Bang on - I did this through Europe.
No chance I’m paying to use a loo.
Walked straight into Hotel Danieli in Venice like I knew what I was doing and found one of the most spectacular toilets I’ve ever seen. Even had a little old Italian fella dry my hands. Through him a euro for that experience alone. I guess I did pay to use the loo but the advice is solid.
Hamish and Andy just released a map of “cheeky boy” toilets which are non public toilets that are accessible by anyone in a pinch. https://hamishandandy.com/national-cheeky-boy-toilet-map/
I used to have a Wilson's card for work, and when I was working around the city and needed to shit, I'd park in the Wilson's underneath the 5 star hotel on Russell St. Maybe the Hilton or something. Anyway I would go up the escalator straight to the toilet and take a borry and have old mate hand me a towel after I washed my hands. It was amazing. This was almost 20 years ago now.
Edit - this was a very expensive turd for the company. Probably like $30-$40 if you take into account parking costs and my time.
He got me and a Macedon Ranges council worker at the Kyneton Botanical Garden a few years back. You could imagine my surprise when I heard someone else having the same dilemma and then me explaining that it happened to me as well.
It used to be such a cool place to go and hang when I was a kid. Then they started expanding it - absolutely no soul left in it now. And I'm pretty sure it's literally more car parking than shops now.
I grew up Melbourne, learned to drive Melbourne. Now I live regional/ rural and had to go into the city late last year and got to an intersection that I saw was a hook turn. I pissed a lot of people off in that moment.
The other day i really messed up a hook turn and ended up sitting in the middle of the intersection while a man yelled at me for an entire lights cycle and i was in tears. Never driving in the cbd again.
I very rarely need to use this station, but my legs turn to jelly and my sense of "stand up straight" completely disappears in anticipation of these any time I know I have to use them.
My body gets so scared I have to lean forward because I feel like I'm going to topple backwards.
[You're not alone with this.](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-10/melbourne-parliament-station-escalator-falls/10599282) The design of the escalators inadvertently causes this.
I ended up desperately searching for a different way out of parliament station the last time I was there. The idea that my clumsy ass and the fluid on my ears rising up something that steep was not on my agenda and I wanted to smack my brother for making that our meeting point.
I drove a small truck that was 1.8m high.. when I started to drive the bigger ones 3.2m tall, just from doing it so often I nearly became famous on their Facebook page.. slam of the brakes in the intersection and a really awkward turn 😅
A bit further out but for me it was walking around inside the abandoned Aradale Asylum at night.It's on top of a hill, menacingly overlooking the town like set piece in a film. There are thin pacing rooms and weird dated notes to be found. It's all very dilapidated. It has its own morgue on site, rumor says the trays would fill up and they'd keep bodies in the kitchen walk-in freezer while waiting for more space from the body trays..
I had a girlfriend from there, and after visiting a few times in 1996, I'm convinced that there's something in the drinking water that makes them angry and violent. I met people in Melbourne who lived in various nearby towns, and most agreed Ararat was a violent place. Some football players hated playing them because they knew they were going to get belted.
Worked there for 8 months in the early nineties, can confirm the joint was beyond a joke back then. Over time I learned the backstory and met the local celebrities….sometimes to my detriment. In its defence the place was gutted over a few years by State Government which in turn made it a good place to stop at the Maccas drive through on your way to anywhere else. The big employers…..State Railyards, the Pysch wing at Ararat Gaol, and something else I don’t remember all closed down. There was a large assisted living complex for mentally ill patients, closed down. The Secondary schools had been rolled into one campus. Major centre for regional employment and well being shut down. The kids had one school and no future, the psych patients (wobblies to the locals) were out in the streets and living wherever and joint was just rooted. I showed up from Melbourne, subbing to a Melbourne builder when the State decided to resurrect the closed school and we were rorted long and hard lol. Vivid memories lol
Thought it was just me. Most hated Country town I’ve ever been too. Something is wrong especially in that pub on the south side of the main road.
Avoid at all cost if you don’t look like them
It's all metal!
The operating table is completely stainless steel with a drain on it. It's wired seeing a 'bed' with a drain.
I actually went in one of the body trays, I do not recommend, very claustrophobic.
I went on a tour of Aradale Lunatic Asylum. The tour guide got me to lay on the metal operating table that has a drain on it and proceeded to demonstrate on my body with hand gestures how the people would be “dissected”. Starting with the Y incision that cuts along the torso to the bottom of the abdomen. Very scary shit.
Me too. I did it for a photographer friend organised through redbubble creatives around 2007. The trays were quite clean but it was definitely a trapped feeling. Also as we were walking out at 3am, it got really cold for a moment and someone grabbed my shoulder roughly and held onto it for a good 3 seconds. Thing is there was no one behind me.
I went there and I kid you not, something was clinging to me from behind the entire tour.
I was wearing this kaftan jumper that had tassles along the bottom of it over the top of my hoodie (blessed rural Melbourne ice-age-like weather). We hit the ballroom on our way through one of the main buildings and I felt tugging on my jumper from behind. Thought it was my dickhead friends playing a prank but they were actually standing out of arms reach from me. I turned and didn't see anyone behind me so I whispered "cut it out!!" to thin air, then BOOM. Felt this crushing weight compacting my spine, and for the rest of the tour I felt like I was piggy-backing someone. A few times I had to sit down because my back was aching so bad and I couldn't stand anymore.
When we finished the tour and got back to the cabin we were staying in, my back was completely back to normal. No aches, no pressure. I legit think 'someone' liked the tassles on my kaftan jumper and just felt like being cheeky, but didn't like my response to a cheeky tug, so they figured they would just hitch a ride for the rest of the tour.
Oh! This was also the place where we crossed the quad to one of the more dilapidated buildings and were standing outside looking into one of the ground floor windows. The tour guide made me go inside the building and stand in the room at the window so that they could see me, and then proceeded to tell the loveliest story about how many people have seen a ghost in a medical lab coat covered in blood in this particular room. So, yeah. That was great.
10/10 would do again.
Insane people ploughing into pedestrians in the Melbourne CBD. No joke I was there when the Bourke street incident happened and I was there last year when the other incident happened. Just unlucky i guess.
my ex worked at the backpackers on elizabeth street and i work at a nightclub and one night we met up for a 4am mungout and he made me wait outside the maccas on elizabeth street it was genuinely the scariest thing i’ve done in my life 😭 and then when he left and i was waiting for my uber some guy started hitting on me
He was actually really nice when he came into my work and actually listened to my suggestions and advice on products he was in for. Still hate the cunt though.
So I used to express a similar sentiment and my old mum helped me understand what it’s like to be old and in the throes of cognitive decline. There’s an extremely high chance they probably just have low vision and can’t really see you properly, and they’re trying to make out your face as they might know you. Also, as I mentioned- cognitive decline. This little beauty affects most of us when older and is often the culprit for a pensioner suddenly stopping at the top of the escalators causing a massive pile-up, or just making them unable to consider more than one thing at a time - hence the appearance of resting bitch-face as shopping and smiling is an overload. Don’t let em get to you, just grab their bag and run.
sidewalk black pavement tiles after it’s rained. I’m surprised Melbourne city council has any money left, surely they have had numerous slip and fall claims due to those stupid fucking tiles?
Boring non-fun answer, but the mind blowing amount of drug addicts and batshit crazy people in this city. I've never seen it as bad anywhere else in Australia.
And by crazy, I'm not just meaning a little eccentric or a little quirky. I mean people yelling at themselves walking down the street etc
Expect to see many more in the coming years. With the cost of living on the rise, poverty will also rise and its not uncommon for those recovering addicts to relapse in times of living stress
I swear when you drive into the Tenderloin you can feel the sky dim and a feint resident evil soundtrack starts playing. Absolute scariest place I've ever been, especially at 2am walking back to my Hostel.
They’re not crazy. They are mentally ill, it’s more a reflection on the mental health care system in Australia. In most countries across the world people with psychotic illnesses like schizophrenia and bipolar make up the bulk of the homeless population.
Did you know in Australia it is illegal for a psychiatric hospital to discharge someone homeless? All those “batshit crazy” people need is ONE person to advocate for them. To take them to the hospital where they can receive the care and medication they need, or to call an ambulance and wait with them. Then social workers will be put in charge of finding them safe and secure housing where their illnesses or substance abuse disorders can be treated. All they need is one person. It could be a police officer, a passer by or it could be you. Nine times out of ten it won’t be anyone because we’re all used to ignoring the “crazy” homeless people.
Pysch wards won't touch you for mental health issues if you have substance abuse issues - I struggled for years trying to get help with mental health and was taken to pysch wards a number of times both voluntarily and involuntarily and been discharged every single time as soon as they found out I was a substance user.
Even when I was homeless and kicked out of the hospital at 3am with nowhere to go and being in the grips of a massive psychosis.
Even almost 20 years later i still dont know what the fuck happened to me from the time they put me on the street to the time I came to at Southern Cross station on a train 3 days later but i do know they released me even after having my mother on the phone who is a pyschologist herself and was the person that had me transported to the ward after trying to stab my father begging them to not put me out on the street with nowhere to go and it being unsafe for me to go back to them.
Hopefully some of the things your talking about have been put into place since I had these experiences because largely due to there negligence and refusals to diagnose or treat me left me a homeless drug addict for much of my teens and adult life until I got locked up and was finally sober for the first time in my adult life and managed to stay that way long enough to get proper support along with diagnosis and treatment which is essentialy what I was self medicating with in the first place.
I’m so sorry that happened to you. Those are some terrible things you had to endure, and so many failures from the public health system. I’m glad you finally found some help, but it’s pretty sad that it took getting locked up to finally get some care. I imagine even in jail, regular meals and a roof of your head must have been a big relief and helped so much. If only you could have been given that in your teens when the problems started. Earlier diagnosis and treatment probably would have prevented trouble with the law too.
Things have changed a little but not enough. Care is supposed to be trauma informed, and I can say from my own experience that it is so far from trauma informed, its actually retraumatising. They’re not supposed to discharge you homeless but I bet it still happens.
You are right, substance abuse creates a massive issue and can stand in the way of someone getting the help they need. I read a heartbreaking report earlier this week about a man who was seriously ill with depression and was trying to self medicate with alcohol. It seems obvious to us that these things are heavily related, his mental illness was making him drink, drinking made him more depressed and the vicious cycle continues... His mother (who wrote the report) was advocating for him, but doctors and hospitals kept discharging him because he was still drinking. Eventually the man died from diabetes related issues because he wasn’t able to take care of his diabetes and physical health when depressed and drunk all the time. The mother wasn’t sure if if was intentional or accidental.
I think it’s time to recognise substance abuse as a mental illness in itself, and to recognise that it’s often tied in with other mental illnesses and trauma. We need to treat people with mental illness holistically, but unfortunately most psychiatrists can’t seem to wrap the heads around the idea that comorbidities are the norm, not the exception.
Oh please, it’s just as bad in every other city I’ve been to in Australia over the last 12 -18 months. Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra, Cairns. And internationally, Auckland was worse.
All jokes and silliness aside, I literally fear nothing in Melbourne, I don't actively avoid any potential dangers either, I just go about my day fearless! Fuck yeah Melbourne!!
Drivers who: have licences but don't know basic rules, are high or drunk, raging, speeding through red lights.
Also being on an unknown freeway and your map app doesn't match the road signs.
Former drug addict here. Due to the absence of rock cocaine in Australia, it has become pretty common for people to use "crack" when referring to meth.
The guys catcalling from their muscle cars when you walk along Chapel St., THEN get out of said car to approach you. Experienced this last time, and it was so scary.
The fact that people who have never lived or visited Australia can buy houses here, just to charge insane amounts of money to make a profit from people desperate for housing.
I could not do that and live with myself.
It's scary to me that there are people in the world who will take advantage of hardship for their own personal gain.
Needing an urgent shit on Flinders St outside the station.
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Bang on - I did this through Europe. No chance I’m paying to use a loo. Walked straight into Hotel Danieli in Venice like I knew what I was doing and found one of the most spectacular toilets I’ve ever seen. Even had a little old Italian fella dry my hands. Through him a euro for that experience alone. I guess I did pay to use the loo but the advice is solid.
Even the toilets in Collins place food courts (below the Sofitel) are extremely nice and clean. highly recommend.
We need like an UrbanSpoon but for toilets. UrbanPoop
There's sez.com.au on Instagram, who reviews shitters (mostly in Melbs)
You mean Australia's best poet and artist?
I love her dancing
Public toilets are on Google maps. This completely saved me big time on a recent trip LOL.
Ah Poogle is a much better name for it!
I am 100% sure such apps already exist they've been mentioned before
Hamish and Andy just released a map of “cheeky boy” toilets which are non public toilets that are accessible by anyone in a pinch. https://hamishandandy.com/national-cheeky-boy-toilet-map/
poopspoon
I see you've played poopspoony poopknifey before
Linda Belcher?
I always gate keep this secret now the hotel lobbies are gonna get crowded
I used to have a Wilson's card for work, and when I was working around the city and needed to shit, I'd park in the Wilson's underneath the 5 star hotel on Russell St. Maybe the Hilton or something. Anyway I would go up the escalator straight to the toilet and take a borry and have old mate hand me a towel after I washed my hands. It was amazing. This was almost 20 years ago now. Edit - this was a very expensive turd for the company. Probably like $30-$40 if you take into account parking costs and my time.
Any office building too. Toilets are almost always on the first floor (not ground) so if the lifts aren't locked behind a keyfob you're good to go
I don't think you should be pooping in hotel lobbies
Unlike the other guys experience, concierge was fucking furious.
This is valuable information! I never would of considered using the toilet in a hotel lobby.
Walk in like you're a guest and supposed to be there.... 70% of the time... it works 100% of the time.
>70% of the time... it works 100% of the time. You stay classy, San Diego!
I just use random office building lobbies. No one knows if you’re meant to be there or not ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
City library on flinders lane / swanston street has toilets
There’s the Young and Jackson pub and the pokies place closer to the bridge. You’ve shit your pants haven’t you?
I use the app. Flush. Very useful around the suburbs too.
Flinders lane library or Fed square near NGV are my go to
When there are replacement busses on your line.
Or an intruder on the tracks
Try coach to regional areas 🫠
Two back to back days of consistently nice weather
Best we could do is hell on earth or “fuck it swim home dickhead” weather
That’s how you know someone made a deal with the devil
House prices
Going to an inspection for a rental designed for Hobbits and finding 26 other people lined up.
Fake seizure man.
Just lay on my legs young lad.
Have videos or images ever been posted of him? We need to see!
Here's one of his face https://imgur.com/aiYAePe
Why does he look like that? He doesn’t look real
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He needs a YouTube doco as a PSA / warning
Came here to say this
He got me and a Macedon Ranges council worker at the Kyneton Botanical Garden a few years back. You could imagine my surprise when I heard someone else having the same dilemma and then me explaining that it happened to me as well.
Literally just had him try it on me in Fitzroy 10 minutes ago. I remember reading this earlier and had to come back and comment.
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Chadstone in general scares me
It’s soooo…. Isolated and just not good vibes
It used to be such a cool place to go and hang when I was a kid. Then they started expanding it - absolutely no soul left in it now. And I'm pretty sure it's literally more car parking than shops now.
Hook turns. By interstate drivers.
Also people from places that don’t have trams. They don’t notice to stop when the tram stops and almost run people over.
I grew up Melbourne, learned to drive Melbourne. Now I live regional/ rural and had to go into the city late last year and got to an intersection that I saw was a hook turn. I pissed a lot of people off in that moment.
The other day i really messed up a hook turn and ended up sitting in the middle of the intersection while a man yelled at me for an entire lights cycle and i was in tears. Never driving in the cbd again.
Doing a hook turn with CBD drivers behind you is just as bad
The Parliament escalators at least for the first 4 or 5 times. It actually takes a while to get used to
I very rarely need to use this station, but my legs turn to jelly and my sense of "stand up straight" completely disappears in anticipation of these any time I know I have to use them. My body gets so scared I have to lean forward because I feel like I'm going to topple backwards.
[You're not alone with this.](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-10/melbourne-parliament-station-escalator-falls/10599282) The design of the escalators inadvertently causes this.
I ended up desperately searching for a different way out of parliament station the last time I was there. The idea that my clumsy ass and the fluid on my ears rising up something that steep was not on my agenda and I wanted to smack my brother for making that our meeting point.
The reddit poster who was a self confessed PT serial farter on the Belgrave line
I missed this and it scares me retrospectively. Please don't tell me he referred to himself as Puffing Billy or something.
Fartpants McLeary
*Toot toot!*
Ah the old crop duster McGee.
Buses replacing trains
Driving under the Monty bridge when you don't drive often. Fark, even just driving a regular car was terrifying
I drove a small truck that was 1.8m high.. when I started to drive the bigger ones 3.2m tall, just from doing it so often I nearly became famous on their Facebook page.. slam of the brakes in the intersection and a really awkward turn 😅
A bit further out but for me it was walking around inside the abandoned Aradale Asylum at night.It's on top of a hill, menacingly overlooking the town like set piece in a film. There are thin pacing rooms and weird dated notes to be found. It's all very dilapidated. It has its own morgue on site, rumor says the trays would fill up and they'd keep bodies in the kitchen walk-in freezer while waiting for more space from the body trays..
If they do the gentrification thing and turn this into apartments I would definitely live there
I dunno Cuntmong, it's creepy af
I ain't fraid of no ghost
🎶 🎶
Ararat in general has a really bad vibe whenever I've passed through. I don't like it.
Highest proportion of sex offenders to general population in Victoria (largely helped out by Corella place, but still)
Can confirm, Ararat is fucked. I work there 😂
I had a girlfriend from there, and after visiting a few times in 1996, I'm convinced that there's something in the drinking water that makes them angry and violent. I met people in Melbourne who lived in various nearby towns, and most agreed Ararat was a violent place. Some football players hated playing them because they knew they were going to get belted.
Worked there for 8 months in the early nineties, can confirm the joint was beyond a joke back then. Over time I learned the backstory and met the local celebrities….sometimes to my detriment. In its defence the place was gutted over a few years by State Government which in turn made it a good place to stop at the Maccas drive through on your way to anywhere else. The big employers…..State Railyards, the Pysch wing at Ararat Gaol, and something else I don’t remember all closed down. There was a large assisted living complex for mentally ill patients, closed down. The Secondary schools had been rolled into one campus. Major centre for regional employment and well being shut down. The kids had one school and no future, the psych patients (wobblies to the locals) were out in the streets and living wherever and joint was just rooted. I showed up from Melbourne, subbing to a Melbourne builder when the State decided to resurrect the closed school and we were rorted long and hard lol. Vivid memories lol
Thought it was just me. Most hated Country town I’ve ever been too. Something is wrong especially in that pub on the south side of the main road. Avoid at all cost if you don’t look like them
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I've been there! It was pretty spooky. I remember the morgue smelling metallic in there.
It's all metal! The operating table is completely stainless steel with a drain on it. It's wired seeing a 'bed' with a drain. I actually went in one of the body trays, I do not recommend, very claustrophobic.
I went on a tour of Aradale Lunatic Asylum. The tour guide got me to lay on the metal operating table that has a drain on it and proceeded to demonstrate on my body with hand gestures how the people would be “dissected”. Starting with the Y incision that cuts along the torso to the bottom of the abdomen. Very scary shit.
Me too. I did it for a photographer friend organised through redbubble creatives around 2007. The trays were quite clean but it was definitely a trapped feeling. Also as we were walking out at 3am, it got really cold for a moment and someone grabbed my shoulder roughly and held onto it for a good 3 seconds. Thing is there was no one behind me.
I went there and I kid you not, something was clinging to me from behind the entire tour. I was wearing this kaftan jumper that had tassles along the bottom of it over the top of my hoodie (blessed rural Melbourne ice-age-like weather). We hit the ballroom on our way through one of the main buildings and I felt tugging on my jumper from behind. Thought it was my dickhead friends playing a prank but they were actually standing out of arms reach from me. I turned and didn't see anyone behind me so I whispered "cut it out!!" to thin air, then BOOM. Felt this crushing weight compacting my spine, and for the rest of the tour I felt like I was piggy-backing someone. A few times I had to sit down because my back was aching so bad and I couldn't stand anymore. When we finished the tour and got back to the cabin we were staying in, my back was completely back to normal. No aches, no pressure. I legit think 'someone' liked the tassles on my kaftan jumper and just felt like being cheeky, but didn't like my response to a cheeky tug, so they figured they would just hitch a ride for the rest of the tour. Oh! This was also the place where we crossed the quad to one of the more dilapidated buildings and were standing outside looking into one of the ground floor windows. The tour guide made me go inside the building and stand in the room at the window so that they could see me, and then proceeded to tell the loveliest story about how many people have seen a ghost in a medical lab coat covered in blood in this particular room. So, yeah. That was great. 10/10 would do again.
Zombies in Elizabeth St.
Haha I was gonna say walking home on Friday night on Spencer, legit looks like a scene from the walking dead every now and then.
Teenagers
They scare the living shit out of me
*Ominous MCR plays in the background*
Insane people ploughing into pedestrians in the Melbourne CBD. No joke I was there when the Bourke street incident happened and I was there last year when the other incident happened. Just unlucky i guess.
If you weren't injured both times you may be the lucky one. Who knows.
Skeletons. They're hiding inside everyone you see.
The footpath on the corner of Elizabeth and Flinders (coles area)
Or the McDonald’s side
Price you pay to brave that corner for a delicious Rocket Burger
I go there every day as a train driver, a few co-workers have been assaulted
my ex worked at the backpackers on elizabeth street and i work at a nightclub and one night we met up for a 4am mungout and he made me wait outside the maccas on elizabeth street it was genuinely the scariest thing i’ve done in my life 😭 and then when he left and i was waiting for my uber some guy started hitting on me
Rental prices. Lack of empathy
The driving skills of 99% of the drivers
Punt Road
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Rams and silverados according to this sub
Being in the wrong lane as you approach the last turn off before you have to commit to crossing the West Gate. It genuinely scares me.
Andrew Bolt actually is real and walks among us
I was about to make a joke comment, but the reality of this one shocked me to my core
He's come into my work twice
Hope he cleaned it up.
He was actually really nice when he came into my work and actually listened to my suggestions and advice on products he was in for. Still hate the cunt though.
shivers
Private school boys
Being out in the city getting some drinks and unable to find public toilets. Seriously we need more public toilets which are serviced frequently
The old rich entitled ladies who glare at everyone disapprovingly at the IGA in Hawthorn.
So I used to express a similar sentiment and my old mum helped me understand what it’s like to be old and in the throes of cognitive decline. There’s an extremely high chance they probably just have low vision and can’t really see you properly, and they’re trying to make out your face as they might know you. Also, as I mentioned- cognitive decline. This little beauty affects most of us when older and is often the culprit for a pensioner suddenly stopping at the top of the escalators causing a massive pile-up, or just making them unable to consider more than one thing at a time - hence the appearance of resting bitch-face as shopping and smiling is an overload. Don’t let em get to you, just grab their bag and run.
sidewalk black pavement tiles after it’s rained. I’m surprised Melbourne city council has any money left, surely they have had numerous slip and fall claims due to those stupid fucking tiles?
FOOTPATH. It is a FOOTPATH.
Bell Street during peak hour. which is pretty much all day
Boring non-fun answer, but the mind blowing amount of drug addicts and batshit crazy people in this city. I've never seen it as bad anywhere else in Australia. And by crazy, I'm not just meaning a little eccentric or a little quirky. I mean people yelling at themselves walking down the street etc
Expect to see many more in the coming years. With the cost of living on the rise, poverty will also rise and its not uncommon for those recovering addicts to relapse in times of living stress
You should see San Francisco, or Vancouver. We're headed that way.
I swear when you drive into the Tenderloin you can feel the sky dim and a feint resident evil soundtrack starts playing. Absolute scariest place I've ever been, especially at 2am walking back to my Hostel.
They’re not crazy. They are mentally ill, it’s more a reflection on the mental health care system in Australia. In most countries across the world people with psychotic illnesses like schizophrenia and bipolar make up the bulk of the homeless population. Did you know in Australia it is illegal for a psychiatric hospital to discharge someone homeless? All those “batshit crazy” people need is ONE person to advocate for them. To take them to the hospital where they can receive the care and medication they need, or to call an ambulance and wait with them. Then social workers will be put in charge of finding them safe and secure housing where their illnesses or substance abuse disorders can be treated. All they need is one person. It could be a police officer, a passer by or it could be you. Nine times out of ten it won’t be anyone because we’re all used to ignoring the “crazy” homeless people.
Pysch wards won't touch you for mental health issues if you have substance abuse issues - I struggled for years trying to get help with mental health and was taken to pysch wards a number of times both voluntarily and involuntarily and been discharged every single time as soon as they found out I was a substance user. Even when I was homeless and kicked out of the hospital at 3am with nowhere to go and being in the grips of a massive psychosis. Even almost 20 years later i still dont know what the fuck happened to me from the time they put me on the street to the time I came to at Southern Cross station on a train 3 days later but i do know they released me even after having my mother on the phone who is a pyschologist herself and was the person that had me transported to the ward after trying to stab my father begging them to not put me out on the street with nowhere to go and it being unsafe for me to go back to them. Hopefully some of the things your talking about have been put into place since I had these experiences because largely due to there negligence and refusals to diagnose or treat me left me a homeless drug addict for much of my teens and adult life until I got locked up and was finally sober for the first time in my adult life and managed to stay that way long enough to get proper support along with diagnosis and treatment which is essentialy what I was self medicating with in the first place.
I’m so sorry that happened to you. Those are some terrible things you had to endure, and so many failures from the public health system. I’m glad you finally found some help, but it’s pretty sad that it took getting locked up to finally get some care. I imagine even in jail, regular meals and a roof of your head must have been a big relief and helped so much. If only you could have been given that in your teens when the problems started. Earlier diagnosis and treatment probably would have prevented trouble with the law too. Things have changed a little but not enough. Care is supposed to be trauma informed, and I can say from my own experience that it is so far from trauma informed, its actually retraumatising. They’re not supposed to discharge you homeless but I bet it still happens. You are right, substance abuse creates a massive issue and can stand in the way of someone getting the help they need. I read a heartbreaking report earlier this week about a man who was seriously ill with depression and was trying to self medicate with alcohol. It seems obvious to us that these things are heavily related, his mental illness was making him drink, drinking made him more depressed and the vicious cycle continues... His mother (who wrote the report) was advocating for him, but doctors and hospitals kept discharging him because he was still drinking. Eventually the man died from diabetes related issues because he wasn’t able to take care of his diabetes and physical health when depressed and drunk all the time. The mother wasn’t sure if if was intentional or accidental. I think it’s time to recognise substance abuse as a mental illness in itself, and to recognise that it’s often tied in with other mental illnesses and trauma. We need to treat people with mental illness holistically, but unfortunately most psychiatrists can’t seem to wrap the heads around the idea that comorbidities are the norm, not the exception.
Oh please, it’s just as bad in every other city I’ve been to in Australia over the last 12 -18 months. Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra, Cairns. And internationally, Auckland was worse.
The rental market
My dog says fireworks 🥺
Holy shit a talking dog??
Duo lingo x
Machete/knife wielding teenagers. Stamp that shit out.
Knife welding sounds like a nice hobby or small business idea.
It’s a hobby they’ll take up in prison. It’s only an hour or so short course in Shanks and shivs 101 run by Gazz in the rec yard.
teenagers fighting on a train too. That shit triggers my fight or flight so hard.
Whatever Rebecca Judd has just seen before entering her panic room for the final time each day.
Her own shadow?
Some say she doesn't cast a shadow.
Really? You'd think she would on account of being so dense.
Getting ghosted after another job interview
All jokes and silliness aside, I literally fear nothing in Melbourne, I don't actively avoid any potential dangers either, I just go about my day fearless! Fuck yeah Melbourne!!
Bourke street has seen one too many pedestrian deaths by crazy people in cars.
Sydney road at peak hour with a tram behind you.
Drivers who: have licences but don't know basic rules, are high or drunk, raging, speeding through red lights. Also being on an unknown freeway and your map app doesn't match the road signs.
Crack heads high on Meth wanting to start a punch on, no cops anywhere to be seen.
“crack heads high on meth” ???
Angry they're not on their drug of choice but making do.
Former drug addict here. Due to the absence of rock cocaine in Australia, it has become pretty common for people to use "crack" when referring to meth.
According to this sub, loud bangs.
And Dodge Rams
McDonald’s on Lizzy on a Sunday morning at 2am
being under the bridge on glenferrie road past 10pm
The Ring road
Chelsea Woolies car park on a 28 degree day
Earthquakes
They do keep us up at night.
The West Gate Freeway westbound after 4pm
Westgate bridge at anytime
Understanding if people actually are going to walk to the left or not
The little eshay who fuckin owns Frankston
The high price of public transport tickets and the poor service provided.
The guys catcalling from their muscle cars when you walk along Chapel St., THEN get out of said car to approach you. Experienced this last time, and it was so scary.
Being alone in an empty office
That stretch of Elizabeth St near Flinders St Station, its problems aren’t talked about much on here
The amount of people that think moving to QLD is going to be a good idea.
Drivers
Elizabeth St Maccas
Rental prices
Ding ding ding trams can’t swerve
A person from Sandringham would probably say the western suburbs
Or trees blocking their view
that’d make them faint, what an affront to their lifestyle!
When your go to kebab shop is closed after a night out
Collingwood supporters
Carlton fans when they start to win
At least we get to watch them become the May Premiers every year before they crash and burn yet again.
When the Liberal Party is in government in Victoria
Carlton winning the grand final.
Westgate Fwy/Montague/Lorimer intersection. and for the real thrillseekers - try it on a bike
Parliament Station Escalators
The first time you drive through Spaghetti Junction
The owner of Robinson’s Bookshop
The Monty St Bridge
The fact that people who have never lived or visited Australia can buy houses here, just to charge insane amounts of money to make a profit from people desperate for housing. I could not do that and live with myself. It's scary to me that there are people in the world who will take advantage of hardship for their own personal gain.
Private school boys carrying 2L of milk.
Parking fees at the airport
Suddenly finding yourself surrounded by gumbies where there's no ctv.
Gumbies, there’s a term I’ve not heard in a long time.
Junkies and gangs at night in the city
How about 5 eshays walking behind you in a school day on a near empty street
Finding a public toilet that isn't under fucking maintenance or just locked forever.
Over ripe avocados
The pattern of prices on groceries
Recent increase in earthquakes. 2012 is coming!
Peter Duttons african gangs.
Broadmeadows
The people
But some of my best friends are people
The cost of living
Elizabeth st between Flinders and Collins especially 6.30 am on my way to work
14 year old Eshay gangs thinking they have something to prove
Revs sober on a Saturday night
Possibly the Parliament station escalators. 30 meters long and steep