TUESDAY 24^TH APRIL 2012. Tonight we see CHRIS, ZOE, LEE, TINNY, JIM AND IAN.

Liam and Harriet wanted to come out this evening as they haven’t seen anyone in a while. We started at the Hard interchange as usual and see Chris, Zoe and lee. I have been unable to see them for 2 weeks as I was working in Wiltshire for a few days then went to Cornwall for a little break. Chris came straight over to the car to give me a hug, was a nice feeling to have been missed ha ha. We gave soup, sandwiches, chocolate bars, crisps etc. to all three and had a little chat. Lee was hanging around quite a bit so I couldn’t talk to Chris and Zoe properly. If you have been reading this blog then you will know that Lee has a wife, 3 children and a 3 bedroom house that he lives in, I still give him stuff so that he doesn’t take it off the others and I don’t want him knowing that I am aware of his situation in case he turns nasty on the others or us. We went over to where Tinny was sitting and fed him, he told me that he had a head ache but felt better than he had as he has been feeling poorly the last few days, poor Tinny, he always seems to pick up some illness, probably due to sleeping rough and being run down. We carried on with our round and found Jim sat outside Robert Dyas in Palmerston Road. He was not in a good way, said he was very tired, he kept falling asleep during our conversation, possibly drug induced. We gave him some food and went on our way. I drove around some new roads to find other places that homeless may hang around but no joy so we then made our way to Albert Road where we spoke with Ian. He was back to being his normal self, previously he was run down due to death of his friend so it was nice to see him lokking better. We fed him and he asked if I had any size 10 shoes, his had big holes in them.I said I bring him some down with me next week if I couldn’t get them to him the weekend. After Ian we took a drive to Mill house to give them a load of bread and rolls I had left over. The people running Mill house will dish out the bread at meal times for the homeless they have there. A local bakery give me rolls and bread when I need it, I just make a phone call and pick it up hours before I go out to the homeless so it is always fresh. I make up the rolls at home with ham, cheese or any filling I have. Whatever is left over I give to hostels. 

MONDAY 2^ND APRIL 2012. I put an empty trolley in Tescos superstore in Havant for people to donate tins and packets of food. I did this at Christmas and it was very successful and had alot of donations. The trolley had feed the homeless this easter on both sides so no one could miss it..

TUESDAY 3^RD APRIL 2012. Tonight we see TINNY, CHRIS, JAMIE, PAUL, SEAN and IAN.

This evening we are meeting up with Ben Fishwick, he is at university doing journalism. He took an interest in my blog and contacted me to ask if he could do a story. Of course I said yes as I still want to make people aware of the real world beyond our doors.

It was a pleasure meeting Ben, such a nice polite guy.

I picked Courtney up at our usual time and headed to the Hard to meet Linda, she came over by ferry tonight. Linda had some sandwiches given to her by her friend so she brought them along. Today I heated some hotdogs and put them in a food flask but I came across a problem when trying to get them out as I had forgotten to bring a fork, it was so funny but we managed with difficulty with 2 plastic spoons.

Ben met us at the Hard where we met up with Tinny and Chris. Tinny was with a lady friend, she seemed nice to talk to. We gave Tinny and Chris a couple of hotdogs in rolls and some other bits. I got paid on Friday so I was able to buy a few treats as well for them. Tinny had a little chat with Ben which will help with his story.

We all moved on to Osborne road where Ben took us all for a coffee, Paul wasn’t there at that point but when we finished our drinks he had turned up. We fed him and had a little chat with him.

We spoke to Jamie a little earlier on the phone and he asked if we would go round to the house where he has a room, he wanted to show me a while ago but I never had the time. I told him that ben was with us and Jamie said to bring him along as he would like to talk to him about how he went from the streets to his new room and he also wanted to tell him how I still help him until he gets back on his feet. We all bundled into his house and he showed us around, it was lovely, very clean and tidy. On his dressing table was a photo of his daughter, he misses her so much, she is only a toddler.

We left Ben when we finished with Jamie, I did offer to drop him home but he said he didn’t have far to go.

Courtney, Linda and myself then went to Albert road where we see and fed Sean. I was chatting with him when Ben walked past; he said that there was another homeless guy down the road a little bit so we went down there to find Ian sitting there begging. We gave him all that he needed and had a little chat with him too.

We drove Linda back to the Ferry and then went on home.

THURSDAY 5^TH APRIL 2012. Courtney and I had a photo taken at Tesco’s with our homeless trolley. Ben organised this for his story.

SATURDAY 7^TH APRIL 2012. Went to Tesco’s to pick up homeless trolley. Very embarrassing to say the least. Only 2 tins of soup (of which I put in) 1 tin salmon and packet of super noodles. Looks like im going to have to find another way of donations so I can carry on with helping these guys. Funds are very very low for me at this time but I will get what I can when I can.

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.

TUESDAY 13^TH MARCH 2012.  We met 1 new guy tonight called PAUL. We also see CHRIS, TINNY, TIMOTHY, IAN and PAUL (our regular).

Courtney came out with me tonight, she enjoys what we do, in fact she has a favourite guy and looks forward to talking to him, Timothy is that guy, and Courtney loves his accent (American) and thinks he is sweet. Linda too came out, she met us at the hard in Portsmouth then parked her car and came out in mine.

Tinny was our first port of call, he was smiling as usual and was pleased to see us. Tinny doesn’t like soup so usually I make him extra sandwiches and bring him coffee. I am running out of soup and have now ran out of coffee, crisps, chocolate bars, sandwich filling, butter etc… the usual stuff we all take for granted, in fact the stuff I am using tonight is from my own cupboards. I have told everyone this evening that I have ran out of most foods for them but should be ok at the end of the month when I get paid. I won’t let them go without even if they only have soup and bread.

Next we spoke with Chris, he was not with Jamie which was unusual. Chris said that Jamie was sorting a few things out but may be around a bit later. We walked over and spoke with Timothy, he was with another guy called Paul. When I was speaking to Paul he was telling us that he has just got out of prison, we never asked what for as I was a little wary of him. We fed them both then moved on our way to Osborne road where we see Paul, he looked very low tonight, I asked him if he wanted to talk but he said no, he couldn’t. We gave Paul some soup and food and then drove around to find other homeless guys but we only found Ian.

Ian was in Albert road tonight, said he was hanging around there until he gets moved on of which he hopes he won’t. Ian is in desperate need of a cap as his one was lost, unfortunately I didn’t bring out any clothes tonight as I was late in from work and only had time to do the food. I told Ian that I would sort one out for next week.

We drove around a little more but found no one else so I took Linda back to her car and we all went home.