Home.Less.

Thick layers of clouds cover the beauty of this relaxing city. Strong wind gusts and showers go on and off but it does no harm to friends and families going out in the weekend. A street band with trumpets, guitar, saxophone and drums performing near the well-known Roman Bath Spa, attracts few dozens of people stop and listen. It fills with a shield of joy and happiness.

An old man sits in the corner, a worn, shabby red vest and a dog curls up under his feet. He is holding a magazine.

“Big Issue,” he pauses. “Big Issue, anyone?” he looks down and pats his dog. The man is about 50 with a bushy silvery white beard and wrinkles around his forehead. He looks cold and tired as he puts on layers of thick coat and bulky sweaters under the little red vest printed the words ‘The Big Issue Official Vendor’.

People walk past without a glance, ignoring the man and avoiding his eyes.  They chat, laugh and rush by as if the man is invisible to the world. He looks up at them and looks down again. He has nothing to do; he has no money to shop around or to buy a cup of Americano to warm his body. He stays quietly with his dog and waiting for a chance. A chance that people will stop by and buy a magazine from him.

According to the Government, the total number of people sleeping rough in London last year was 2309. However, local authority, Broadway, suggests the real number is almost three times that amount, with one estimate putting London homelessness numbers at 6473 in the same period.

People usually label homeless people as bad people who are uneducated and commit crimes. Homeless people, or rough sleepers, they do not plan to live on streets; they have a reason behind for doing that. Most of them are skilled and intelligent and they have no difference like us.

The Shelter, one of the charities concerning homeless people in the UK, founds that a breakdown of a relationship is the major reason of people becoming homeless. Some are being abandoned by their parents and the majority of these are from single families. Some people become homeless due to financial difficulties that they are unable to pay bills and mortgage, and get into heavy debt.

For female rough sleepers, their reasons for becoming homeless are mainly to escape from an abusive and violent relationship. They lose their belongingness in this society and slowly get forgotten by the people. They become invisible.

It is always not difficult to recognize that there are quite a lot of rough sleepers. Amirah Chaudry, a journalism student from City University London says, “I turned them down every time when they asked for spare change or to buy Big Issue. I feel really sad because they have not got a family or security that they need for life.” But in struggle of human emotions, Amirah is afraid that this would make them become more reliant to begging, “It’s about trust issue. They take us for granted as they will rely on the money that we give them,” she adds.

But then, she reminds one of the homeless people sitting outside the Sainsbury’s that she used to work and he surprises Amirah.

“He is so polite and greets people nicely. ‘Good morning, lovely. Going to work today?’ He is a nice person and sometimes we give him a piece of chocolate or pizza, we know he is hungry and has no money to buy any food,” she says.

The man will go to that Sainsbury’s every day, from early morning till late night. He does not have thick clothes to wear during winter. She continues, “I remember one time, he walked one of our girls to the bus stop because he knew it was dangerous for a girl to travel back home at night. I don’t know why he become homeless but I feel sad for him.”

Homeless people need the society to care, to accept and to understand. People can help by offering them a job or giving donations to charities or organizations for homeless people.

The sky gets darker, the temperature drops. On the streets of Bath, people are all on their way home, the street band is packing their instruments, with smiles of satisfaction. At this moment, the guitarist walks toward the old man and gives him a five pounds note. The old man looks at him and takes the note.

“Cheers,” he says, with a grateful gratitude and walks away with his dog. He still has his Big Issue holding but he is contented. He walks into a supermarket with his five pounds note.