at the weekend

At the weekend I was searching for someones teenager who had gone past curfew and I ended up stone cold sober in a kind of nightclub, actually an old miners welfare building. It was like a scene from the twilight zone, ladies with spray painted leopardskin dresses and huge straw colored platform shoes shuffling about a 1970's dance floor.

I ended up in Glasgow's royal infirmary, teenager in hand being checked by the doctors at 4:30 AM. Hospital waiting rooms attract all kinds of interesting people at that time, homeless people coming for a heat and a cup of coffee, policemen with those injured in street brawls. I cast my mind back to when i was homeless, trying to sleep under concrete bridges beside huge river rats, seeing the people in bus stations trying to make a bed on the concrete pavement. I was lucky, I ended up in a homeless unit filled with those with mental health issues from a local Victorian hospital that had recently closed down, now converted into luxury housing.

I liked those patients, there was a man who thought he was Elvis, he had his hair done in a nineteen fifties flattop quiff all Brylcreamed up to a salient point. He pestered everyone asking for his guitar. There was Arthur, a genuine flower child from the nineteen sixties, his mind blown by too much LSD and watching the magic roundabout. Everyone was drugged with barbiturates and diazepam. 'Liquid kosh', they called it because it had the same effect as being hit over the head with a baseball bat.

I knew the psychiatrist from the hospital, his son and I sometimes jammed together in his garage, he was crazier than all those patients and yet he was the doctor in charge!

What's your point?

Originally posted by catfoodtim
What's your point?

I dont know that I have a point to be honest. The text could be pointless or simply an abstract episode with no tangent. I could probably struggle to find a point like waiting rooms at 4am in the morning are more interesting than nightclubs? Or one feels a sense of alienation when entering a nightclub stone cold sober, i dunno. Who can say?

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
I dont know that I have a point to be honest. The text could be pointless or simply an abstract episode with no tangent. I could probably struggle to find a point like waiting rooms at 4am in the morning are more interesting than nightclubs? Or one feels a sense of alienation when entering a nightclub stone cold sober, i dunno. Who can say?

Whatever, I just know it's not art.

Originally posted by Suzianne
Whatever, I just know it's not art.

We have already established you have no idea what art is and simply seem content to promote belief in your own propaganda.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
We have already established you have no idea what art is and simply seem content to promote belief in your own propaganda.

Wrong, wrong and wrong, as usual. Like every one of your threads, it's about you, not me.

Given your rather negative reputation on these forums, it seems unfathomable why you would randomly shine a spotlight on yourself with admittedly no point to it.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
We have already established you have no idea what art is and simply seem content to promote belief in your own propaganda.

Come on you guys. This is looking like another forum.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
At the weekend I was searching for someones teenager who had gone past curfew and I ended up stone cold sober in a kind of nightclub, actually an old miners welfare building. It was like a scene from the twilight zone, ladies with spray painted leopardskin dresses and huge straw colored platform shoes shuffling about a 1970's dance floor.

I ende ...[text shortened]... ether in his garage, he was crazier than all those patients and yet he was the doctor in charge!

I never would have guessed you were an escaped mental patient. 😉

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
I dont know that I have a point to be honest. The text could be pointless or simply an abstract episode with no tangent. I could probably struggle to find a point like waiting rooms at 4am in the morning are more interesting than nightclubs? Or one feels a sense of alienation when entering a nightclub stone cold sober, i dunno. Who can say?

I can relate to your story. Anyone who can't has probably played it safe their entire life, and doesn't understand what it means to be in a situation where you necessarily need to have your wits about you.

I came to the largest city in my state in the early 80s because job opportunities were virtually nonexistent anywhere else. I showed up with $40 in my pocket and hadn't eaten anything for 3 days, because I didn't want to deplete the $40 before knowing what would happen next. Two days later I had a job and a place to live.

It was weird how things worked out so quickly for me. I'm convinced it would not have all happened like it did if I hadn't been invited to spend a night from someone I later learned was mooching off someone else. The landlord showed up and told me I had to leave, but I could rent a little room in the attic for $50 a month if I was serious about being a responsible renter. This was the first day.

The mooch helped me get onto a job cleaning a big stadium that night and the next morning I got paid, went back and found the landlord to give him the $50 bucks (the look of surprise on his face was worth the price of admission) and then slept in my little mattress sized room for about 12 hours. A few days later I saw someone else who lived in the same building playing chess, so I began playing games with him. He got me a job where he worked, and the wild ride continued until I was able to get my own apartment and bring my family here... they were staying with her parents.

If I had tried taking a safer path for getting on my feet again (financially) it would undoubtedly have taken a lot longer. Maybe even a year or two longer... as it was it only took a few months.

The post that was quoted here has been removed

Yes waiting rooms are very interesting places, it kind of makes one instantly into an observer of people, especially if you have forgotten your phone or book. Perhaps we could build a collage of abstract thoughts 😀

Originally posted by BigDoggProblem
I never would have guessed you were an escaped mental patient. 😉

I was not mental, not certifiably so 😀

Originally posted by lemon lime
I can relate to your story. Anyone who can't has probably played it safe their entire life, and doesn't understand what it means to be in a situation where you necessarily need to have your wits about you.

I came to the largest city in my state in the early 80s because job opportunities were virtually nonexistent anywhere else. I showed up with $40 in ...[text shortened]... have taken a lot longer. Maybe even a year or two longer... as it was it only took a few months.

Yes! when one reaches a position where one has absolutely nothing to lose, anything becomes possible and desperation becomes like the mother of invention. I was reading the account of a lady who traversed the Australian outback by herself and a camel or two, she had practically nothing but said she never felt more alive 😀

The post that was quoted here has been removed

YES! It seems that in the desert, she had everything she needed. Like Lemon-lime she got help although not from a friendly mooch but from the indigenous Australians who helped her to find water and 'bush tucker', but yes, she must of had plenty of time for reflection and to think how close and clear the stars must have seemed, woa Zen moment man! amazing.