Have you ever had to sleep rough?

minidazzler

pappyodaniel wrote: »

More than once. The first time was years ago when I was about 19 and couldn't getta taxi back from Limerick to Shannon so off I set walking the 12 or so miles home. I made it about 8 miles and was wrecked so I sat down under a flyover for a break and then fell asleep. About an hour later I was awoke by a concerned motorist who on his way to work spotted what he thought was a dead body. He was relieved to see I was alive and I was more relieved and grateful for the offer of a lift home the rest of the way.

I've slept on a bench in Eyre Square in Galway, and once outside Euston Station in Dublin also which was probably the scariest night of my life.

I reaally can't understand why you didn't stick your thumb out? Unless you did and limerick people are just pricks, if you have to walk that distance you may as well thumb a lift, someone will stop and if they don't then you are simply at sqaure one of walking.

Cee-Jay-Cee

I slept in central railway station in Munich for nearly a week, i was homeless and penniless. I didnt eat for nearly 3 days and was weak with hunger. I eventually got money i was owed from a job i had left and stuffed myself stupid in BK. While in BK i spotted a charitable soup kitchen at the end of the platform in the station...i was so annoyed that i had gone so long without food or drink and there was a soup kitchen less than 200m from the locker room i slept in each night. I continued to sleep in the station for another 4 or 5 days as my money would only strecth so far and eating was more important than accomodation. It was a fairly enlightening experience!

Temptamperu

I slept rough once when I was in amsterdam, I dont remember leaving the pub i was in but I woke up and have never felt as cold in my life.

ScumLord

Slept on a footpath the night before La tomatina, the people I was with were at it before and picked a spot right in the middle of the action. I woke up surrounded by people, stood up and got a blast of freezing water in the face off a massive hose on top of a truck.

BlimpyBoy

Me and a mate slept on benches in Maynooth one night (probably rag week). Couldn't get a taxi anywhere. There were loads of crows in the trees that my mate was convinced were bats.

After it started to get bright in the morning we went to the 24 hour Tesco to get some ham, crisps and Club orange and walked down the canal to Leixlip for some reason. By the time we got there the morning buses were running.

Weird night.

petethebrick

Woke up in a multistory building under construction having even made a little bed of styrofoam to sleep on. I had been on an all day bender the day before, I didn't have a clue where I was. I wandered outside, up a hill to a main road. I had been out drinking in Dublin city center the day before so got a fair shock when I saw a signpost that said 'Dublin 25km' or something like that. I was in Wicklow somewhere :o:o:o:o
I had also lost my wallet so had to get a taxi home and get my mate to pay for it. Still don't know what happened - just thankful it wasn't a monday morning I woke up there surrounded by builders

Roar

slept outside the train station in rome after missing the last train to the airport and all the taxis were on strike.

it was horrible, i'd get a few minutes sleep and wake up paranoid that i was about to be robbed. some extremely dodgy characters around.

jester77

Myself and a mate slept on the ground of the train station in Amsterdam, my mate was rudely awakened by a boot to the midriff by a security guard, thankfully my mates roar was enough to wake me and spare me from bruised ribs!

df1985

Slept on the floor of barcelona airport after missing a connecting flight home.

Hammered and woke up in hedges on a roundabout in tenerife....

Fishooks12

Slept in a kennel out side a local co-op after a heavy night out in my home town

RichieC

Bout eleven years ago I missed the last dart and bus out of Bray so I creeped into the station, pulled a dart door open and kipped on the seat.. I gotta tell you it was pretty awkward when I woke up to the dart moving up onto a packed platform

bonzodog2

I slept on a bench at Fishguard ferry terminal after walking 18 miles overnight from Cardigan, getting there too late for the ferry, so I had to wait 12 hours for the next one.

AnonoBoy

No. I don't think I have.

Not much of a contribution to the thread I agree but still one must be honest in these situations.

blorg

First time was in my school days, I had gone to a party and had nowhere to stay so I slept in a park. What I didn't figure on was the cold; got hardly any sleep.

In college after a hard night one summer I woke up at 6am lying in the middle of a cricket pitch in Trinity. Had to go to work that morning, and being conscientious, I didn't think to call in sick. Worst day of my life but I think I got away with it. Summer though so I actually slept.

Slept in the desert in Syria but was woken up by a big scarab beetle biting my arm so I put up my tent. Apart from that plenty of camping across the Middle East and Tibetan Plateau but always in a tent.

Have slept in an unoccupied Turkish army post in Kurdistan, a store room, a corridor, a cupboard and a mosque in Iran. Once slept on a roof in India under a tree full of monkeys but for some reason it seemed to be their night off. Every other night they were stealing food and rummaging around bags and bins.

The main problem with sleeping rough though I think is the cold; if you are too cold you just won't be able to sleep, I think your body keeps itself awake to stop you getting hypothermia. It must be very hard living on the streets in Ireland, I really feel for anyone I see in that position.

Batsy

In 1998, when I was in the Royal Navy my ship, HMS Exeter, spent several months in refit.

When it came out of refit we celebrated by each inviting a family member or friend onboard as we sailed from Portsmouth to Cherbourg for a few days' holiday (except those people who had to stay on duty onboard).

I invited my brother. We sailed over to Cherbourg on the northern coast of France. Me and my brother booked a hotel with a nice view and a fridge with plenty of little bottles of various alcoholic spirits in them.

We spent the first night getting nice and merry on all the alcohol. The next day we noticed that Bayeux isn't too far away - it's about ten miles away, I think - so we decided to get on a train there and see the Bayeux Tapestry.

When we got to Bayeux we decided to see what time the last train back to Cherbourg is. It was at 11pm. We then went to the museum and had a look at the Bayeux Tapestry. I think we also went to a few bars and had a few drinks.

When 11pm neared we went back to Bayeux train station to get the train back to Cherbourg. The station was empty and the building was closed and locked. But we stood on the deserted platform waiting for the train in the cold. 11pm came and there was still no sign of the train. 11.15pm came and there was still no sign of it. So we started to get worried.

We then walked to the main building of the window and peeked throught the windows. Screens with the trains times on were still switched on inside it. We then realised to our horror that the times were in 24 hour clock and that the 11 o'clock train back to Cherbourg was 11 o'clock in the morning. So we missed the last train back.

We therefore decided to find a hotel to stay in. We spent ages wondering around Bayeux trying to find a hotel. Everyone we saw seemed to be closed.

Eventually we found one that was open and we thought out luck was in. So we went in only to be told it was fully booked for a group of German and American tourists but that we could return in the morning for breakfast.

we eventually saw another hotel - which was closed - and we just decided to sleep outside it. We sat down with our backs against the wall and tried to sleep. But we couldn't because it was freezing cold. After about an hour we got up and spent the rest of the night just wondering the deserted streets of the town.

When morning came we went back to that hotel with the American and German tourists and had croissants for breakfast, then we finally caught the train back to Cherbourg.

u_c_thesecond

when i was 16 i went to cashel co tipperary with friends on the promise we could stay overnight in one of the lads houses. Of course his mother knew nothing of this and by the time we found out we had nowhere to kip it was 9pm and we had no way home.

So went uptown and there was a closed down pub, managed to get in a back window and sleep in there. Actually had a great nights sleep

Dr conrad murray

one night i slept in a phonebox

Celly Smunt

slept rough in Soho for a week after spending my money on coke and hoes.(this time for real)

uch

Had to sleep in a bus shelter in the Netherlands for a few weeks in the early 90's, went over for a job and the fuker I was meant to meet for the job had scooted off to Berlin for his holliers and forgot about me, prick!

Celly Smunt

uch wrote: »

Had to sleep in a bus shelter in the Netherlands for a few weeks in the early 90's, went over for a job and the fuker I was meant to meet for the job had scooted off to Berlin for his holliers and forgot about me, prick!

did you get the job when he came back?

Kanoe

went to spain on a whim when I was younger, had 2 year old kid with me and had arranged to stay in friends gaff only they were out drinking all night and had locked the place up so I couldn't get in, spent the night wandering around resort town mid winter with kid in stroller until they arrived back home at noon the next day, after I gave them a bollocking they threw my stuff out on the street so I ended up wandering again. Bumped into a guy who happened to be the manager of a big well known nightclub who offered us a place to stay that night and then offered me a job in his bar with accommodation the next day. Would have been on the street otherwise.
(actually was offered 3 different jobs by three different people and the two girls were blacklisted from working anywhere in the resort..yus boi)

(and yes I know not smart with a kid but things were different then)

Ghost Buster

I slept in the phone box with my girl friend. It was outside Cambells pub at the foot of Croagh Patrick. We were 16 and hitching to Old Head camp site a few miles further on. We had drink with us and were tippling as we hitched. Eventually we realised that we were very very drunk and it was pissing rain and 2 am so we made it to Cambells and crashed in the phone box. And no it wasnt romantic or snuggly and we didnt get up to anything. This was one of those horrible old concrete boxes with a big gap all around the bottom. Fecking wet , cold and uncomfortable.

Oh yeah. I must add that I was a long gangly 6" 1" teenager so spent most of the night with my knees up around my ears.

Peetrik

Slept outside the train station in Nice in the south of france once after missing a train.
Turned out to be a hangout for the local homeless and winos. Was looking dodgy but I was befriended by a very large Lativan man who had been rejected from the French forign leigon because of mental issues... he scared anyone who tried to hassle us off and despite what all those episodes of 'Oz' would suggest he didnt try to rape me. Phew.

Wattle

Slept in a graveyard after being out the night of the leaving cert results. I definitely felt like a zombie the next morning.

CucaFace

Had to sleep in a phone box years ago in Dingle.

It was the warmest place I could find.

Longest Night of my life.

superrdave

Two years ago, I went to Old Trafford for a United match on a Tuesday night. Plan was to get the train and overnight boat back to Dublin. I get the train to Chester expecting to catch a train to Holyhead in time for the boat. I get to Chester and find out the train is only going to Rhyl (not halfway along the line) and there will be a bus to Holyhead, not in time for the ferry. So I am sitting waiting in the tiny waiting room when two lesbians and a gay guy come in and offer me a beer (why not?) and have one with them. Down the platform, two drunken bums (with their two little dogs) are arguing. So we get on the train when it comes and when the lesbians and the gay guy understand my predicament they offer to let me stay with them in Bangor for the night. I politely decline. While on the train, there is a louder argument down the corridor from the bums. One of the lesbians, facing them, spontaneously jumps up and shouts and runs down the carriage to the bums. Turns out the man bum had hit the woman bum. Not really acceptable to someone who is probably a feminist. Anyway, we get the Rhyl, and she tells the bus driver not to let them on the replacement bus, but he does anyway. It is now about 1 a.m. He lets them on. At the same time, about half a dozen drunken teenagers get on, sit down the back with the junkies and start singing. The same song. Over and over. With the mentally challenged junkie joining in. Anyway, the bus driver is talking to this sixteen year old looking girl the whole time (seems like his girlfriend, tbh, a bit of an age difference) while flying down the dual carriageway in the pouring rain. The lesbians tell the teenagers to shut up but they respond it is their night out and they'll do what they want. So we keep going when one of the teenagers comes up to the bus driver and asks if he'll drop him off at the next roundabout (bout three miles away) cos it is close to home. The bus driver asks if the train stops at his house. He is perplexed. Bus driver says it is a rail replacement bus and only stops at train stations. Teenager kicks off, starts swearing at bus driver. He slams on the brakes and tells teenager to get off, cos he won't be verbally abused. So he is thrown off, but kicks at the doors, nearly breaking them. We continue on towards Bangor. The lesbians again tell the kids and the bums to shut up, cos by this stage it is 2 a.m. On the way into Bangor, they argue some more and the female bum punches one of the lesbians. As you do. So the bus comes to a stop upon being told (screeching, slams on the brakes, while we are heading down a steep hill). The cops are called. While we wait for them, a white Vauxhall Nova pulls up behind us. Who jumps out of the back seat but the kid who was thrown off the bus ten miles back. He starts berating the driver for throwing him off in the middle of nowhere in the rain, when the driver tells him that the cops are en route. Him and his friends quickly scarper, in the nova. The cops show up, take statements from all (I saw very little, my back was to the fight and I didn't see it), and arrest the female bum and give the lesbians and gay guy a lift home. The male bum thus walks off down the street with the two dogs, leaving only me and three others on the bus. So, we get the Holyhead at about 3:30 a.m. (the boat left at 2, I think) and try the Holiday Inn or Travelodge across the road. No rooms. ****. Nowhere else in town. So I try to sleep on a metal bench in the train station / ferry terminal. While there, a small kid is running through the place, in and out the automatic doors, so the place is absolutely freezing, it being March. I get no sleep whatsoever, and eventually get the ferry home at midday the next day, having to plead with the Irishferries ticket desk to let me home. So, I get on the ferry and discover the ferry is going to Dun Laoghaire not Dublin port, where my bike is. Argh!

John Doe1

Havent slept rough, but ive slept with some rough ones *boom* *tish*:cool:

IrishZeus

superrdave wrote: »

Two years ago, I went to Old Trafford for a United match on a Tuesday night. Plan was to get the train and overnight boat back to Dublin. I get the train to Chester expecting to catch a train to Holyhead in time for the boat. I get to Chester and find out the train is only going to Rhyl (not halfway along the line) and there will be a bus to Holyhead, not in time for the ferry. So I am sitting waiting in the tiny waiting room when two lesbians and a gay guy come in and offer me a beer (why not?) and have one with them. Down the platform, two drunken bums (with their two little dogs) are arguing. So we get on the train when it comes and when the lesbians and the gay guy understand my predicament they offer to let me stay with them in Bangor for the night. I politely decline. While on the train, there is a louder argument down the corridor from the bums. One of the lesbians, facing them, spontaneously jumps up and shouts and runs down the carriage to the bums. Turns out the man bum had hit the woman bum. Not really acceptable to someone who is probably a feminist. Anyway, we get the Rhyl, and she tells the bus driver not to let them on the replacement bus, but he does anyway. It is now about 1 a.m. He lets them on. At the same time, about half a dozen drunken teenagers get on, sit down the back with the junkies and start singing. The same song. Over and over. With the mentally challenged junkie joining in. Anyway, the bus driver is talking to this sixteen year old looking girl the whole time (seems like his girlfriend, tbh, a bit of an age difference) while flying down the dual carriageway in the pouring rain. The lesbians tell the teenagers to shut up but they respond it is their night out and they'll do what they want. So we keep going when one of the teenagers comes up to the bus driver and asks if he'll drop him off at the next roundabout (bout three miles away) cos it is close to home. The bus driver asks if the train stops at his house. He is perplexed. Bus driver says it is a rail replacement bus and only stops at train stations. Teenager kicks off, starts swearing at bus driver. He slams on the brakes and tells teenager to get off, cos he won't be verbally abused. So he is thrown off, but kicks at the doors, nearly breaking them. We continue on towards Bangor. The lesbians again tell the kids and the bums to shut up, cos by this stage it is 2 a.m. On the way into Bangor, they argue some more and the female bum punches one of the lesbians. As you do. So the bus comes to a stop upon being told (screeching, slams on the brakes, while we are heading down a steep hill). The cops are called. While we wait for them, a white Vauxhall Nova pulls up behind us. Who jumps out of the back seat but the kid who was thrown off the bus ten miles back. He starts berating the driver for throwing him off in the middle of nowhere in the rain, when the driver tells him that the cops are en route. Him and his friends quickly scarper, in the nova. The cops show up, take statements from all (I saw very little, my back was to the fight and I didn't see it), and arrest the female bum and give the lesbians and gay guy a lift home. The male bum thus walks off down the street with the two dogs, leaving only me and three others on the bus. So, we get the Holyhead at about 3:30 a.m. (the boat left at 2, I think) and try the Holiday Inn or Travelodge across the road. No rooms. ****. Nowhere else in town. So I try to sleep on a metal bench in the train station / ferry terminal. While there, a small kid is running through the place, in and out the automatic doors, so the place is absolutely freezing, it being March. I get no sleep whatsoever, and eventually get the ferry home at midday the next day, having to plead with the Irishferries ticket desk to let me home. So, I get on the ferry and discover the ferry is going to Dun Laoghaire not Dublin port, where my bike is. Argh!

Dear sweet jesus - paragraphs!!! Please!!!

Mike 1972

blorg wrote: »

Have slept in an unoccupied Turkish army post in Kurdistan.

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

UglyBolloxFace

I'm sorry - I never do this but I couldn't help myself and had to format your post properly; absolute hell to read.

superrdave wrote: »

Two years ago, I went to Old Trafford for a United match on a Tuesday night. Plan was to get the train and overnight boat back to Dublin.

I get the train to Chester expecting to catch a train to Holyhead in time for the boat. I get to Chester and find out the train is only going to Rhyl (not halfway along the line) and there will be a bus to Holyhead, not in time for the ferry.

So I am sitting waiting in the tiny waiting room when two lesbians and a gay guy come in and offer me a beer (why not?) and have one with them. Down the platform, two drunken bums (with their two little dogs) are arguing.

So we get on the train when it comes and when the lesbians and the gay guy understand my predicament they offer to let me stay with them in Bangor for the night. I politely decline. While on the train, there is a louder argument down the corridor from the bums.

One of the lesbians, facing them, spontaneously jumps up and shouts and runs down the carriage to the bums. Turns out the man bum had hit the woman bum. Not really acceptable to someone who is probably a feminist.

Anyway, we get the Rhyl, and she tells the bus driver not to let them on the replacement bus, but he does anyway. It is now about 1 a.m. He lets them on. At the same time, about half a dozen drunken teenagers get on, sit down the back with the junkies and start singing. The same song. Over and over. With the mentally challenged junkie joining in.

Anyway, the bus driver is talking to this sixteen year old looking girl the whole time (seems like his girlfriend, tbh, a bit of an age difference) while flying down the dual carriageway in the pouring rain. The lesbians tell the teenagers to shut up but they respond it is their night out and they'll do what they want.

So we keep going when one of the teenagers comes up to the bus driver and asks if he'll drop him off at the next roundabout (bout three miles away) cos it is close to home. The bus driver asks if the train stops at his house. He is perplexed. Bus driver says it is a rail replacement bus and only stops at train stations. Teenager kicks off, starts swearing at bus driver. He slams on the brakes and tells teenager to get off, cos he won't be verbally abused. So he is thrown off, but kicks at the doors, nearly breaking them. We continue on towards Bangor.

The lesbians again tell the kids and the bums to shut up, cos by this stage it is 2 a.m. On the way into Bangor, they argue some more and the female bum punches one of the lesbians. As you do. So the bus comes to a stop upon being told (screeching, slams on the brakes, while we are heading down a steep hill).

The cops are called. While we wait for them, a white Vauxhall Nova pulls up behind us. Who jumps out of the back seat but the kid who was thrown off the bus ten miles back. He starts berating the driver for throwing him off in the middle of nowhere in the rain, when the driver tells him that the cops are en route. Him and his friends quickly scarper, in the nova.

The cops show up, take statements from all (I saw very little, my back was to the fight and I didn't see it), and arrest the female bum and give the lesbians and gay guy a lift home. The male bum thus walks off down the street with the two dogs, leaving only me and three others on the bus.

So, we get the Holyhead at about 3:30 a.m. (the boat left at 2, I think) and try the Holiday Inn or Travelodge across the road. No rooms. ****. Nowhere else in town. So I try to sleep on a metal bench in the train station / ferry terminal. While there, a small kid is running through the place, in and out the automatic doors, so the place is absolutely freezing, it being March.

I get no sleep whatsoever, and eventually get the ferry home at midday the next day, having to plead with the Irishferries ticket desk to let me home. So, I get on the ferry and discover the ferry is going to Dun Laoghaire not Dublin port, where my bike is. Argh!