Posted on :
00:51
| By :
Kim-Leng
Walking down the path near where my parents live in Kent, you see nothing but pristine gardens, sparkling as the sunlight reflects off the snow and sends the avenue into a glistening world of wonderment. The town is pretty quiet apart from rush hour when everyone commutes to pick up their children from school, or are heading back from work. Spending my schooling years in that town was quite frustrating due to a lack of anything to do to keep us entertained, and a lot of my friends lived in other villages which made it hard to hang-out and do things together, but regardless, I never really saw many homeless people around our area. Even in surrounding towns, seeing anyone sleeping on the streets was quite a rare sight; even when growing up and being in Malaysia, there are so many people there that doze in the street along the sidewalk or in doorways that you can't tell if they're homeless or not. So the aspect of living out on the streets never really hit me that hard... Well, not until recently. Last Summer I watched a BBC documentary about homelessness in London where celebreties lived on the streets whilst each being paired with a homeless person. I came to realise I had met and spoken to a lot of the homeless people who had featured in the documentary, and felt incredibly grateful to have taken the time to get to know them.
We've all experienced being so cold that we can't feel our faces, or realise that snot's been running down our chin for the past half an hour because we're too numb to feel it. And even when we've realised how silly we must've looked to other people, we secretly embrace the embarrassment because it heats our bodies up for a few seconds or so. Plus I'm sure we've all experienced the horrific discovery of having no gas during the Winter months, so you spend hours praying for heating and hot water; using the heaters on the bus to warm yourself up with and buying piping hot drinks and putting your face over them just so you can feel some heat. Or perhaps dancing around the automatic hand dryers to continuously keep your hands/face/body warm before someone gets too suspicious and asks you to move away. I remember feeling so cold once, I would go to work and deliberately stand under the boiling hot light display just so I could warm myself up and experienced instances where the customers thought I was a mannequin. Then comes the day, lo-and-behold, the boiler decides to work. The complete and utter relief and happiness that rushes through you when you stand in that shower and hot water finally comes out. You spend a good ten minutes shouting "THANK YOU GOD!" even though you may not believe in one.
Today on the Guardian News, I read this:
Extreme weather warning as Britain braces for snowstorms
Blizzards and up to 15cm of snow expected as arctic temperatures make winter coldest for 13 yearsBritain is standing by for more icy weather tonight as snowstorms move in from the North Sea where they have been gathering since early this morning.Arctic temperatures will accompany a front that looks certain to make this winter the coldest for 13 years.
The Met Office said it was classifying tomorrow's expected snowfall as an "extreme weather event". The warning covers the south-east of England, including London.
"This is likely to be the heaviest and most widespread snowfall across England since January 2003," Tom Defty, the head of forecasting operations at MetService, said.
"Parts of south-east England, including London and eastern England, will see anywhere from 10cm [4in] to 15cm [of snow], and perhaps above 20cm over the higher ground."
.... Forecasters are predicting average wind speeds of between 25 and 30mph, with much fiercer gusts. Gale force strengths could be reached as the storms move over warmer land and gather pace.People across the country were warned to wrap up warm and avoid unnecessary journeys.
Stephen Davenport, of the MeteoGroup forecasting group, said: "In places, it will feel several degrees below because of wind chill."
The AA's spokesman Andy Taylor said: "Don't treat your car as an overcoat. If you break down you are suddenly vulnerable to the weather.
"That especially applies if you are on a motorway, where safety advice is to get out of the car and wait behind the barrier. Unless you have extra clothes, you really could be flirting with hypothermia."
But it was whilst listening to him that I began wondering where he goes at night and whether or not he was homeless. He seemed well-kept, but I also knew he was out there everyday until the stupidly late hours of the night, but then again, I could be completely wrong. The thought just grew and grew, given that it's so cold and the snow was coming I just became increasingly bothered by not only the thought of him possibly living out in the streets in the freezing cold, but all the other hundreds who have to do the same.
Continuing our walk to Waterloo and over the bridge practically confirmed this; a man was huddled in only a blanket on Waterloo bridge. He was shivering so much and his clothes looked thin, people were giving him change to get hot drinks, and my boyfriend began unzipping his jacket. The homeless man and I watched him in disbelief as he took it off and folded it over the guy's lap and said "I just got a new jacket so you have this. Do whatever you want with it, wear it, sell it, but just do something that'll keep you warm." The both of us were in awe, the homeless man (I wish I knew his name as this whole 'homeless man' labelling really just feels wrong) was so grateful and I was so happy that I'd witnessed a spontaneous act of kindness and that both of them benefitted from it. That perhaps this guy would be saved from hypothermia for a night and more to come, hopefully.
A few days passed and BT decided to send me yet another bill to remind me about how truly diabolical they are at being a business, managing, numeracy, logic and general customer service/satisfaction that I had a bit of a negative hour or so. I'm always a very happy-go-lucky type person who takes smiling and laughter as a way of dealing with life's dark sense of humour, but BT like to kill this upbeat side of me sometimes. Anyway, when that phase disappeared and the reminder of my ongoing illness made its comeupance, I almost chose to curl up in bed again to be warm and try to go to the Land of Nod but decided against it. Instead, I got on the bus and headed into Central.
I saw a homeless man sitting along The Strand outside McDonalds curled up in his sleeping bag. He wasn't even begging, it was a blizzard at the time, and the cold was even hurting me so much that I couldn't hold anything in my hands as it was so painful. He was hunched over a little book, completely motionless. A few nights before, I had come out of Waterloo station and saw two men squeezed between the wall and the back of two ticket dispensors -- I don't know how they even managed to fit down there, but they were huddled there trying to shelter themselves. On The Strand, looking around me, it killed me seeing all these people going about their business; thing is, they were all beautifully dressed, umbrellas, warm coats, hot drinks, it felt wrong that another human being was just curled up on the floor in a snow storm just not moving and being ignored by other human beings who could obviously see him but did nothing to help. I was on my way to get ingrediants for a meal I was going to cook my flat mate, I was heading to M&S, now the fact that's such an expensive posh nosh supermarket to buy food from I figured I'd be just as bad to walk past him. I seriously wouldn't be able to live with myself regardless I was heading there or not, but it merely amplified it.
I kneeled down in front of him and started talking to him, his head was still lowered and he gradually looked up at me with the most beautiful bright blue eyes. I asked if I could get him anything warm to eat or drink. He asked for a coffee, kept saying he was so thankful. I ran back with one from Cafe Nero, knelt down in front of him again, did my trademark bow (for those of you who know me, you'd understand!) and handed it over to him, holding onto his hand. Amidst shock that someone was actually giving him physical contact as well as buying him a drink, he kept saying thank you over and over again.
The weather report I mentioned earlier states about the warnings to people with cars, houses, thick clothes, to not go outside and if they do; they should wrap up warm. But what about those that are already out there? Destined for hypothermia are they? It bothers me becuase I don't have all the money in the world for me to rectify the situation, if I could, I'd rescue them all and help them, but I evidently can't do that.
Sometimes I feel like my head's in a Walt Disney film where I live by unrealistic expectations of happiness and utopic scenarios. If only.
0