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#1
09-04-2005, 12:53 AM
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Comforts and showers...
The things you miss the most when you are on the streets are the basic things, like nice hot showers.
Feeling dirty makes everything so muych worse.... Where have some of you gone to find a shower??? I was thinking public swimming pools and maybe gyms or something. Ideas people? And what are the comforts you miss or did miss the most? 
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#2
09-05-2005, 10:18 PM
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I missed my mother's cooking like breath!
I missed laughing with my sisters. I missed hugging my mum. ..I have always found that gyms are great, because you can slip into a spa AND have a shower.  Love and Light, Katerina
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#4
10-26-2005, 04:41 PM
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what the??? free????
Let's just say, that if you can find 1 METRE of parking space FOR FREE in Adelaide, it would be a friggen' miracle
 . NOTHING is free except the shelters really. A mate of mine just drove through the "Kimberly's" in WA and spoke of the free public shower's you mentioned...I was VERY surprised. The closest thing to a free shower I know of is the ice-cold shower's at the beach...mainly good in summer. It is quite ridiculous that these facilities are so difficult to access!! You got me thinking even more now. Love & Light, K
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#5
10-26-2005, 08:12 PM
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When I was living on the streets I had a few ways.
Caravan parks are good,just walk in as though your supposed to be there and go in as someone comes out if its locked. Alot of service stations Some tourist information centers Sports complex's Alot of shops have showers at the back (sometimes up laneways) Along the beach in summer The biggest thing I missed was the ease of being able to sleep all night without wondering what might happen to me and if i'll still be in one piece come the morning.. Dooshka..................
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#7
11-02-2005, 05:51 AM
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Around here, showers are hard to find, but gyms, parks, and some churches have them. If you're really desperate and the weather is warm enough, you can build a "solar shower" out of a big trash bag and a couple of blankets; just make sure you set up somewhere private! Of course, in summer, you can literally shower in the rain here, as long as you hide in some bushes, lol.
Dinky
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#8
11-06-2005, 01:39 PM
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well, i have access to hot showers at my school, on campus. it's great! just to feel warm and wet and clean, it's nice.
i really miss being warm... it gets cold here at night and i only have one lousy, kinda thin blanket. i'll buy more once i get paid, but that won't happen for another couple weeks. other things.... i miss comfort. like squishy, soft furniture. i miss plumbing and electricity, too. but like i said, i at least have access to this stuff on campus, which is good. and adapting isn't as hard as i thought. it's no longer shocking or really sad, you know? it's just the way things are "now". interesting.
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#9
11-06-2005, 02:01 PM
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Quote:
 Hang in there everyone!!!! Love & Light,k
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#10
12-25-2005, 11:24 PM
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I used to swim in the ocean (in the warmer months), or shower at drop in centres. Sneaking into rich ppls back yard pools in the suburbs in the middle of the night was always fun but naughty as well!
But hell, ya gotta do what u gotta do!
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#11
12-26-2005, 10:46 AM
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service providers...
a place called the Village, sign up for shower, real early, come back and wait in long, long line...then get a 'towel' that is like tissue paper...ice cold water, never went back...
...another place can take 'group showers'....again water gets cold fast....' spend hours grooming, so tired all the time, at the beach, wash hair in sink, sponge bath, have seen homeless completely naked doing this! in summer, the shower's outdoors are ok In Seal Beach was told can take hot showers at the beach for a quarter...but never went there.... other people's houses! that's a tricky one...'just want to help' turns into just want to help themselves to your body! some joined the public pool (indoors) so being a member get to use the indoor showers as well (must be nice to have $$$) THE WEALTHY BAG LADIES author said she belonged to a gym, took her showers there and her co-workers never knew she was homeless...oops, that wasn't her, it was about someone she wrote about.... Miss my bed, my pillow, my blanket, my privacy, my toilet available 24/7, (old people urinate, a lot...or can't hold it...public rest rooms close 10PM, public urination forbidden), my paychecks, shower, sink, tub, music....
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#12
01-26-2006, 08:22 AM
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I went to a public gym today, it had been a month since I bathed. In the winter it isn't so bad. In the summer I can use a creek by where I camp. I've used 5 gallon buckets. Once a few of us had a hose w/sprayer nozzle stashed in a graveyard by a water spiggot.
I like coffee, I would dumster the used coffee pouches from gas stations and reuse the grinds. I also like clove cigaretts but seldom can afford them. When I find them on the street it is a real treat. Having a tent in an out of the way spot is good. Sleeping in catholes and on benches is a bit more dangerous, as those cats in Miami that were in the news can testify. I have four or five comforters I dug up I sleep on and a good sleeping bag and some nice wool blankets. I have'nt set up a kitchen yet so I miss my cooking. My neighbor has a rad set up. His place looks like something out of a JR Tolkien book it is pretty close to a home. He also has an out house he built, everything is done with tarps and plastic and bamboo and sticks. He is a good cook also. He is almost a complete hermit. He has a nice fireplace he built that he cooks out of. Listening to a radio and reading good books and staying in camp for days and not talking to a soul when I'm in a funk. The rain falling on my tent. The smell of the woods. The silence of a cold winter morning. Birds chirping. The frogs and crickets and catydids in the summer. A thunderstorm. The sound of a frieght train passing in the night. Last night a church passed out some good soup and corn bread. It was good in the chilly night air, along with the playful banter of friends. A full stomack. In the mornings at the soup kitchen we have a coffee club going, we sit around and read the paper, and drink coffee, and visit till they start serving. A good nights sleep. Coming in off a long road trip. Going out on a long road trip.
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#13
04-14-2006, 04:53 PM
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Comforts and showers
Know exactly what you mean Urchin,
Suggest you check out my post on car camping. Showers are not really the big issue everyone thinks. I used to sail a lot and the facilities were scarce there too on long trips. Water is at a premium and if you wasted it you got blasted. Baby wipes or similar are the go. They contain alcohol so they sterilise. A pharmacist friend put me onto them years ago. He used to go 4WDing with his wife (also a pharmacist) in the centre of Oz for weeks on end using only wipes! You really appreciate the shower when you get it tho even if it is in stealth situations. The cheapest way in the absence of facilities if you are inventive is to modify a 5 litre pressurised garden squirt. They go for about 5 minutes and you can heat it up in the sun by painting it black or just fill it with the temp water you want. The solar showers have a tendancy to break and gush hot water all over you. The garden gadget really cuts down on water usage and was as relliable as hell when we used it on board. It also metred the amount of water that you used. I think I paid $5.00 for one on special! The electrical ones tho cute need 12 volts and they can drain your battery with long use. That assumes you have a car or access to that power anyway. I am not even going to mention the heat exchangers. Too complicated and too costly. The name of the game is to keep things simple. Living on board boats for extended periods of time taught me that. If you do use salt water as some of the people have suggested always and I mean always finish off with fresh water. I can assure you salt water is not nice ...whatever the people who have posted have had to say. At least not for serious tubbing. Sailors know that all too well from bitter experience. Ultimately tho if you don't have much room to carry clobber and in keeping with the philosophy of keeping things simple and cheap - just carry the wipes and then look around for the public showers - they are out there. How easy is that? You can usually always find some water to splash on your face to freshen up with or to wash your hair. Then theres what we used to call an APC on the boat. Armpits & crutch. That's all we did in the country as kids every night where I grew up (there were no showers in those days) and we only tubbed once a week. Mum used to line us up and go for it every night. I can say that from experience. Also I am now on the road myself. Showering aint the bogey most people think. Believe me. Even now when I hear people say all they need is a shower a day when they are talking about going crusing on yachts I know they are headed for disaster or a very steep learning curve. Ya just can't afford the water - that's the bottom line on any boat. Ok so you're not about to be on a boat but the experience of sailors and people like me on the road now proves that there are ways you can keep clean without all the hassle of a shower every day. Just get out then and try it. Just do it as the saying goes. With time and the network you make it all gets easier and more available. RC
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#14
05-05-2006, 03:57 AM
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salavation army ,most churches,truck stops,st vincent de paul.it depends on what town you are in.remember,a closed mouth wont get fed,or showered or sheltered or work.ask.
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#15
05-11-2006, 06:21 PM
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Quote:
 ask politely and who knows what help you may receive. As long as you ask the right people such as service providers, friendly locals, other streeties etc
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#17
07-17-2006, 02:56 PM
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Quote:
What I miss most is being able to sleep more than 4 or 5 hours a night. I don't have a good place to sleep, and mostly do the car camping thing these days. Problem is I have attracted attention from someone because I'm often followed,and I wake up with another car 'strategically' parked with mine directly in its line of sight. This is especially obvious those times when I don't go to sleep until 5am and the heat of the day is already oppressive by the time I wake up. I imagine my watcher is earning his money. I once woke up to a white SUV driving by and the person in the passenger side was video taping my car as it drove by. I suppose my feet might demand royalties one day, because they were propped up into the front seat and probably the only good shot he got.
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#20
03-29-2007, 06:49 AM
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showers- hide your gear ,go to truck stops; go to hotel swimming pools, apartment pools , rv camp grounds. never go to someones home. it never works out and then you have to walk back. learn to pan handle or hold a cardboard sign and get a motel room.
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