Once again it seems my complex is housing another homeless person. Earlier this week I saw this lady pushing a shopping cart across the street with a broom, a door mat and other various items, her hair was tied up like Rosie the Riveter and since people with shopping carts aren’t unusual in my neighborhood I figured maybe she was the lady that cleaned up our courtyard and around the complex. The next day when I was in my kitchen I saw her again with her hair all tied up chatting and being chumming with some of the tenants and then yesterday morning as I was driving towards one of the car ports I see a bathroom cabinet mirror and clothes sitting against the wall of the car port. As I actually drive past the port I look in to see the same woman standing there which I can only assume was getting dressed. One of the storage doors was open to reveal a whole stack of clothes as if being used as a closet. So it would seem this woman has set up shop in a car port and this morning I drove past the same port again and see there is a make shift cardboard shelter with a chair added to the car port and the woman was digging through the dumpster and when I passed by she gave me a frantic look as if she were caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Well she doesn’t really have anything to sweat considering a don’t feel digging through a dumpster is really stealing or sneaking a cookie since all that stuff is free game and garbage. I have been known to snag some furniture items before it was disposed of, makes shopping for used furniture a whole lot more interesting. And to be honest there aren’t many mornings that I don’t pass by the dumpster and there isn’t someone digging in them trying to find bottles and cans or whatever treasures lay within the metal gift box of glorious goodies.
Now I can’t really blame the lady for taking residence in our complex. I mean no one really uses their car port except to leave their broken down cars for months on end or apparently have sex as I previously learned. I think I’m the only one that frequently uses it for its purpose and park my car there to keep it from getting hit by the elements. There are these large storage cabinets in each port which I put a huge bucket of paint in once that was somehow stolen and that is why I do not keep any of my camping gear stored in my unit.
There is also a laundry room that is free to anyone for washing their clothes. the door does have a lock and I can only imagine at some point they might have actually had a key for the room but that has obviously become a minor concern of security considering I found a guy sleeping in there and the dryers don’t work 90% of the time so you end up with wet clothes that you have to hang on your window shades to dry.
I supposed I could complain to HOA and have her chased off but who am I to say she can’t live in that car port? Maybe she used to live in one of the units and then her husband/boyfriend/girlfriend/cousin/ aunt/grandmother/3rd cousin by marriage kicked her out and said she wasn’t allowed to be in the house anymore unless she started dressing like a circus clown and making balloon animals. I don’t know her situation. But I figure at the very least she’s down on her luck and with the economy going into a 2nd recession I just might need some tips on how to live in a car port because that’s where I’ll end up when I get laid off. However I do intend to keep a bit of an eye open because if she starts thinking the whole lot of ports is hers and she starts turning mine into her bathroom we might have some words or the cops just might come to pay a visit. Eventually I think HOA might catch on and have her removed but until then I might give her a box of old clothes and some reading material, I wouldn’t want her to get bored.
