Saturday, October 20, 2007

In danger

On Friday 12 October, I narrowly avoided again being assaulted in the porch we sleep in at night. This time Declan woke to noise only to find a guy with one foot in the porch coming straight for me (I sleep on the outside so that Declan can sleep with our well-tied bags). Declan actually stopped the guy from stepping on me with an outstretched hand, shouting "What do you think you are doing?" To this day we still do not know if this guy had intended standing on me, probably breaking a few of my ribs. Then a few hours later Declan had to sit up again to another guy who also wanted to have a go at me. Oh I forgot, the next morning we woke up to an empty can of Red Bull, only to discover that someone had thrown the contents of it all over our sleeping bags and ground sheet.

Friday appears to be the day of the week when I am particularly at risk. The last time I was assaulted – a guy that didn't like "f****** tramps" repeatedly kicked me in the chest and shoulders – was on 21 September, er, a Friday. And on 4 May, oh another Friday, I was assaulted twice (a guy dragged me out of the porch by the ankles and a few hours later I was kicked in the back). And although not just directed at me, on 7 September (yet another Friday) somebody threw a glass of beer all over us as we slept.

So mindful that the next Friday (that is, yesterday) Declan might not wake up in time to prevent me ending up with something fractured, both he and I spent all week working non-stop on a petition to the United Nations in relation to human embryonic stem cell research. This petition was posted yesterday evening in one of these online petition sites and we will next be contacting prominent scientists and academics who might be interested in the petition's proposal, and perhaps put their name to it. (Last night in the porch was pretty quiet: with the exception of a guy who at 5.00am on the button – the time we get up Monday to Friday – passed by the porch roaring something at us, there was nothing else. Even the porch's floor, which I have to clean with water and paper every single night, was clean.)

On Thursday evening Declan's pitch – where he sells The Big Issue magazine – was taken over again by The London Paper, a free tabloid owned by News International of Rupert Murdoch's New York-based News Corporation. Under the Big Issue code of conduct a vendor can't argue with another street trader over pitches, so Declan had to leave. We didn't sell much last week and now find ourselves with 15 magazines which we bought but were unable to sell. Oh, well.

Declan phoned the Big Issue and also emailed the Big Issue outreach manager. There isn’t much more Declan can do, having been told by John Bird, the founder and editor-in-chief of The Big Issue, in a letter of 10 September, to more or less stop bothering him. This is his email on Thursday:

Subject: The London Paper

Dear Paul

Further to the graphic telephone message I left for you this evening with David (surname unknown), please find below copy of my email of even date to the Executive Chairman of News International, Mr Les Hinton, regarding the takeover again this afternoon of my Big Issue pitch by The London Paper.

Yours sincerely,
Declan Heavey
Badge no. 1163

------------------

Dear Mr Hinton,

I refer further to my letter and enclosure to you of 31 July 2007, a copy of which I sent by fax and registered post to the Chairman & CEO of News Corporation, Mr Rupert Murdoch, and wish to confirm the takeover again this afternoon of my Big Issue pitch outside McDonald's on Liverpool Street by The London Paper.

Yours sincerely,
Declan Heavey

cc  Mr Nick Hallett, Distribution Manager, The London Paper
     Mr Paul Joseph, Outreach Manager, The Big Issue


The main problem with selling so few magazines is that this weekend we can't for example put together a few pounds to buy food for Saturday and Sunday, never mind a cup of coffee. I wanted to spend a couple of hours begging on Friday afternoon – yes, I am afraid that on top of everything else, I also have to beg people for some change, which is illegal by the way – but we realised that it was more important to get the petition posted before going back to the porch for the night. Last night when we were walking to the porch we were both so hungry we decided to walk back to Sainsbury and buy a cheap packet of biscuits for 33p.

The subject-matter of the weather is currently on the verge of replacing the hunger though. According to the Met Office’s website, next week temperatures will be “below normal with overnight frosts”. Temperatures now don’t go above 12C or 13C, which would be fine if a person wears a jumper, a coat and a cap. Admittedly I do have an autumn coat, which was given to me by a customer who normally buys the Big Issue from me, but underneath all I have to wear are light long sleeve tops. When I asked the Sisters of Mercy nun who is in charge of clothes in the Dellow Centre (the only centre we can now attend for showers, coffee and a cereal breakfast since the minister’s wife of the Methodist Church-run Whitechapel Mission barred us on 18 June due to concerns about our safety) for warm clothes on 8 October, she didn’t even give me a cap.

So my feet are usually cold, and so are my ears (I found a scarf a few days ago) and when I stand in my Big Issue pitch, especially between 7.30am and 9.10am, I totally understand the meaning of the expression “cold to the bone”. At night I am also cold and would be colder if Declan hadn’t found me a very big plastic sheet, which I use to wrap around my sleeping bag once I am inside it – I have to punch holes in it to try and stop my sleeping bag from getting damp, defeating the purpose, I suppose. If we ever get off the streets, and it won’t be thanks to the helping hands of those organisations whose purpose it is to help homeless people with whatever they need, Declan and I intend working for NAC 24/7, if only to avoid being put back on the streets.