The library

I'm awake at 3am because I had nothing better to do  at 8:30 pm than go to sleep after a meal of beans & tortillas induced a major food coma only to have to wake up as I now usually have to around this time of night to have to take care of a certain body function that occurs more often with an enlarged prostate. According to  weather.com it's 43 degrees outside and it feels like 40 with the dampness. It's actually not that bad as long in here as I keep my head covered at night. My hands used to get cold, but I've discovered that I can type (albeit only using my middle fingers) wearing these thick hospital booties I got to wear on my feet during my stay.  Actually, I'm cheating a little bit. There's a small space heater in the RV and I turned it on briefly. I've repented and turned it off and snuggled back under the sleeping bag. Enough preamble.

Back when I first got out of college, I couldn't find a job. I made it a habit to leave the house around 8:45am to go to the library so I wouldn't be home when my father woke. He had to be at work around 11am so I'd come home for lunch. The point was that the library became a refuge and I began to notice that the same people were often there. I noticed an attractive woman who couldn't have been more than a few years older than I was. I couldn't work up the nerve to start a conversation so I never did learn his story of why she was always at the library.

It's not that different now, except that instead of reading books, I'm there to tap their wifi. There are a number of homeless who spend a lot of time at the Pasadena public library when it's open, especially given how rainy it's been. It's actually a routine for them. They more or less live there during the day when there's no place else to go.  I found myself wondering where they went this past Monday as it rained most of the day but the library was closed in observance of MLK day.

I was at the library this afternoon when a homeless person got belligerent and started shouting. I could see the same look cross everyone else's face; a combination of worry that he'd escalate and somehow get them involved as well as a concern that he'd ruin things for everyone else who use the library as their refuge during the day.

I still carry a laptop, but nowadays at most libraries there are computers available with internet access that anyone can use as long as they have a library card. IIRC a library card requires that you have a physical address to apply for one. I'm curious to find out how the homeless manage to circumvent that requirement.