Relief From Summer's Heat...

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.