Is it just me or are there way more "homeless people" all of a sudden right before Christmas?

There is a Sherlock Holmes story, The Man With the Twisted Face, that similar.

 

That someone they had to meet was their drug dealer.

 

I saw a guy on a bicycle again today, doing the same routine he was trying a month ago. He doesn't fool around, but he is selective, targeting only customers he can greet as "My brother."
Works for me.... doesn't seem to work so well for him, since it's December and he's still riding a too-small bicycle.

 

The "undersized bicycle" is likely all part of the show.

 

I saw a new one today. A shirtless male panhandler.

It was 77 at noon today, and he must've been getting overheated. I arrived just in time to see this clown and the driver of a pickup truck both gesturing wildly at each other. I wondered if the driver was telling the shirtless beggar that Sonic was hiring, or asking, as I would have, if the money he'd spent on tattoos was earning compound interest.

At the end of the exchange the beggar turned his back on the driver and stood with his arms crossed. Embarrassed? Defeated? Whatever happened, the corner was unoccupied when I came past ten minutes later.

I'm thinking that showing off your overweight tattooed carcass while holding a "Need Food" sign isn't the best plan. It does make me wonder if I have any nearly empty bottles of sun screen. Something this clown will need when he's still standing at intersections holding cardboard signs in July.

 

I have a few days off and might have to make myself a sign and occupy the opposite corner from the usual beggars.
I'm betting they'd run me off.

 

No shirtless beggars here - drunk? Yes, but not shirtless

As long as the Charity-industrial complex can milk the Govt for fund$ to "help" these poor sods, they are not going to disappear - no matter how many millions of my tax $ get poured down that rathole. Despite mission spent all we have is - you, more "homeless" It seems to be a growth industry.

Fun fact - there is a "non-profit' for every 643 citizen in Alaska.not counting IRS-recognized Churches....most get their funding from the Gov't.

 

And just like magic, now that Christmas is over 70% to 80% of the homeless people are gone until next Christmas.