The Canadian Contingent (Part 1)

Yes, hobo signs. Their own short hand language, I thought it was pretty cool.

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The person that taught me some before I saw that documentary used to travel from Halifax to Vancouver all the time for free on freight trains. :+1:

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Has anybody actually seen any hobo markings in the wild?

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Sadly no; and I’m in T.dot so there’s a lot of them that are too new to have gotten the memo :sob: .

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Fun-E side note:

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Yes but it was around 35 years ago when I was hitch hiking back and forth across the country

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The more seasoned hobos here sleep in the woods beside the train yard, but never seen any markings in the surrounding parks or neighborhoods.

I suppose one has to really take to trespassing to find such things, that or I need to hang out in classier places.

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I imagine the escarpment is like Mount Royal at night. Peppered by campfires.

And it’s true about how Canadians see each other. Tell people from other provinces you’re from Ontario and they look at you funny.

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Ive been thinking about moving to Canada from Sweden. Ive read alot about moving but still got some ??? to work out. Im a software consultant and I work remote, so i could live anywhere in the world and still work. As I understand If you want to live in Canada for a longer period, you need to have an canadian work. Could i start a corp in Canada and “buy hours from my canadian corp to my Swedish corp”, take out salary and tax in Canada. Would that count as If Im working in Canada?

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Hey now, I live on that escarpment. It’s mostly peppered with coffee cups and hypodermics.

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I saw a guy in your neck of the woods wearing no shoes, pyjama pants, lighting up a meth bowl on a Main Street in front of a check cashing place the last time I was there.

Kindle dispose of your sharps in the sharps bin. Like a gentleman.

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Phone keeps popping off with emergency messages. Someone shooting “transient” people in the area apparently

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Good gracious. It would be cheaper to fire off Hot 'n Ready pizzas.

Aside from the financial aspect, there’s the added bonus of not feeling like a monster and being able to sleep at night.

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It’s a mad mad world. Apparently it’s no longer a threat. :man_shrugging:

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Took this pic walking my dogs yesterday. Hobo with a truck.

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These are the equivalents of the hobo symbols that were shared above. Modern day freight hoppers tend to sign in at spots where the trains stop or do their crew changes. These are taken a couple years ago in Toronto and Vancouver.

That one that says bonez is a mysterious guy who has sign ins coast to coast and all throughout the states. Extremely active train rider.

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Ever seen the movie Bomb It? I always figured that was just a tagging thing, although the EBD tag looks closer to a meaninful symbol.

We have lots of rail yards and train cars here so lots of tags to be seen. Even the overpass down the street, the painters and the transients share a lot of the same spaces but seem to lead mutually exclusive lives.

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I have! Its pretty cool. I am somewhat active in the graffiti universe, but as with most things, age and other commitments have weakened my activity levels.

The EBD and WBD denote the direction of travel (which in canada is quite simplified as the trains do run in only those two directions with slight deviation), and the month/date are helpful in identifying when a spot works or if it doesnt work. There are much more complex signs ins chock full of information, including where to get on, where the train goes and so forth, but those are very identifying and sharing of those images are frowned upon.

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I know of several artists that immigrated via their work placements. If i’m correct it was easiest for them to have a place of work in :canada: that emphasized a “need for this person to be on site” with a work visa; then while in the country you apply for citizenship with a fuck-load of weird ass hoops that are probably soul crushing but doable if one is determined.

It takes years but that’s the govn’t for you. :man_shrugging:

Sending an email to someone in the know in immigration would be the best first start even just as a form of information gathering.

note: :canada: is just as fucked-up as anywhere else but it’s still a nice place to live by comparison to many places. :+1:

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to be perfectly honest about your question… The highly educated and skilled, along with the very wealthy as well as many corporations are currently leaving Canada in droves. Our “media” is just not informing the general public. Recruitment in our armed forces, Police services and Health Care are at the lowest ever seen in our history. There is a mass exodus of landed immigrants and citizens from the balkans and other nations also leaving canada in droves. Our Passport offices and other services related to “exiting or entering” our country are no longer functioning as they have for decades. People are literally camping in tents outside immingration and passport offices just to try to get in to see someone. Lineups like this have been ongoing for months.
The current regime in Canada is teetering into the Totalitarian Government realms of operating and treating the Canadian people. Not my words… the words of foreign leaders and high profile business people.
I could go on but these are the sad but absolute truths about Canada right now.
It’s not a good place for business and it is becoming a place not fit to raise a family… or be able to afford to even own a home and have the money left over to afford having kids LOL

I’m 53… born here in the west , married to a bosnian gal that survived Sarajevo during the war there. With the state of the country right now? I’m looking for an exit strategy personally.

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