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As
I have mentioned before, one advantage of my extreme poverty is that
it allows me to see other parts of my community that I would not
otherwise see.
So
recently when I did my little 9 day experiment without electric
power, and therefore without an internet connection except through my
smartphone, I researched where it was I could charge my various
batteries and get high speed internet. To my surprise the local
library is really well set up to accomodate people who need to charge
their devices and provides free WIFI, although admittedly its
bandwidth seemed limited on occassion, that was probably because so
many people were trying to use it at once. Very quickly you start to
recognize the people who are in a similar situation to yourself,
people who are so poor that they need to charge their electric
appliances somewhere and maybe use the Internet.
But
the library closes by 6 PM most evenings and is not open on Sunday,
so that is when the famous Starbucks option comes into play.
Starbucks is open from about 4 AM to 10 PM or later every day of the
week.
I
went there three times, bought about $5.00 worth of stuff (ice tea
and a great cheesecake thing) and charged three devices and used
their WIFI. It was a great experience each time.
There
were two other groups that I noticed as well. First, at least in my
community, Starbucks has become the go to place for High
School students to go study with their friends. They buy coffee or
tea and work on their homework together.
The
other group was represented by two individuals, myself and a black
man of roughly my age. He was also there to charge his smartphone
and I noticed him on two different occasions. On one of those
occasions he also fell asleep in his seat and one of the staff woke
him up, explaining that he could not sleep there. Which seems
reasonable to me.
If
I end up going truly homeless but have enough money to buy some tea
or coffee, then no doubt you will see me at Starbucks as well.
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