Just over a month ago, I found myself unexpectedly ‘homeless’ after a period of living a life that could not continue as it had. I have had struggles with business situations and spent much of the year prior looking after someone in France I had never expected would become dependent upon me.

The toll of the stress of the latter matter was followed by my return to London to deal with the former and in the next months, I clearly did not focus upon things that really mattered. It is no one’s fault except my own that I let things spiral, but when I found myself without permanent accommodation, reality truly hit and hit it did hard.

In early September, I found myself forced to go into ‘survival mode’ and now I feel it right to thank those who’ve so generously helped me and to share the experience of what I have discovered on my route thus far. It is not a joyous tale and it is one that I hope will soon be over, but here below I offer some thoughts on what I’ve discovered thus far.

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Surprisingly, there are many positives, but without the generosity of the friends that haven’t actually given up on me and strangers even, I do believe I will get through this. We are all supposedly two pay cheques away from being homeless and for a time even one of The Two Fat Ladies television chefs, Clarissa Dickson-Wright, found herself homeless and ‘residing’ in a coal hole near Buckingham Palace. She fixed it and so can I, but this could happen to any of you and I truly now feel affinity with those who are in a far worse position than me.

All help, kindness, encouragement and support has been and continues to be truly appreciated via PayPal. I hope these tips provide some help to at least someone who finds themselves in a similar situation to me.

Thoughts about and advice if you (hopefully don’t) find yourself in my situation in a large city like London…

  • If you’ve suddenly got nowhere to go, hotel booking sites and Airbnbs are the first place you might go to get a deal on accommodation if you have the ready funds. They’re actually more expensive than booking direct.
  • A direct deal with a hotel, hostel or short rental is often at least 20% cheaper than these sites. Try to find a way to meet the owner or manager.
  • Certain days of the week, especially Saturday nights, are the worst nights for securing accommodation especially in areas where there are such things as football grounds that attract away team fans. Prices rocket during this period and accommodation availability vaporises.
  • Do not listen to those who tell you it is cheaper to go to places far, far away always. On occasions it might be, but the prices in other regional locations are actually at a similar level and in some places even higher. Equally, if you have to return for meetings, the cost of travel in #BackwardsBurnham Britain is a killer; train travel has become vastly expensive in this country sadly, for example.
  • In the daytime, one can sit in cafes, bars, hotel foyers, libraries, museus and restaurants. Friendly places let you use their Wi-fi to work and do admin; some places such as Pret stores don’t want people lingering and thus have turned off plug socket power sources. Equally, as one wise lady has repeatedly told me: “The best restaurant is the restaurant that knows you best” and it is paramount to remember such and to behave properly in such settings.
  • At night, at times when you have nowhere to go, there truly aren’t many places you can go in Sadiq Khan’s non-existent 24/7 London. Such places as McDonald’s on Kensington High Street, however, are open 24 hours a day whilst their branch on Brompton Road, Knightsbridge opens at 5am daily. In the latter, I met several people who go there each morning to sleep. A cup of tea is just £1.59 and you can sit there for several hours and even plug in devices. The staff did not object to those quietly dozing from 5am and did not appear to have a problem with one or two who had even brought their own provisions.
  • I was told about night buses being great places to while away a lonesome evening whilst without anywhere to go. They are warm and you pay just £1.75 for any single fare. An N9 bus from Aldwych to Heathrow Terminal 5 takes about 1.5 hours and thus you pay £3.50 to go there and back; 3 hours in which you can spend enjoying the joys of reading. However, avoid night buses that go through areas where there are nightclubs at weekends. They fill up with drunken clubbers and aren’t quite as pleasant to traverse the night upon.
  • Heathrow Terminal 5 itself was perfectly civilised to sit for a little while during the night. Again, plug sockets and bathroom facilities are available. There were many who appeared to have realised this snoozing and though the fake pensioners who made such notorious back in 2015 Alan Lane and Katrina Smith weren’t there, there is a Pret and an M&S open for refreshments throughout the night. The bus stop for a return to London is right in the terminal entrance.
  • The kindness of friends, acquaintances and even those one hasn’t even met can be astounding. I dared to humiliate myself by asking for help on social media. I was met mostly with generosity in terms of help, advice and support. I certainly received a fair amount of criticism, but I now know that one’s true ‘friends’ actually do show up when others melt away.
  • Finally, don’t give up. In this sorry saga, I have met people in far worse situations than me. Somehow, one gets through the dark times and when the better days come, I will truly now actually remember who the good folk were.

Follow Matthew Steeples on Twitter at @M_Steeples.

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