Waldorf Hotel Cafe

Waldorf Hotel Cafe
Waldorf Hotel Cafe--Designed by Scott Cohen--Built by Funhouse/PGC

Friday, June 22, 2012

Gastown Diaries--No fixed Address





I’m cat sitting for a stranger in a nice apartment in the historic Gastown district of Vancouver. She's not a complete stranger. We did meet once so she could give me the keys and make the feline introductions. Still I know virtually nothing about her other than her name and she knows very little about me. A common friend made the necessary introductions and assurances. Last year at this time I was cat sitting for someone else. It appears that this is what I do during the month of June. It was twelve months ago that I began my experiment in living without a permanent address. Reducing my life into a much simpler form so it fit easily into a hotel room. I had thought I might spend three months in that arrangement and then find another place to live. Yet I still have no fixed address other than room 103 and that is only as permanent as a hotel room can be.

I stopped by the hotel earlier today to grab a book and realized I missed my little space. I missed it in the way a person misses their bed while on vacation. I missed the personal connection to space. I missed the interactions with the community of people I have gotten to know that surround Room 103. The stylish Gastown apartment is beautiful but I have no connection to it or its occupants (my furry roommates). I feel like an intruder—the kind of intruder who cleans and cares for pets.