This post is transferred from the homeless blog as part of the division of the blogs.

I am making a trip to London on Monday, this is to visit the Osteopath, collect my post and possibly get a free haircut at the hairdressing college. I have had three cuts there, the first one was fine, the second one was bad and the third one sorted out a bad cut and made it into the best most stylish hair that I have ever had, I have to say I have looked pretty ok with the last haircut, but it is growing out now.
The Osteopathy is very much needed as my head and neck are seizing up and painful, I have taken ibruprophen as it is the most effective even though I am not meant to take it due to my asthma.

Yesterday at the daycentre there was a very loud brash lad saying that this town  has nothing and was comparing it to London, my memory of London is fighting for soggy food on the strand and being hit and shoved out the way by immigrants, and endless walking to get a shower or medical treatment or anything, this town provides well for the homeless and has all the necessary facilities and shops, you can get a shower almost immediately, you can get good food with very little queing and you can get endless internet access and good medical care. I made the mistake of saying this and he completely rubbished me, why do I bother speaking to people who want to complain about the world? anyway, my final word was that you can when you are homeless you can complain about any town you like. Am I being arrogant? maybe, but if he is so bitter about this town then maybe he should simply move on, I found London harsh but there were things and people I liked there, daycentre staff, the people who did the Friday and Monday night food runs, my little group of homeless pals who I hung out with in the last month in London, treasure hunting on Waterloo Station, which always brought me money that had been dropped, travelcards, stickers for a cup of tea, all kinds of things. I even liked the sleeping area that I found but I was harassed there by the outreach and associated people, I remember being given a double duvet that I used as a matress and I used my sleeping bag as a covering and I was as warm and comfy as it was possible to be, lovely, until the rain came. London was ok, it was harsh because I couldn't walk well and there was so much walking, I also felt claustrophobic, and I got to a point where I couldn't get myself to the daycentres easily or fight for my food at the food runs.

so here I am, out of London.







London blogs: (the few months before I arrived here)

My memory of arriving in London is already clouded, but I know that when I arrive in a new town I am always worried about sleeping out because I don't know the people or the safe places, I rang a nightshelter but they weren't very helpful at all, I didn't know where anything was in London, soup runs, outreach, daycentres, I just looked at this huge city in awe and wondered how to survive, I knew from what I had heard that London is tough on rough sleepers, so I was worried, I had heard about people sleeping in the arches of the railway bridges at Waterloo, like they do in Glasgow, but no-one sleeps in the arches here, they have been driven out by the council, London councils drive the homeless out from everywhere as much as they can, and people who own or manage properties here enthusiastically join the council in ensuring that there is nowhere to sleep.
I look on my laptop for daycentres and homeless services, I find that there is a daycentre nearby that I can go to in the morning. I do not know if it will be worth accessing, but I will try.
After some time of looking for a sleeping place I find a possibility, a wasteground buildingsite, then I see a van and a truck parked up the road with people gathered round, a soup run! I am amazed at my luck, I go over and check that they are a soup run and I am handed soup and tea without questions, I like this, maybe in London no-one asks who you are, they also have sandwiches, I drink as much tea as I can, and I ask them if they are from a church, they say no, they are a community but not church-based, I am surprised, so many soup runs are church-based. they give me directions to their community as it is open as a daycentre 3days a week, and they tell me it is too far to walk. I wonder how i will ever get there then, as I have no money.
I daren't kip down on the building site in case there is security, so I keep walking, I find a park and settle down to doze behind a litter bin, I am cold with no blanket, unfortunately a few minutes into my doze a courting couple come along and don't see me and decide they want to do some very intimate things there, I tell them to hang on until I have gone, that scares the life out of them but I would rather warn them I am there and leave than any of us have the embarrasment of me witnessing them.

I go on and find more parks but no safe sleeping space, then I come to a church with gardens around it, loads of bushes and loads of hiding places, but then it starts raining, monsoon style.  I go into a nearby hotel and ask if i can shelter in their foyer, they don't turn a hair, they even put the internet on so I can use it while I wait for better weather.