Getting to know the homeless in Manchester: Simon

I was waiting for a friend of mine outside Piccadilly station on a Sunday morning, gutted and upset that I had just bought a cold chicken pasty from Greggs. I was warned and advised to wait for the fresh batch to come out, but I didn’t listen.

When I left the station a man came up to me asking for spare change. He could tell I didn’t look too pleased and then asked if I was OK, to which I replied “yeah a little bit, I just bought this pasty and its cold.” He laughed and said “I thought you were upset about something serious! A cold pasty should be the least of your worries”. I felt bad, stupid in fact as I could only imagine how crazy he must have thought I was. I gave him some change and meekly offered him the pasty, warning him that it was cold and I’d taken a bit out of it, half expecting him to say no. “Miss, anything will do right now”, so I gave him the pasty and some change, asked him his name. I think he said Craig. Then off he went to continue begging.

Just as the lights finally turned green, another person came up to me asking for change to buy coffee. He was homeless too and was holding the McDonalds hot drinks stamp voucher (if you buy 6 hot drinks from McDonalds you get your 7^th one free). I could see he had one more sticker to go until his next free hot drink. I asked him how much money he needed to buy his coffee and he said he needed 30p more. As I reached into my purse I thought of a better idea.

“Why don’t we go to McDonald and I’ll get the coffee, you save the money you have now”. He was shocked and kept on asking me if I was sure and that I really didn’t have to,but I insisted it was okay. His name was Simon, and our short journey to McDonald gave me a chance to speak to him and ask questions like what exactly happened to him and why is he living on the streets.

Throughout the years of becoming acquainted with homeless people, what I’ve learnt is that behind every person living on the streets there is a story with circumstances that have led them to where they are now. Poor decision making teamed with a lack of guidance truly have detrimental consequences, their stories have helped me to realise that it can happen to even the best of us.

In Simon’s case, he moved into a house with his long term girlfriend of 12 years giving up his own home to live with her. They planned on getting married and having children until one day he arrived home to find her crying in the living room. He asked if everything okay but he clearly knew something was wrong. She replied “It’s not working out”.

He came home to a crying girlfriend of over a decade with his bags already packed sitting at the top of the stairs and just like that, at 2 am in the morning with no real family or friends, Simon was left destitute and homeless. He says this only happened 3 months ago but I have a feeling he’s been homeless for much longer.

I asked him many questions, including who do you think is responsible for keeping people off the streets the council or the government? Of course the answer was both parties are responsible, to which I will all of us should take our share of the blame.

These people have or at least once had dreams and aspirations like you and me, but were merely unfortunate. They may not have got off to a great start in life or opportunities may never have presented themselves to better their lives. Yes, sometimes poor decisions are made but not everyone has friends and family to rely on in those situations.

So many factors can contribute to a person becoming homeless, so to judge them without knowing their story I believe is wrong. I got a call from my friend asking me where I was as she was waiting for me, thus my conversation with Simon ended. I thanked him for allowing me to speak with him and dashed off to meet my friend.