Knights of the RoadYou see little evidence of the homeless, in an urban sense, squatting in cardboard boxes in Berwickshire. I suspect our resident Big Issue seller stationed, from time to time, outside the Duns Coop is unemployed rather than homeless as Big Issue sellers generally were. We once had an itinerant (Tramp? in old money) camping in our local Episcopalian church but he moved on with little to say for himself as to his circumstances.
As we were leaving St James, Piccadilly on Wednesday, a large, macintoshed, untidy gent with several plastic bags was moving in, presumably for a nights shelter. The well heeled departing congregation seemingly avoided his eye as they hurried off for a bean feast at the nearby BAFTA building, not that he was soliciting donations, spare change or otherwise. A fellow guest at the reception, who had noticed his arrival told me of a similar encounter at St Martins in the Fields. Someone noted a 'down and out' coming into the church and made some comment about seeing a lot of vagrants around. The person concerned, stopped and said with great dignity 'I am no vagrant; I am a
dosser.
Demonstrating that even in the most straitened of circumstances the Knights of the Road, as romantic Victorian novelists occasionally described the tramp fraternity, maintain their standards.
Labels: Dossers, Duns, homeless in Berwickshire, Knights of the Road, Tramps, Vagrants
