Sunday, November 13/2017

It's cold. Not cool, not chilly, cold. Bitter wind. OK, not as cold as much of Canada, and no snow - though temperatures in much of the UK outside of London will be below zero tonight. Robin Lustig, in his blog on Friday, laments the "real human misery" attendant on a welfare crisis and increasing homelessness, noting "last night, there were eight homeless people shivering beneath a railway bridge close to where I live in north London" whereas "a year ago, there were none". And this morning there is someone lying in a sleeping bag (which doesn't look thick enough) outside Bayswater tube station. A not uncommon sight in central London streets or in the long tunnels leading to Charing Cross tube station, but we've never seen it here before. Add it to the beggars regularly stationed outside Tesco's and McDonalds. The takings don't look very impressive, and the bits of blanket and newspaper seem pretty poor insulation on days like this.