I went to visit a tent on Saturday (in the midst of Storm Amy).
I didn’t start from a position of ‘stupid fuc*ing bellend camping out here in this weather’
I started from a position of ‘i bet myself a pound the person in that tent is pitched there in a storm because he needs to be’
And he did.
On any other given Saturday i might have asked him to pack up and repitch his tent somewhere more discreet and after dusk, but this chap was cold even in his doss bag because of the soaking he got walking there from the station after getting the first train he could after a difficult night shift.
He eventually opened the tent door like a field mouse emerging from under a lot of layers, and the first thing he said left me feeling deeply embarassed for this country …
‘My name is M____t but i have been here in Sheffield for 16 years, here is my home’
To which i replied, ‘mate i couldn’t give a shit if you were orange, pink or red or if you had landed from Antarctica, Africa or Mars, this is NOTHING to do with ethnicity or nationality and everything to do with how you are as a human out here in this god awful weather. How are you doing mate ?
He believed that there was a link between ‘where he was from’ and whether he was allowed to be there.
He needed sleep, warmth and to be left alone. He was given my phone number and an assurance that if he needed any help before dawn the next day it would arrive.
Unsurprisingly he declined extra food from my car. I decline food from my car tbh.
He needed ‘time out’ and the company of the rain hammering on his tent and the bellow of the stags, before he made his way back to the station at dawn. Then back to the factory. Probably a bit damp and smelly but probably a lot better off for it.
I absolutely get the comments by some mountain rescue teams regarding unnecessary call outs in atrocious weather, but what does need to be borne in mind is that some people can’t choose when they need to escape. Can’t wait for the storm to pass.
As a society we’re far quicker to scapegoat than to care.
Kindness costs nowt.