London for ever - 18

18.

And he ended up with another series  of insults, among which I distinctly grabbed a " to hell  all the clowns in uniform!" And while he was saying these last words he was already away, ready to resume his personal research, God only  knows of  what or whom.

The dormitory of these bums is outdoors, at the back of the underground stations: Charing Cross and Victoria Station are the most popular. They are wrapped in cardboard or in a sort of sleepingbag in order to protect themselves from the damp walls and the cold soil and from the icy wind that often blows from the nearby Thames. The lucky ones, however, come back to sleep in the suburbs, in some damp under-stairs flat or in some sordid little room, among rats and waste of every kind. 

Nevertheless, they preferred all this to public dormitories, for the truth not very numerous but certainly more comfortable, above all for the fact that such hospitality was subordinated to the acceptance of a general program of recovery and social reintegration that they, obstinately, refused to comply with.

There was also someone completely asocial, who even rejected the company of the other tramps and in fact it was always seen alone.

18. to be continued...