Sleeping Rough

I knew that I had everything that I would need although wondered how realistically to take the experience.  I have a sleeping bag, I've seen homeless people with them - I'll take it. I've a ski jacket from 'The North Face' with three layers and toggles everywhere, that's probably not standard issue - should I take it or not?  I was in an odd position of trying to be vaguely realistic and not wanting to contract hypothermia.

I decided to go with bin liners as rain protection but forgo the cardboard to sleep on, I'd later be extremely worried about my lack of faith in its insulating properties.  I took a thermos of hot chocolate, decided to leave out the alcohol but add ginger for an extra kick of heat. A sleeping bag, a scarf, gloves, hat, thermal shirt and pants, and thick socks made my outfit; I wasn't taking any chances.  It wasn't until a colleague inquired about my salopettes and asked if I skied that I remembered that they had 'Tommy Hilfiger' and the logo branded across the leg; at that moment I felt like a bit of a fraud.

The aim of Safe@Last's 'Big Sleepout' is that people raise money and awareness of child homelessness. The charity provides shelter, support and advice to children who are desperately in need of it and regardless of my views on adult homelessness I have an unequivocal view on child homelessness.

At quarter to eight I bundled myself up and was given a lift to the carpark in Barnsley where we were to spend the night. There was a young reporter there with a cameraman and photographer who documented our arrival and asked for an interview. I stammered my way through a pretty rubbish response that you can witness for yourselves due to the wonders of YouTube.

There were nine of us taking part and spirits were high as we spread out the enormous cardboard boxes that the Deputy Head had been given by a generous benefactor.  At first it had the feel of a camping expedition; there were jokes and stories, food and drinks were shared around and it was quite a mild evening considering it was the end of October.  There was gentle ribbing at the science teachers for giving astronomy lessons and the College Principal came by to wish us well and provide us with a warming boost.  We migrated from standing to sitting on our bags, getting into them and then cobbling together makeshift pillows.  When we actually began considering sleep it became a little more serious.

It was mightily tempting to build a cardboard fort

I took my shoes off on getting into my sleeping bag and immediately regretted it so they went back on.  A short while later keeping gloves on inside the bag felt much better than not.  I've been camping before but never had I stayed out at this time of the year and never without a shelter. When the movement in the bushes next to me began the talk of rats started and then it was a difficult thought to shift; five minutes later and I moved the bag containing a bar of chocolate away from the head of my sleeping bag.  After staring up into the sky for two hours watching bats and owls pass overhead the cold set in and I retreated inside my bag.   The last thing I remember was seeing 02:26 on my phone through half closed eyes; by that point I had pulled my hood up over my woollen hat and tried to pull together the top of the sleeping bag.

A barking dog awoke me, it can't have been very close but its persistence made it feel only metres away. With the sound eating away my sanity I pulled my scarf further up around my head and tried to block it out, I was too cold to take my gloves off to check the time. I drifted off again.

A shudder jolted me awake and like a dive into a cold pool I felt drenched in cold.  The cardboard beneath me was keeping me dry and not as cold as but the air was bitter; it hadn't dropped below freezing but it didn't feel like hyperbole to say that I felt that it had.  I lay there and ran through what I had on and knew there wasn't anything that I could do about it but wait.  After what felt like ten minutes I decided that there wasn't any chance of sleeping again, I checked the time: 05:14.

Ten minutes of silence and shivering went by before I remembered my plastic bags, they were nearby but spreading them over me would disturb the others.  I weighed my options for a few minutes, the repercussions of waking people next to me versus how cold I felt.  I knew that I would have to cave eventually but fortunately a whisper of "I am so cold right now" penetrated the hat, scarf, hands and sleeping bag that I had wrapped around my head.  I grabbed the plastic and unfolded it out over us.  There was an immediate relief but that too began to wear off.

At five thirty the street light nearby clicked on and it became clear that all nine of us were awake but had been staying silent through a mix of energy conservation and not wanting to disturb anyone who was sleeping.  We started to move and pick up our things.  By six I was holding my thermos' cup in shaking hands sat in my bosses car waiting for my lift back home, all I could really think of saying was the mundane but entirely relevant "I am so cold".

When I did arrive back home just after seven o'clock I decided against going to sleep, I wanted to continue the experience of making it through the day but as it was Saturday I sat on the bed and pulled the duvet around me.  By eight I still had all of my thermal wear on and had folded the duvet over so that it doubled the layers; it still didn't feel enough.  At nine I still felt cold so got up and made myself a warm drink and put the heating on, it wasn't after an hour sat against the bedroom radiator that I began to feel more normal.  The rest of the day was ordinary enough until around four when I was struggling to keep my eyes open and passed out on the sofa.

I am twenty-five and have had parents and people around me to act as support, in that respect I know that I am fortunate.  I am also fortunate that I had the choice to spend my night the way I did but it isn't simply fortune that means I have a home, job and food; I work hard and have earned my middle-class luxuries.  That being said some young people have no such familial safety nets.  I slept out to gain an experience of what it feels like and I know that with all of those fancy layers and fabrics I couldn't have coped through a some of the conditions that are thrown up in Winter.  Charities like Safe@Last help make sure that children don't have to live like that.