USA trip February/March 2004
In February 2004 I visited Chicago and Boston on business. I had some time to take photos, more so in Chicago than in the Boston area.
In Chicago I stayed downtown at the Congress Plaza, so I saw mostly city sights.
In Boston I was out in the suburbs, with only brief visit into Boston on a
Saturday afternoon and evening. I also spent a hour or so taking photos in a
woodland opposite the home of the people I was visiting.
Chicago photos
Boston photos.
(You will have to use the browser Back button a lot!)
Nobody home
Chicago, February 26 2004, 9pm
With my belly full of steak, lobster and warmed by a fine
(Australian!) wine I decide to walk (stagger?) at least part of the
way back to my hotel. Maybe the walk will help work off some of the
food and booze? It's a cold night, the wind cuts through my jeans,
and I'm glad I brought gloves, scarf and beanie.
I decide to walk through back streets rather on the main avenue
(Michigan).
As I round a corner I notice the street I'm entering has the "ell"
(elevated railway) above it, a virtual roof across the whole street,
and the temperature is noticibly warmer, almost balmy.
Then I stumble across somebody's home. A sheet of cardboard, some
plastic milk crates, a couple of plastic garbage bags containing who
knows what and some old bedding. Somebody lives here, under the ell.
There's nobody home right now. It is probably one of the people I
encountered on the fine boulevard 3 blocks over, outside a chic department store,
rattling some coins in an empty plastic Starbucks cup and
carrying a roughly written sign saying "Lost my job, please help".
No wonder in just 3 days I've learned to carry a couple of dollar
bills handy in my pocket for those moments when I just can't pretend
to be looking the other way one more time.
The waiter told me, as he poured my second glass of vintage Cabernet
Sauvingon, that people are found out on the streets of Chicago and
New York, frozen to death, every winter.
... bring me your huddled masses ...