Homeless in Vancouver: A binner's sunset

From the point of view of binners—those industrious scoundrels who go through the back alleys collecting returnable beverage containers—the wider world presents itself as a constant succession of discreet looks.

Slivers and patches seen just around corners, through fence slats, over and between buildings—everything beyond the immediate environment of the alley we are in plays a kind of peek-a-boo game with our senses.

You’d be right to say that we share this disjointed interaction with our natural environment with everyone else living in the big city.

The only difference is that we can only wonder what the world looks like from the penthouse suites and the top floors of the high-rise condos that are contributing to blocking our view of the world down at street level.

Some binners do at least go home to the brand new hig-hrise social-housing buildings around town but many more of the housed binners live in the old low-rise three-, four- and six-storey hotels in the Downtown Eastside.

As for the homeless, they’ve been effectively grounded by society and circumstances, haven’t they?