Whatever happened to the bums?

I recently came across an interesting post on X from the author Hickman. It was about the type of bum he call Wino that is nowhere to be found anymore.

The Wino

It got me thinking about, well, different kinds of bums I’ve come across during my days. First, however, we must know what this “Wino” fella really is! According to X-poster Hickman, he is

“a man, unemployed, often homeless, whose sole vice in life appears to be wine.”

It does sound somewhat like the bums I used to encounter outside the local spirit store when I was younger. They were normally a merry bunch, chugging down beer (mostly) while laughing and arguing amongst themselves, occasionally watering the nearby bushes. Nowadays, they’re more infrequent, but still do exist if you know where to look. They are generally harmless but can be very talkative if you show any signs of interest. Stories can go on for hours…

The Local Bum Eccentric

While it’s already quite eccentric to be a bum in today’s world, there are some that are more so than others. This might be due to disease, boredom, alcohol or other drugs, or any other cause, really.

When I was younger and roamed the town with the boys we often visited another local bum, living under a bridge. He was quite the character, often singing loudly and enjoyed scaring innocent people crossing the bridge.

If you bought him a pizza he would sometimes tell you stories of his life, sometimes coherent, sometimes not. Most probably invented right then and there.

Modern Bums

Nowadays, most original bums have been forced into small cramped apartments by local governments. Instead a full host of new types of bums have entered the country after the introduction of Shengen (free borders for any EU member), allowing people from different parts of the union to move to any other part of the union and set up camp in the local park.

This have allowed for criminal networks to push out competition and put their own people outside the grocery stores, etc. Unfortunately, this also mean that local authorities have less agency towards the newcomers.

It’s one thing to get the local eccentric into an apartment, it’s a completely other thing to get the several hundred people living under slave-like conditions in a criminal network into normal living arrangements.

Bums in media

The book Rasmus på Luffen is written by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren and is one of the must-read children’s books in Sweden. It’s about a man who willingly dons his “luffarhatt” (bum’s hat) every spring to live the simple life on the backroads of Sweden. He plays and sings for money and a bit to eat wherever he finds himself and simply enjoy the simple life of being a bum on the road.

It’s a great book about friendship, and the joy of the little things in life.

2024-05-03 11:31

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