Getting used to life under a roof
Don’t let the burning smell fool you.
Rob Marriner is still figuring out the right setting on his toaster.
After spending 33 years on the street, he moved into a rented house in west Auckland in May.
And the 54-year-old said four months of living a ‘‘normal’’ life had not been easy and sometimes he wanted to return to the streets.
But at least he had figured out how to use the oven.
The first time Marriner tried warming a pie in it, he did not know ‘‘the machine’’ had to be turned on and had a cold pie for dinner on the first night inside his new home.
Now he said he mostly ended up burning his food because he set the oven too high.
‘‘[I] take whatever’s left on the top and eat that and hide the rest.’’
He said he was still getting used to the ‘‘blinking hot baked beans’’.
But his favourite thing about living in a home were still the ‘‘beautiful, lovely hot showers’’ first thing in the morning.
Following media attention when Marriner first moved in, people constantly brought him food packages, blankets, sleeping bags and electrical appliances.
He said some people were still donating everyday items, but support from prominent names in the community had dried up.
There had been some other set backs too and the realities of living under a roof were harsher than what it’s like being on the street, he said.
He said his flatmate disappeared in July. Marriner said he believed the man had been taken to a healthcare facility.
Just weeks after moving into his new home Marriner asked people to join him for a working bee to clean up his backyard.
Lots of people made promises, but only three actually turned up, he said.
Marriner said he sometimes felt picked on because he was an easy target and this made him want to go back to living on the street.
He had been homeless since 1984 and roamed the streets of west Auckland.
The 54-year-old said he always dreamt of living in a home. It was after two deaths in his family that he became more serious about achieving his dream.
Marriner’s sister was murdered in 2014.
The following year he said his mother died of a ‘‘broken heart’’.