furniture to be had; my immediate problem being a limited budget I had to temper expectations, but I came across the first piece of furnishing I would need—a reclining chair. Held off purchasing it for the moment and made my way to the U-Haul center.

Interlude on the bus--a man was sitting in front of me, asking the driver if he should be on number 18 instead of the route we were currently on (19). She explained to him that we would eventually wind up at the place he was going—the county auxiliary court—but he asked her at least two more times.
He was conspicuous by what he was carrying—a ventriloquists dummy. He started manipulating and whispering to it but didn’t speak aloud again by the time my stop came around.

It took about an hour to clear the entire unit—this was a secondary storage place where the stuff I hadn’t gotten packed for the movers was stashed.

Originally I’d planned to head back to the shelter to get my belongings but instead decided to unload at the apartment.

Someone helping would’ve made things go much quicker but the upside was at least an elevator large enough to make things a bit easier. I’m on the second floor of an eleven story building with about 220 units and it was just a short distance from the elevator down the hall to my unit but it was midday and the elevator itself is incredibly slow.

(I’m in the end unit next to the fire stairs and I’ve discovered it’s much faster for me to walk down the one flight to the lobby than to wait.)

From across the street. My unit is on the far end

After getting everything unloaded and into the apartment I headed back to the shelter, with a stop on the way to pick up the chair. I certainly made an entrance in the UHaul truck as you don’t see many pulling into the parking lot at a homeless shelter. Said my goodbyes to the people I’d gotten to know well enough and the staff who’d been helpful while I’d been there. By the time I’d taken the truck back and caught the bus once more that day, it was 5pm. 12 hours since waking up and there was still work left to be done.

View from the front door

Kitchen

Bedroom

The recliner turned out to be a bargain. Note that it had been $50, then $35 then $25, but it also was 15% off!
Is it comfortable enough to sleep on? Not really. You’ll see that currently the ‘bed’ consists of a comforter stuffed with sheets and mattress pads on the floor. Even now it’s doubled over again like a stuffed linen burrito.

Leah, the social worker, showed up Wednesday with some donated items—clothing, canned goods, toiletries—that I honestly don’t really need. A lot of what I had boxed up was kitchen stuff, which you can see above and aside from the clothes I will probably return a lot of what she brought because I can’t in good conscience accept it when it could go to someone else who needs it.

There’s a community room on the first floor (right below me actually) and I was told that people leave items on one of the tables which are fair game for anyone to take. There was a microwave that I grabbed and cleaned up that works OK. I have a toaster a small coffee maker.

I hung up some towels to use as a makeshift shower curtain, but that’s just a short term solution.

So, first seven days in, what’s the verdict?

Pros:
location—on North Main St. with frequent bus service that stops right outside the lobby. Walking distance across the street to a shopping center with a discount grocery and easy bus access to other stores.
Laundry room on 2nd floor, just a few doors down.
reasonably quiet, no foot traffic in the hallway, walls are pretty thick.

Cons:
AC/heat unit not the greatest, but I have fans to get some circulation.
kitchen appliances are old and not that great.

But right now it’s a huge step up from living in a communal situation with 200+ other men. It’ll take a bit to become “home”, but it’s a start.

If you enjoyed this blog and can spare a couple of dollars, please contribute to my Go Fund Me page.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-ease-the-burden-of-unexpected-bills