Thunder Bay is not exactly the richest city in Canada. There is plenty of poverty here, and often with poverty comes crazy drug abuse and homelessness. Thunder Bay is no exception.
Often on my adventures I encounter a special type of person I like to refer to as the “Cracked out old guy”. These older gentlemen are more frequently seen early in the day then at night. I believe this is because they don’t come out until well after midnight, and do not wear out until close to noon. They can usually be seen wearing some sort of ridiculous toque, sitting on their head at a crazy angle and not covering enough head to actually be of any use. The rest of their attire matches this. It too is worn oddly, and it never seems to be enough to adequately protect them from the current weather. They display some very odd characteristics, most notable is the strange turrets and schizophrenic-like behaviour. They twitch and move about sporadically, often waving their arms, and, if you listen closely, can be heard having entire conversations with themselves. They can also call out randomly. Be aware of this, because it is sometimes quickly followed by an indirect charge at you. I say indirect, because these people don’t seem to do the straight line thing very well.
Now to be fair, I will start using person instead of guy because I am sure there are cracked out old women too. I just have not seen any. In any case, I plan on starting a cracked-out old person counter. I’ll put the counter in the sidebar, and you can keep track of how many of these people I happen to encounter. I am at 5 right now.
I do not pass judgement on these people. I don’t know how they came to be the way they are. I personally have never tried to initiate any sort of conversation with a cracked-out old guy. I can’t imagine much would come of it. But, If you ever have the opportunity to talk to a more lucid one, and you have time, go ahead and try. You might come away with a very interesting life story.
28/01/2007 at 2:44 am Permalink
Do what i do
pretend you don’t speak English.
at the bus stop at the redeau center there are people that will come and talk to you, i often act like i dont speak english, if they know you wont understand them they dont bother, that or they think you are the cracked out person and will avoid you.
i had one man, about 50 years old come up and start yelling at me, i yelled back in yiddish, he looked at me like i was nuts and left.
the trick is to out crazy the crazy.
28/01/2007 at 9:20 pm Permalink
Hey…. I resemble that article…..
@Sarah… Bring it on!
02/02/2007 at 9:15 pm Permalink
but this is being judgemental.
and
apparently, just because someone is crazy means they on crack or some other drug?
okay, so people can’t just have a mental illness… the have to be “on drugs”
03/02/2007 at 2:51 am Permalink
Okay, I’ve been taking alot of hits over this post. I never said that they had done drugs. I only linked drug abuse, poverty, and homelessness together. Those are statistical facts. I did not say the old people were homeless, so again, I did not say these people had done drugs.
I wasn’t using the term crack seriously. I meant it in the same was as when you tell somebody to “lay off the crack” when they are acting way too odd. Most of these people I encounter probably do suffer from a mental illness, and in fact, may very well be the reason they are now in the position they are in. I only stated observations I’ve made on them, I didn’t pass judement.