Preparing for life on the street

The biggest difficulty I have with this is finding somewhere to charge my busted old phone and laptop.

I visited a place that is the location which I took the photo that I use as my avatar on here, that was back in mid 2015, when I came back to Sofia after not quite getting to Pripyat on my hair-brained pilgrimage after I had my passport stolen.

As I sat down and plugged in my phone charger, a dude was walking around the place, obviously an employee of the nightclub that is situated there, not far from Park NDK, the big central park of Sofia. He asked me if the socket was working. I pointed at the light on the charger and said 'da, raboti'.

Next 10 minutes he was walking back and forth between the club main room on one side of the underpass, and a back room where the power switches were. He didn't manage to turn off my power.

I suspect that actually the power point is on a circuit owned by the city council, I don't know for sure. But if it's not, likely next time I go there, that circuit has a switch and I can't sit there to charge/work.

Kinda funny, considering it's been 5 years since I was there and it is just like I remember, except new painted walls and a different branding on the nightclub.

Soooo...

I decided that I would, after having got myself some adequate new covered shoes to wear, that I would return to the market district and find all the things I would need to be able to find other equally private locations where I could get power.

I visited an electronics store, got some 4A dual wire cable that I will attach alligator clips to in case I need to tap onto contacts directly (if I can turn them off, which usually I will). I got an adapter that can put one connection to charge both my mobile and laptop. I got some needle nose pliers, insulation tape, and, the most important thing, a crowbar.

In my opinion, a crowbar is one of the most important tools a Stalker can own. Some places are entirely abandoned, but difficult to access because of a padlock attached to weak loops on a gate. Now I can crack them open. And for those unwanted emergency situations, I can bash someone with it to make sure they don't think my bin scrounging deserves being beaten up. No, they will be the ones regretting it. I'm just surviving.

The crowbar is so I can open power boxes I find in out of the way places where I can see signs that there is working and turned on power.

These boxes sometimes have sockets, so I have that covered to plug everything into it. If they don't have sockets, I may be able to reach points where (after turning it off) I can attach the 2m 4A rated cable and attach my double adapter (3 wire grounded, 2 wire ungrounded) and plug into my power.

I'm not running off just yet to find places as it was quite a walk going back and forth.

I also got a few things that will help with other stuff. I never saw it before, but I now have some nice strong nylon sewing thread, needles, and some spare wide elastic that I used to make my shoes fit me better and stay on more firmly. I will likely use the remainder to make some modifications to my backpack to make carrying water a bit easier.

And lastly, two things that I am now keeping my eyes out for, the vinyl/canvas sheets used on many advertising billboards, I have seen more than a few times old stuff laying on the ground around the place, which I may be able to turn into a rain cover for my hammock.

Second, occasionally I spot old, usually somewhat broken leather jackets in or beside dumpsters. I really don't like any shoes on the market except very special ones for people with wide feet like me. Most shoes I have to pick a larger size so my toes aren't squashed. The last pair of sandals I owned have created a nasty massive callous on my big toes. These new shoes don't push so hard into there, but I still needed to do something to account for my smaller ankles, thus the thread, needles and elastic. If I find a good decent amount of leather, I also got a nail that I will sharpen up and find something to make it into a kind of awl, and cut it up and make me some shoes that fit me perfectly, with minimal padding in the soles.

One of the most important things for someone who wants to walk a lot, is to have flat soled shoes. Preferably thin, but then they have to be quite durable, thus the possibility of finding a good cowhide based leather jacket, with holes in it maybe, or busted fasteners. Two layers of that under my feet and one layer over the top, probably made american indian moccasin style, will provide me with far better protection for my feet that will allow me to walk 50km/day for at least a few months before I wear holes in them from walking on concrete (which is best avoided anyway for barefoot.)

Now, I have my last money stashed in bitcoin in a paper wallet, and all the tools I need to survive on the street as a computer programmer.

Yes, it's a shame I have to do these things but with the state of the world these days, I need to make every use of every advantage and knowledge I have.