The Homeless: Boredom

There is a set routine for the homeless in Montreal, when you are at the OBM. Out on the streets before 7 AM and back in line to get in by 6:30 PM. So you have almost 12 hours to kill.
The day starts around 5:30 AM, when the lights go on. You shuffle downstairs to get in line to get into the cafeteria. And once you are there, again in line for usually lumpy oatmeal and some sort of eggs with a piece of toast. And a cup of coffee which was more like brown swill. You have 15 minutes to eat your stuff before you have to leave. And then you were out on the streets.

So usually you were out by 6. The question would be where to go? What can you do that early in the morning? Well, for most of us, it was finding a McDonald’s to get a decent cup of coffee (well two because you get a refill). This is the first lesson I learnt really fast.

But how do you spend the day? In Montreal, there are a couple of places like the Red Roof for the homeless, which are open to let you do stuff but they don’t open until 9. And even then, they are crowded because there are not enough places in the downtown area.

So all you can do is wander. Move place to place, just killing time because the shelters do not open until after 6:30 in the afternoon. That means sitting in the malls, reading discarded newspapers, sitting in McDonald’s, sitting on a street corner, sleeping on the Metro, anything to pass the time. You have 12 hours a day, 7 days a week to try to kill before going back to crash in your bunk, only to wake up the next day to do the same thing over again.

Boredom is the way of life for the homeless. When you have no money, no permanent place, nowhere to store anything, what can you do during the day? All I had was my backpack and myself.

What helped my sanity was reading. Luckily, some of the major book stores have chairs so people could go through books. So I would shuttle between the book stores. It gave me warmth and kept my mind going.

But it did not kill the 3 hours before the stores opened. With winter coming in, it was often dark when you left the OBM. And if you sat in the malls at that time, you would have to deal with security guards. Well, that is true for any time of the day. They don’t want you sitting around so the regular people can see you.

Except for holidays, the worst was the weekends. The morning would drag because there was nothing open save the McDonalds. The malls would be empty so you stuck out like a sore thumb.

But the worst were the holidays. Since most people are not out on days like Christmas or New Years, the city is a completely different place. Most of the malls are shut down. I mean locked up. The stores are closed.

Something simple like having to go to the bathroom becomes an adventure. Save the bus or train station, there is nothing around. And even places like McDonald’s are not always open.

In the end, I was lucky because of book stores and the Concordia and McGill library. I took care of myself so I did not look dishevelled and people left me alone. But for most of the homeless I lived with, they did not have that option. The minute they would enter a book store, security would be on them. So they had nowhere, nothing to do for the day.

The winter is the worst because you cannot be outside. It is freezing and you have to be indoors unless you are panhandling. At least from late spring to early fall, you can go to places like Mont Royal and find quiet places to do nothing. And during the summer, with all the festivals, there are always free open-air events to check out.

I never imagined how boredom could be so draining. You lose hope because when you get up in the morning, what do you have to look forward to? You lose your drive and just go into automatic. You become resigned and go through the motions. Your life doesn’t have much meaning left.