LIFE IN LOCK DOWN - BEGGARS/HOMELESS PEOPLE

I live in a city. There are a lot of homeless people and beggars that in normal times are out and about in my local area. The beggars seem to have their own spots where they sit. They mainly sit outside the supermarkets, although some sit outside the bigger charity shops like Oxfam. They all have little cardboard signs that say they have fallen on hard times and have children to support and are just trying to raise a few pounds to pay for a hostel for the night. I've been told that there's a bit of a 'turf war going on within the begging community. Ie, they all seem to have their own little spot that they like to sit in and woe betide any one else who comes along and sits in that spot.

A few years ago every time I went to Waitrose I collected my 'free coffee' (because if you had a Waitrose card you could get a free coffee & newspaper every time you did a shop) and I gave it to the beggar who was always sitting outside the store. ….......Until one day I went out of the shop and she actually had 3 coffee's sitting there waiting to be drunk. …..........And as one now has to take one's own cup to get the free coffee the beggars no longer get a free coffee from me. BUT actually, the so called beggar, that I was providing coffee for, 4 years ago is still there. Still sitting outside Waitrose and still expecting the high class Waitrose customers to throw her a few measley scraps lot of money.

However I think there's a bit of a difference between beggars & homeless people.

In normal times in my local area there are a lot of beggars. And by beggars I mean the people who have their own patch outside the shops in my neighbourhood. They sit there day in, day out with their cardboard signs saying that they have fallen on hard times and have children to support. Some of these people have actually been here, sitting in the same spot, for 4 years or more. And if they've got the commitment to do this then why don't they just go and get a job? The only reason I can think of is because it's actually quite profitable for them not to.

I actually see these people arriving by bus at 8am, while I'm out walking the dog, every single day. I don't know where they live. But they jump off the No. 11 bus every morning and plonk themselves down in their spots.

BUT.................. the homeless people are very, very different from the beggars. The homeless people are the ones that really need help. The homeless people are the ones who wander around carrying a few plastic bags containing all their worldly belongings with them. They're not begging. They're just wandering about aimlessly because they have no where else to go. However they're all also congregating on the pavements in sunny spots to drink their cans of cheap lager. They have nothing else to do. I'd probably be doing the same if I was homeless. What else do they have to look forward to?

After one week in lock down all these homeless people and beggars had disappeared off the streets. Apparently, if the news is to be believed, they'd been re-homed in empty airbnb's and hotels?? After two weeks they'd all reappeared. Not really quite sure why because no one had any spare cash. No one in fact was actually carrying any money with them because 99% of the shops were only accepting card payments. So after three weeks they'd all gone again. And now I haven't seen any of them for about 4 weeks.

Looking at the homeless people and the beggars from the view point of me..................... a middle class single ranting spinster.................. I have a few things to say about this. I may be right. I may not. To be honest I probably don't have enough knowledge to rant about anything on this subject. But this blog is how I see things from my point of view....................

The beggars, in my area, the ones who (pre-Covid 19) arrive every morning on the No. 11 bus and sit outside their preferred shop and have obviously got the commitment to be there because the same one's have been there for 4 years to my knowledge. And I'm probably going to sound like a 'middle class' busy body here; but; if they've got the commitment to do that then why don't they just go and get a job? …...........Probably because they can make more begging than they can in a minimum wage job??!!

The so called 'homeless people' in my area are not actually homeless. I know this because I have a friend who works with them. They may all sit around during the day drinking their cans of lager in sunny spots on the street but at night they all have a room to go home to in a hostel.

Anyway the point of this blog is....................... it's very strange wandering around the streets and not seeing the beggars/homeless people. I can't help wondering where they all are and what they are all doing. I know we've all got to stay at home but if you're used to spending most of your life out on the street how on earth are these people going to cope cooped up indoors?

It will be really interesting to see if they re-appear once the lock down restrictions are lifted.

See you all tomorrow.

Toodles.