Sleeping rough in the Snow

Six hours ago I was being picked up from Colchester's high street having spent 12 hours in the snow and temperatures of -3. This was undoubtedly one of the most punishing experiences of my life, and my friend Will who was my street sleeping partner shared these sentiments. We rocked up with multiple layers, cardboard and sleeping bags, despite wearing three pairs of socks within minutes I could no longer feel my toes. Our bed for the night was inside the doorway of a British Heart Foundation shop positioned not very far away from the Colchester SOS night bus - which was to form in part some of the evenings entertainment.

In amongst the good things which happened we were offered just under £40 for our efforts (on top of the £1100 already raised in sponsorship), were brought some left over roast dinners, offered biscuits, a portion of chips, a coffee, a tea, some hot chocolate. It was all good natured stuff until the early hours when people started leaving the clubs. From about three onwards it was so loud, so many young ladies screaming and shouting "come on Chelsea you need to stand up", "thats it we are so finished", and a few classics such as "fuck you". We had a couple of strange people questioning the merits of our cause, one drunk (rather worryingly wearing nurses uniform) accused us of not being 'for real' because, in amongst several things, we were only doing it for a night. There were a couple of very young lads whom started off by holding the view that all homeless people were the product of their own self-making and that they 'should have done better at school' - by the end of our discussion they had been won over and went to donate cash to the SOS bus. Then there was a very angry young man with what appeared to be a lovely girlfriend, whom had to apologise for him, who accused me of being a fake because I 'was sleeping'. I did point out that it was gone one in the morning and that I was tired.

We met several homeless people, one of which I'd seen around Colchester many times and often wondered what his story was. Shaun, a heavy drinker and on heroin, had been on the streets for five years and he was looking for 'a break'. A friend came to see us at some mad time close to five AM by which time the police had done a sterling job in driving/organising for everyone to get home. The amount of late-teenage girls wearing backless dresses and high heals was incredible and no doubt like I they will currently be in doors in a world of pain.