Homelessness In Portsmouth

THURSDAY 29^TH MARCH 2012. Only found 3 regulars tonight, JAMIE, IAN AND PAUL. R.I.P NEIL

You may have noticed that there is no write up for last week but that was because I was without a car. I had a bit of a problem with my brakes, actually that’s an understatement, the truth is that my pads and discs were badly worn , so much so that my mechanic said he has seen nothing like it in his life. I told him that I didn’t realise but I am only a mere woman after all, ha ha. I then got them sorted and was preparing to come out Tuesday (27^th). On my way home from work my car started jumping/juddering, tuned out it was my spark plugs and I needed a coil pack or something, anyway my mechanic said he would fix it by 18.30 that evening so I packed the car up with all I need for the run that evening, including flasks of hot soup ready to go when he had fixed the problem. The evening ticked by and he eventually turned up but by that time it was too late to go out. I unpacked the car, chucked away the food and went indoors and just cried, what a week !!! Expense I couldn’t afford and I felt so guilty that I hadn’t been out to see the guys. Things could only get better surely ? I kept in touch with Chris as he had a phone and he updated others for me, just wanted them to know that I wasn’t making excuses and am trying my hardest to sort things and I missed seeing them all.

Anyway, we eventually got out tonight, car working and just enough petrol, threat of petrol strike caused me a few problems too ha ha but I won’t go into that now.

I went round to pick Courtney up, half an hour earlier than usual time then we headed straight to the Hard, no sign of Tinny, Chris, Jamie or Timothy. I decided to phone chris but no reply so I tried Jamie, he answered and said he was on his way, in fact he was on the other side of the road. We had a very long chat, talked about how he is looking for work now and is trying to get his life back on track. I told him that I need a few jobs doing around my house soon as I am in the process of a fostering application and would like all the jobs done for when/if I get accepted.

Jamie is a qualified electrician and Chris was a painter and decorator, I think people forget that the homeless people did have normal lives at one point, with families and homes.

Jamie said they would love to help. Jamie phoned Chris to find out where he was and he said he was out and about with tinny and would be back later. Jamie gave me the phone as Chris and Tinny wanted to wish me a happy Easter bless em. I gave Jamie an Easter egg as well as soup and bread. Chris asked me to leave his soup and bread with Jamie so I did; I also made a couple of rolls for Tinny and left them with Jamie along with their Easter eggs.

We went down to Osborne road after and found Paul sat outside the bank. We took soup and bread over to him. I asked him if he was alright as he didn’t look good. His reply was “no, im fed up with life and everything”. I asked Courtney to go to the car to get an Easter egg for Paul to try and put a smile on his face. Paul was so sad, he said that he is angry with himself also as he feels he has been lying to me all this time. When I asked him how he has lied, he said that he has got a flat. He also said that he stays out as much as he can and does sleep rough too, he doesn’t like going home as his flat is full of drug users and drinkers, people just keep coming and going and he can’t even go to the police about it. Paul said he just wants a normal life, work, home etc. He was crying so much it broke my heart, I asked him if he wanted a cuddle, he held me so tight he took my breath away. He seemed a bit happier after and he said I was the genuine caring one, no one else cares for him. Poor little sod, I could quite easily of taken him home to look after, don’t think my old man would have been very happy though. We left Paul when he stopped crying and told him that we are always here for him.

We drove around a little to find more homeless but only see Ian. He too was in a bit of a state, he was talking to us when a guy I have fed and clothed before (Faz, 5th and 24th Jan 2012) came over and started speaking with Ian, he had a loud woman with him. This is when Ian said that Neil (last seen by me 1^st March 2012) with the dog had died about 2 weeks ago. According to Ian Neil’s body was found in the stairwell of a block of flats, he died of an over dose, apparently he done his own heroin injection then shortly after someone else put another needle in him, this is what killed him.

Ian had slept rough with Neil for about 6 months. Neil was a lovely caring man, just because he had a heroin addiction didn’t mean he was a bad person. He always had a lot of cuddles for me and I will miss seeing him around. Ian said that Neils father was due over from south Africa to see him any time soon, what a shock he will have when he finds out about his death and the way he lived his life, poor man.

We headed home after that feeling a bit raw after a very sad evening.