I caught a small snippet of Tony Delroy’s Nightlife program on ABC radio the other night (I think it was Tuesday night). Each night after his quiz he has an issue of the day where he asks punters to call in and ramble on about whatever that night’s issue is. On Tuesday night the discussion topic was homelessness and one guy called in from Canberra. I didn’t catch his name, but he was pretty bitter about our town, and he may have good reason I suppose. I’m not naive enough to deny that Canberra has a homeless problem, but for the most part, it is generally kept pretty quiet. What this guy got me thinking about was, how bad is homelessness in Canberra, and is there more that the more fortunate among us should be doing to help out? For example, in my own pretty comfortable life, I couldn’t even tell you where a homeless shelter is in this city. I think that’s pretty bad.
As a sidenote, I’m sure many will remember the old-ish guy that used to spend a lot of time around Civic, he was usually dressed in a suit and carrying a cardboard box or somesuch. Was sometimes prone to loud verbal discussions, mostly with himself, from his accent I’d say he was of Eastern European descent. You’d often see him in newsagents reading the paper, or whatever. I have’t seen him for quite a few years and I assume he has passed away?