Homelessness In Portsmouth

TUESDAY 19^th JUNE 2012. Tonight we see JIM, TINNY, PAUL, JIM (from palmeston road), FRANKIE and a new lad called GRANT.

Again I met up with my friend Jim, He really enjoyed coming out last week and wants to come out when he can, I am happy with this as he had a very gentle approach to people and the guys seemed to take to him as well which is always a plus as we need these guys to gain our trust. They get a lot of abuse being on the streets, as I said in previous weeks so it is nice for them to have a friend who they can trust and talk to.

We went to the hostel first and dropped off the left over bread then went to Portsmouth harbour to see Tinny and Jim. Jim was saying that he and kevin were hoping to go back to Liverpool to find work next Monday so we may not see them again, hopefully they will have a better chance in Liverpool.

When we finished with these two we drove around for a while then we went to Osborne road where we found Paul. He was looking quite well considering and he was pleased to see us as I haven’t seen him around for a few weeks.

We moved on to Elm grove and stopped to see Frankie, she was very sweet to us , she thought Jim and I were a couple but we set her straight telling her we have our own partners. Frankie kept wanting to kiss Jim, think she has a soft spot for him. As we were giving her food a friend of hers came along to take her somewhere else, Frankie got up and started hurling a load of abuse at a security guard in the co-op and also the shop staff. Jim and I decided to move on as we didn’t want to get involved with this sort of thing, we did try to ease her away but she wasn’t having any of it so we went on.

We went to Albert road where we see the other Jim, we have seen him a few times before, he was in the Marines for many years then ended up on the streets as he could get a job in the civvy world, absolutely terrible. He didn’t look too good but I suppose rough living does this to you. We also spoke with a new guy called Grant, he occasionally stays with his mother but spends most of his days and night on the streets. When we finished chatting with these guys I took Jim along the seafront so we could get an ice cream, we parked up by the fun fair got an ice cream and walked towards old Portsmouth to see if we could find anyone else.

We headed for home after that