Relief
From Summer’s Heat…
Living
on the Streets
When
your life is delegated to the streets,
as
a permanent residence,
finding
relief from Winter’s Grip and Summer’s excessive heat
become
real challenges as we do not have homes to go to to
get
out of it. You learn to become resilient, self-reliant,
and
adaptable in order to live, BREATHE, and continue
to
move forward, in whatever capacity that may be.
Being
forced to live on the streets for so long, I cannot
weigh
which is worse, trying to find cooling relief
in
the sizzling heat of Summer,
or
some warmth in the freezing Winter. Both of which offer
up
a host of challenges to contend with. But it is much easier
to
find warmth, than it is to cool off in the excessive heat,
which
you find impossible.
Just
some of the challenges the excessive heat poses to
those
of us without homes; movement and breathing are
the
ones hardest hit with the heat. As the heat becomes
more
like living on the inside of an oven left on all
day
at 500* degree temperatures, it makes it harder to breathe,
and
move about, because the heat is so very draining and exhaustive.
But
allows for better movement in the body, as it loosens the joints.
Though,
it has a nasty tendency to cause fluid build-up
and
swelling through your extremities,
which
makes it more challenging to move.
Waves
upon waves of heat flows over you like an ocean.
The
pressure of the heat has a heaviness that cooler weather does not.
The
air feels much heavier in the exhaustive heat of Summer than in
Winter,
where
the air is crisp and easier to breathe. In the Summer,
the
heat feels like a thick blanketed shawl wrapped tightly
around
your body, while the cooler temperatures of Winter
releases
heat and the air is much lighter and freer.
But
the cold temperatures make it harder to
move
through your joints, because they
become
tight and stiff in the cold air.
Having
to use the restroom, especially during the night,
is
much more difficult in the Summer’s heat, due to the
damp/soaked
clothing from perspiring so much, whereas in the
Winter,
your clothes slide easily off to change or
use
the restroom.
Getting
any rest during the Summer heat is a real challenge,
since
the nights do not cool off much, if any.
And
when you are too hot, sleep just doesn't happen, or if it does,
very
restless and leaves you even more tired come morning.
The
heat drains you of all your energy and leaves you feeling listless.
Food
storage is nonexistent in the high heat of Summer.
Food
doesn't keep in the heat. Fruit and produce goes
bad
in just minutes, while in Winter…. It will last a little while,
allowing
you to get to it while it is still good. You end up wasting
what
little money you have on food, only to find it no good
just
shortly after purchase because of the heat.
And
being on the streets, you do not have a safe place to store,
prepare
and cook foods. You have to rely on what is
already
made, and then you have to consume it immediately,
or
you might as well dump your money in the trash,
because
that is where the food goes.
The
worst thing about having to live on the streets,
especially
during the hot summer months,
are
the insects that come out en mass when it is warm.
Things
you have never seen before, or read about,
but
find them assaulting you day-in, day-out.
and
coming out really heavy starting in the early evening,
swarming
you through the night, and slightly
lessening
through the morning to mid-afternoon.
On
the plus side, though… I am so grateful to be on the streets
here
in the Bay Area, where the winds are cleaner
(that
is unless smokers are around, making it
impossible
to breathe anything akin to clean, fresh air),
and
not the harsh, rough, highly abrasive sand
papery
air that the desert air is.
Desert
air always feels like moving and breathing
through
liquid sand paper at every moment,
not
to mention living inside of a furnace.
And
the summer heat is a few degrees cooler…
Being
on the streets could be worse, if I were not
residing
everywhere and nowhere
here
in the San Francisco Bay Area.
