Do you want a good advice? Or what to do with pigeons on your balcony.

   I am  not good at giving advice. I usually think that there are people who are more experienced and sophisticated than me for that. May be that's true, may be not. May be we all have to share our experiences in life - good or bad. That way we can make somebody's life easier and may be help other people a little or a lot. It depends. 

   When I moved to the 8th floor in my current apartment I never thought that somebody lived on my balcony before me. I put my glass table there and couple of chairs and a convenient shelf on wheels to put some decorations on my balcony. I had an artificial flower in a basket I put that one on my balcony too. 

   And then they came - pigeons. Looks like a nice bird until you know better. They started to mark their territory right away with lots of poop - on my shelf, near my flower. They avoided my glass table though and that gave me an idea. I bought several cheap mirrors and put them around on my balcony so any pigeon who sits on my balcony will see his reflection in one of my mirrors and probably will think that there is another pigeon there already and will try to avoid contact. They don't like to fight and always give space to each other I think. 

   I am still do not have enough mirrors to cover all my balcony but most territory with mirrors they try to avoid. I still need two or three mirrors and then as my friend says - I need put some coffee and cookies so my pigeons can have a party there. But seriously I think it works nicely. I have much less invasion on my balcony and they all try to avoid mirrors. 

   Do you think it's a good idea or am I totally nuts?

What to do with homeless people?

 

   We have so many homeless people on the streets of London, Ontario that it becomes unwelcome even to walk on some streets around downtown, especially near the building where I live now. You better look at the sky instead around you. May be you'll see a flying saucer as on my photo that was made a couple of years ago  - just a 'flying' street lamp I call it.
   I moved to a new place in December of last year. This new place is bigger, better(warmer for sure in winter) and everything is better but this area is full of people who by their look are homeless and spend all their time on the streets or around soup kitchen. And we have constant broken windows around especially if that business is closed .
   I don't think we as a civilized society (are we?) have to have so many people who look unhealthy, dirty, lost and abandoned by society and themselves and totally not capable to take care of themselves. But what as a society can we do? Good question. My friend suggested to collect everybody who lives on the street and send to North Territories. But I don't think this solution is adequate. As a matter of fact it has been done in my old country too. Authorities would collect people they don't like and send to Siberia to survive if you can (happened in years 1930 and up). Most of them just died there. If we need to eradicate homelessness we need something better and more civilized. But what?
   Most of those people are young and should have some help from their parents or somebody else I think.We should be able to have some jobs available. I don't know if it's possible to organize jobs with some positive result as that problem becomes bigger every day. Soon I will be thinking about moving somewhere else if  we are going to have them more and more in this area. Some are probably on drugs judging by their behavior, some are just gave up on normal life.

   And what is normal life?
 As I understand this first of all you have to have your own place to live. Rented or not it is still yours if you take care of it and pay for it. It is yours and you do not have to live on the streets as it is not save and not comfortable and not healthy but for some reason accepted by so many people right now. I am not saying rich people, please, give your money to poor, no, that has been done in my old country at one time with terrible results for society, but we cannot have people living on the streets, we should not, not ever.
   Is there any solution for that problem? I think we have to analyze what they do in other countries and may be adopt some of their ways of dealing with homelessness. Lots of shelters is not a good solution either. You have to have your own place to live in and take care of it and be proud of it. Even as I said it's just a rental place as not everybody can buy a house or an apartment. And if you are sick and cannot live alone, you should live with somebody who can help you. Again society has to help people, not just throw money on them as many people don't appreciated that anyway and spend money wrong way - on drugs or endless lottery tickets hoping to win big. And then they go to soup kitchen and to shelter because they do not have money to buy food or pay rent.
    May be we have to start teaching at school how to avoid homelessness so at least future generation will be smarter and more adaptable in our society and will be able to create normal life to themselves. May be we should teach kids how to buy food you can afford and pay rent. Some people don't know how to do even that. And then we do not have to boarder our windows anymore. Will it be nice?

Why I left Toronto and do I regret it?

From my files - flower that blooms in winter every year

   Today I want to talk about that unlucky people who do not have enough money to buy their own place where they feel at home and where they can live happily after that. Unfortunately I belong to that category too. I never had enough money to buy my own place and though at one time my husband and me had our house that brought us nothing but lots of debts and lots of unnecessary worries and I don't want to talk about that now.
   Let's talk about renters.
    I've been living in Toronto, Ontario for many years since my emigration to Canada. Different years but not very happy some of them. Well, everything was okay until I got sick and could not work and could not afford my two bedroom apartment anymore. And I could not afford one bedroom or even bachelor any more. And my 10 years waiting for subsidized place did not give me any results. I was told by authorities that I need a paper from my doctor that I will die in a year or two and then I might get a subsidized place of my own. How do you like that? My doctor did not give me a paper like that. So I had two options - to kill myself right away or to move outside Toronto where I can pay less for my place.
   I tried Oshawa, Barry. I still naively thought that I can live close to Toronto. No such luck. It was difficult for me to travel around after stroke, as it took me almost 6 months before I was able to walk again - more or less. I found one place in Hamilton but I did not like it as it was in a rather noisy area close to downtown. I did not want to live on the streets so I kept looking.
   Finally I found an apartment in London, Ontario that I was sure I could afford and moved there. It was the best decision for me and I think for anyone who is not working for some reasons that kind of move can be a good decision as rental prices in Toronto are close to astronomical now and go up every year. Of course if you have a good job and can afford Toronto it's one thing. But if you are struggle every month to pay your rent, you have to think about it and may be move from Toronto for good. Life in Toronto brings more fun but can you afford it?
   Nowadays we have Internet and phone to keep us connected to people we love so distance is not a problem. It's just a habit as I think - to live in a certain place and of course - there are some problems living in a small city. You still have to have a certain income, pay your rent, and in a large city there are much more places to go and see something interesting. Lake Ontario is a great attraction too. I miss it here in London. And there are not enough doctors here in London. Other than that - not much difference. Lots of quiet places, green and comfortable here if you find a right place to live. I am okay and no regrets at all regarding my move. I am happy here.