Tales from the Lot

So I've been parking in a city surface lot for more than a year now. I started parking here after Westbay Marine Village RV park shut down for good. It's been a pretty good space for the most part, once we settled on where I should park that I am not in anyone's way and won't be hassled by city workers. I haven't really written much about the parking lot until now, so I thought I would jot down a few highlights from my time here in the parking lot. All sorts of folks use the lot, but an even more diverse group are on foot/cycle/scooter/stroller etc. They are in no particular order other than as I could recall them to write them down.

I should set the scene as well. I am in a square parking lot that is bordered by houses and townhouse complexes on three sides, and the fourth is Royal Athletic Park, a baseball field and stands for the Harbour Cats, the local baseball team. They also hold concerts, festivals, beer fest, etc there. It is not a huge park, but gets pretty busy when games or events are on. The parking lot has trees on all sides, some more mature than others, providing some nice shade. There is a shipping container parked along one edge, not far from where I park. It has disaster supplies in the event of one such as a tsunami or earthquake, which are the two biggest threats here. Vancouver Street runs between the lot and the ball field. It is well shaded by mature trees and has several dead ends to limit car traffic. It is a very popular route for walkers, scooters, skateboards, and bicycles. 

• This morning I watched a guy on a bicycle come whipping into the parking lot from Vancouver street, jumped off and threw it to the ground along with a bag he had with him, next to the disaster shipping container. He was bouncing around, stretching out in the most exaggerated manner mixed in with some good old tweaking and twitching. It was hard to tell whether it was a mental health crisis or a drug fucked crisis. Either way, it continued for about 10 minutes or so. He took everything out of the black cloth shopping bag, including a box with what appeared to be an expensive bottle of spirits. He took everything out and looked at it, then shoved it back in, and then took it out again several times. He drank from his water bottle that he had also thrown on the ground. He continued to bounce and was very agitated, and talking to himself, and repeated several actions over and over. It was quite bizarre. Then he parcelled himself off and left again. My best guess - he stole the bag from someone and wasn't sure what he had stolen, and was on a theft high - wondering how he could sell the stuff to buy drugs and how much money could he get. 
• Last night a friend was visiting and we had the curtains open and low lighting in the RV so we could watch the world outside. At one point a small station wagon parked along the outside curb of the parking lot - Vancouver Street. There are several no-parking signs along that portion of the road across from the ball field. A guy got in and out of the car several times, fucked around with what was in the back of the car, then inched along the same curb back and forth several times. Then he seemed to have left, only to come back and park on the opposite side of the street, in and out of the car several times. Then he left again only to come back and park on the same side of the street as he did first. Same behaviour, in an out of the car, up and down the curb. Then two guys got out and off then went to meet someone else parked up on the sidewalk by the ball field. Before long they came back to their car and seemingly left. Moments later they were back again and parked right behind me on the street, so about 30 feet from where we were sitting. We heard a woman scream (in frustration more than pain I think) and next thing some woman is stomping by the RV, having left this car. She wasn't talking much so it was difficult to tell what she was pissed about. Our best guess that night was that the guys were involved in some sort of drug exchange and she didn't get what she wanted or was kicked out of the car for some reason that pissed her off. 
• One afternoon when I was parking in the middle of the lot away from Green Street, I heard a commotion and looked out to see several police cars and officers yelling out "PUT THAT DOWN! PUT THE NEEDLE DOWN RIGHT NOW!" And so on. There was apparently a woman under the truck parked on Green Street (a local who lived across from the parking lot) and she was bearing a hypodermic needle in each hand. I'm not sure what prompted the situation, if it was a call from someone reporting drug use on the curb or what. Either way, it was pretty crazy at the time - the officers continued to demand that she put down the needles, and I guess she eventually did after they pulled her out from under the truck. An ambulance showed up shortly after and she was loaded onto the stretcher and off she went in the ambulance. 
• There is a couple that walks up and down Vancouver street, and they seem to be having the same argument each time they pass the parking lot - she is yelling that she loves him and did not cheat on him. He tells her he doesn't believe her and she continues to plead the same to him again, and again, and again, and again until they are out of earshot. Same argument EVERY SINGLE TIME. 
• There is no shortage of bottle pickers in this city. There are several different types of bottle pickers though - some are seniors simply looking for something to do with their time, often while walking a dog, will just pick up bottles and cans to return. There is an Asian woman in this neighbourhood that we see all the time, picking bottles around the clock - I've had her pass me at 4am at times. She has passed through the parking lot on a daily basis. There are also many folks who pick bottles to supplement their income. They usually wear gloves and have a cart of some sort. Then there are the homeless bottle pickers that drag their whole shopping cart, bicycle, suitcases, garbage bags, etc with them as they scour the city for bottles. I hear them rattle their carts through here all the time, or the crinkle of their cans in a garbage bag, all hours of the day and night. They often jump into the dumpsters to see what treasures they can find in there. Most carry a digging stick to reach stuff in the dumpsters. There are the most random things left beside the dumpster here in the parking lot. This particular one is for organic street cleaning waste and grass clippings, so it is a big open top dumpster bin with signs that say - no private dumping. People ignore this all the time. The last bizarre thing was a pile of cut up fabrics outside the bin. It was about 18 inches tall and about 3 feet across. Small scraps of random fabric. I did not touch it of course, but later in the week I did see someone had picked up some of it and taken it away - I passed him on Vancouver Street, with bits of fabric falling out of his cart like a trail of crumbs back to the dumpster. 
• There are a number of folks who seem to have their mental health crisis breakdown as they pass or cross the lot. Lots of screaming, yelling, swearing and carrying on when folks appear to be very much alone - no ear buds or phones in sight that may explain who they are talking to. I peek out the windows but avoid all eye contact as I do not wish to become involved in someone else's circus. Got my own thing going on here. 
• Baseballs fly out of the park ALL THE TIME. Pretty much every single game, I can hear the crack of the bat, then the swish through the trees before a THUNK onto the ground, or my RV, or someone else's car. I've even had one drop right in front of me as I was walking down Vancouver Street back to the lot. I've given the balls I found away to children as they seem very happy with them. Saw one land on a police car while he was in it, writing up notes on his laptop. He was parked right beside me and I saw it all happen. He wasn't angry or anything - how could you be when you are parked next to a baseball field. Shit happens. 
• The intersection of Vancouver Street and Caledonia (which both border the lot) there are several accidents that have happened there, at least one a month, sometimes more often. Sometimes it's car vs car while other times it's cars vs pedestrians. The intersection is an odd one, and folks don't always understand who has the right of way. Coming from Vancouver south across Caledonia - there is a stop sign and you cannot drive north on Vancouver as it dead ends in that direction. There is a stop sign on Vancouver before crossing Caledonia. There are no stop signs on Caledonia so they always have the right of way - except for the marked pedestrian cross walk. There are tons of people spilling all over the sidewalks and streets on a game day, so just a busy place. I'm not a looking Lou so I don't go over when it happens, I just watch from afar. 
• Lots of dog walkers stroll on by or through the lot. Then there are what I call the lazy fucks. They come to the parking lot in their car, park and let their dog out onto the small patch of grass next to the car, talk on their phone the whole time and then load the dog back into the car and take off. They stay only long enough to bring their dog there to pee, but not to let them have any exercise or even a short walk. They do not always pick up the poo. Jerks.

I'll wrack my brain to see if I can come up with more. In the meantime, brunch is calling!