So we know I can't get drunk anymore. And I've never been really that big on getting high on pot, despite the fact that there are at least six dispensaries in my small town and I'm sure with all my diseases I could easily get a cannabis medical card. Other drugs are too expensive or too difficult for me to even figure out how to get so they're out too. But nothing's to stop me from getting on the internet and gawking at the misery of others going about their personal hell, living their life, so to speak, on the streets of Kensington Avenue, Philadelphia.
This place has it all. Yes, homelessness, yes, poverty, yes, intoxication of all kinds. But also, the drug market is out in the open, users and abusers all piled together, dressed in all manner of the chicest of Mugatu's "Derelicte" fashions. Oh, and plenty o' rats. Big ol' rats, everywhere!
And what drug you may ask is everybody on? Different opinions depending who you ask. Some say meth, some say fentanyl, some say heroin, some say a combo of the two, some say tranq, an animal tranquilizer. Me, I don't care, I'm not shooting it in my veins. This is just damn good entertainment that doesn't cost a dime. Makes me want to get a bucket of popcorn and sit down to an evening of cray cray. Oh, but wait a minute, that drug I do inject makes me not want to eat popcorn either. Damn. We're all on somethin'.
These screen caps are all from one auto-pan camera set up on the corner of Allegheny and Kensington in front of the elevated train entrance. As a live stream, it has the most awesome chat. People rib the folks on cam, even giving "regulars" nicknames. How horrible, you say? Ever rubber neck while passing a car wreck? So you're the same as us, brother, get off your high-horse.
By the way, chat says tonite is very calm and the filth is relatively low. I think the folks are gathering up the trash to feed two open fires currently blazing at this wee morning hour.
Ah, I wonder if Springsteen had this in mind when singing "On the streets of Philadelphia?"