Ta Chill Our Blood

How’re ya doin’? I hope that this letter finds you in great spirits and strong hope. I hope that whatever could go wrong today, doesn’t. And I hope that whatever went wrong yesterday is straightened out. The reason I have called this letter “TA CHILL OUR BLOOD” is simple, Canterbury ‘powers that be’ are doing their best to make life as uncomfortable, for the homeless population of this city, as possible. And that is a heartless agenda that chills my blood and most likely does no favours for yours.

YOU MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE NOTICED the FRONT PAGE of the KENTISH GAZETTE this week. On the page is a photograph taken in a Canterbury city subway. The photograph is of a couple of men, one appears to be begging, the other simply appears to be conversing with the first guy. There is plenty of space between the two men, one is sat huddled against the wall while the other is stood with his back a few inches from the opposite wall. The photographer had certainly chosen his moment well, the photograph features a woman walking through this subway and the photographer has waited to get a shot (taken from behind) of the woman as she is stepping between the two gentlemen. As you may have noticed (if you have seen the front page) there is plenty of space for the woman to walk through and yet this image has been used to support the article’s claim that this subway is an example of how threatening Canterbury’s subways have become.

HOW MANY HOMELESS PEOPLE DO YOU ACTUALLY KNOW? I AM HOMELESS. I have no place to call my own although I usually manage to find a warm place indoors somewhere to sleep. Still, there are approximately 30 people sleeping rough in Canterbury. One of these people is my friend, I’m gonna call him Benji (which is not his real name) in order to keep him anonymous. Now, Benji’s seen the front page of the KENTISH GA-FRICKIN-ZETTE and has read the article which begins “THEY ARE A HAVEN FOR BEGGARS, DRUNKS AND GRAFFITTI VANDALS” in reference to the subways. I have no idea who you are and what experience you have gathered in this crazy ride called life but I’m assuming that the Almighty has let ya loose on earth with a standard allowance of EMPATHY. I don’t care whether you pay your taxes, pay your library fines or contribute towards petrol money for your ride to wherever, driven by whomever, that’s none of my business. Also, to be honest, I don’t think that it’s any of my business whether you spare change for the homeless or not. The message here in this letter is not “give change or feel bad”, but the message is “there ought ta be a change before things get bad”.

LET’S LOOK AT THIS ARTICLE, SHALL WE?

OKAY! First of all… BIG BOLD UGLY WORDS. This is what they call emotive language. They are doing the same ol’ same ol’ “shock horror yadda, yadda, yadda”. They want to grab your attention with a menacing declaration. These words are as follows “THEY ARE A HAVEN FOR BEGGARS DRUNKS AND GRAFFITTI VANDALS”. They make it sound as though this was some type of INNER CITY “HOOD”. Then the second paragraph begins with the words “our city subways, used by thousands of people everyday, are smelly, litter strewn and threatening places”. First of all I want to know why this paper is making this issue a confrontation between “them an’ us”. In my humble opinion you can be homeless in Canterbury and still say that you live in Canterbury. So it follows that a homeless person has just about as much right to be in said subways as anyone that has a home. AND YET THE (lovable) KENTISH GAZETTE IS CALLING FOR A PERMENANT REMOVAL OF BEGGARS AND VAGRANTS. The article says that the subways have become threatening places. First of all, to be honest, I have never felt threatened in a Canterbury subway during the day EVER… I don’t even think that I’ve had the creeps in a Canterbury subway at night. Of course, it’s different for a woman but I have many friends who are women and they feel more threatened by your everyday wolf-whistling crew of Jack the lads then they do by needy unhappy people without homes who take to the subways in order to ask for money. The litter problem is most likely to be as much to do with school kids as it is anyone else (sorry kids). And the subways smell because 1. Their entrances and exits are open to the exhaust fumes of Canterbury’s ring road traffic; 2. People with home have dogs too and some of them are not above the notion of allowing their dog to urinate in the subway as they pass through; and 3. People urinate in the subways too. Why, perhaps even you may’ve been caught short in a subway too. And that just leaves the paper’s INSUBSTANTIAL CLAIM that the subways have become threatening places. Pubs can be threatening places. High Streets… schools… just about anywhere that you find a human being can be a threatening place, depending on the people there. The homeless of this town don’t have homes in which to rest and groom themselves like other more fortunate members of the Canterbury city population. They may argue amongst themselves and you may have been passing through the subway during a quarrel. It’s never nice when people argue, the vibe is always tense and uncomfortable but LIFE ON THE STREETS OF CANTERBURY IS giving homeless men and women more cause for anxiety, depression and desperation.

ARE YOU AWARE OF THE VAGRANCY ACT?

Let me tell you a little bit about it, LIKE HOW A MAN WAS ARRESTED FOR BEGGING AND FINED OVER £100. A person can be arrested for begging and held for hours. No-one comes to the high street and sits down and asks indifferent passers-by for money simply to kill time. A man or woman who does “beg” does so out of necessity, it is something that you do when you are DESPERATE. Officers exercising the Vagrancy Act have the power to move a person and to arrest the same person if he is caught begging again. This is a reality that a man or woman on the streets of Canterbury has to face. Also a person that is known to be homeless or known to be a “beggar” (these guys may ask you for hand-outs but I’ve not met one who actually gets down on their hands and knees and begs) can be stopped and deterred from the city centre. You see, they want to “keep Canterbury clean” even if it means dirty conscience. The VAGRANCY ACT also means that as soon as the multi-storey car park is “secured against the homeless” it will be ILLEGAL TO SLEEP ROUGH IN THERE. THIS TOWN IS LITERALLY ON THE BRINK of becoming somewhere where a homeless person can be arrested and charged for sleeping within the city walls. I mean, imagine if you got locked out of ya home tonight, or worse kicked out for good. Don’t just think about it FEEL ABOUT IT.

The Canterbury District Council want to spend £5000 on “securing” the new car park against the men and women that need shelter. Why don’t we ask them why they don’t spend that money on an alternative shelter for the homeless so that they won’t want to sleep in their frickin’ car park?

MUCH LOVE PEOPLE, I’LL BE IN TOUCH…! X

By John

Copyright March 2006