Covid and begging

[Streetwalker]

Its impossible to separate the needy from what are basically professional beggar's so its best not to give any of them anything . And that includes Romanians  selling the Big Issue .

[srb7677]

Thanks John but it's Manchester,what is the sun?

It's even rarer in Liverpool....


Billy Bragg - Never Buy The Sun - Studio Version - YouTube

lol

[johnofgwent]

Thanks John but it's Manchester,what is the sun?

Ah yes, 450 watts per square metre in a good day. Well, that's one way gone south. Ah well

[cromwell]

How charitable are you feeling ?

The thing on top of my laptop is a solar powered USB charger. It cost me about a tenner on one of those Chinese crap sites. Regrettably ones experience can vary with these things but it is supposed to gather enough from the sun to keep a phone charged up if you plug it in at dusk. Mine just about does.

Thanks John but it's Manchester,what is the sun? 

[johnofgwent]

I always look at it that there  but for the grace of god go I,there's an old guy who sits on a traffic island by the entrance to Aldi,I always give him the cash and when I remember a book I've read.


When I say old probably same age as me,he sits there always reading a book and we have a brief chat usually because some impatient arsehole hoots their horn and all charitable feeling disappears as I shout some profanity in their direction. 

I have an old but still ok kindle I could fill with books for him but he'd need access to power to charge it but I haven't seen him for a while probably due to the crap weather.

How charitable are you feeling ?

The thing on top of my laptop is a solar powered USB charger. It cost me about a tenner on one of those Chinese crap sites. Regrettably ones experience can vary with these things but it is supposed to gather enough from the sun to keep a phone charged up if you plug it in at dusk. Mine just about does. 

[cromwell]

In the run up to a Christmas several years ago - no covid back then - I was walking through Plymouth City Centre towards the bus stop and I noticed a young woman huddled in a shop doorway, trying to keep warm in the cold under her blanket. She was not actively begging at the time but I felt sorry for her. And it was nearly Christmas. And I'd had a few drinks. And as well as feeling sorry for her I was feeling my customary shame at a country that allows this to happen. I had a tenner on me as well as enough change for the bus stop. I gave her the tenner, unbidden, and told her to buy a hot meal in the morning. She loooked very grateful and thanked me.

Now I am a realist. I know that some people on the streets have drink or drug problems, though this is far from true of everyone. I know there is a chance that my tenner could have paid for more drugs or booze. Fact is I had no food or drink on me to give her, all I had was the tenner. I like to hope that perhaps she was somebody genuinely down on her luck who was going to eat well the next day, but cannot know either way.

The important thing about it for me personally though is that I gave it for all the right reasons of altruism and compassion. Just this once, I did not walk on by. When my days on this earth are over and the good I have done in life is weighed against the bad, that is just one more little thing on the good side.

Were I to walk past someone very similar in similar circumstances today, though, I would have nothing to give. Like most people today I rarely carry cash anymore, which probably makes it harder for anyone begging whether for genuine or illicit reasons.

I have noticed the change in retail these past ten years. When I started working in this sector in 2012, at least half of my customers still paid in cash. Now I would guess that it is only about 1 in 20 who do. The only time I ever have cash on me is when I get my mum's cat food and she pays me in cash for it.

Cash is fundamentally wastefull. If you break into a note you get given some loose change back, the smaller bits of which never get spent. Use a tenner to buy something for £9.85 and you get 15p back in mickey mouse money which you never spend and often just dump in a charity box. If you pay the same amount by debit card you only pay the exact amount. Cash thus tends to be inherently more costly than card in practice, because of the mickey mouse money change you get that you never faff about spending.

I always look at it that there  but for the grace of god go I,there's an old guy who sits on a traffic island by the entrance to Aldi,I always give him the cash and when I remember a book I've read.


When I say old probably same age as me,he sits there always reading a book and we have a brief chat usually because some impatient arsehole hoots their horn and all charitable feeling disappears as I shout some profanity in their direction.  

I have an old but still ok kindle I could fill with books for him but he'd need access to power to charge it but I haven't seen him for a while probably due to the crap weather.

[johnofgwent]

In the run up to a Christmas several years ago - no covid back then - I was walking through Plymouth City Centre towards the bus stop and I noticed a young woman huddled in a shop doorway, trying to keep warm in the cold under her blanket. She was not actively begging at the time but I felt sorry for her. And it was nearly Christmas. And I'd had a few drinks. And as well as feeling sorry for her I was feeling my customary shame at a country that allows this to happen. I had a tenner on me as well as enough change for the bus stop. I gave her the tenner, unbidden, and told her to buy a hot meal in the morning. She loooked very grateful and thanked me.

Now I am a realist. I know that some people on the streets have drink or drug problems, though this is far from true of everyone. I know there is a chance that my tenner could have paid for more drugs or booze. Fact is I had no food or drink on me to give her, all I had was the tenner. I like to hope that perhaps she was somebody genuinely down on her luck who was going to eat well the next day, but cannot know either way.

The important thing about it for me personally though is that I gave it for all the right reasons of altruism and compassion. Just this once, I did not walk on by. When my days on this earth are over and the good I have done in life is weighed against the bad, that is just one more little thing on the good side.

Were I to walk past someone very similar in similar circumstances today, though, I would have nothing to give. Like most people today I rarely carry cash anymore, which probably makes it harder for anyone begging whether for genuine or illicit reasons.

I have noticed the change in retail these past ten years. When I started working in this sector in 2012, at least half of my customers still paid in cash. Now I would guess that it is only about 1 in 20 who do. The only time I ever have cash on me is when I get my mum's cat food and she pays me in cash for it.

Cash is fundamentally wastefull. If you break into a note you get given some loose change back, the smaller bits of which never get spent. Use a tenner to buy something for £9.85 and you get 15p back in mickey mouse money which you never spend and often just dump in a charity box. If you pay the same amount by debit card you only pay the exact amount. Cash thus tends to be inherently more costly than card in practice, because of the mickey mouse money change you get that you never faff about spending.

But as you know, a bank mafia bastard takes a cut of every one of those transactions. With cash he can only screw one person.

[srb7677]

In the run up to a Christmas several years ago - no covid back then - I was walking through Plymouth City Centre towards the bus stop and I noticed a young woman huddled in a shop doorway, trying to keep warm in the cold under her blanket. She was not actively begging at the time but I felt sorry for her. And it was nearly Christmas. And I'd had a few drinks. And as well as feeling sorry for her I was feeling my customary shame at a country that allows this to happen. I had a tenner on me as well as enough change for the bus stop. I gave her the tenner, unbidden, and told her to buy a hot meal in the morning. She loooked very grateful and thanked me.

Now I am a realist. I know that some people on the streets have drink or drug problems, though this is far from true of everyone. I know there is a chance that my tenner could have paid for more drugs or booze. Fact is I had no food or drink on me to give her, all I had was the tenner. I like to hope that perhaps she was somebody genuinely down on her luck who was going to eat well the next day, but cannot know either way.

The important thing about it for me personally though is that I gave it for all the right reasons of altruism and compassion. Just this once, I did not walk on by. When my days on this earth are over and the good I have done in life is weighed against the bad, that is just one more little thing on the good side. 

Were I to walk past someone very similar in similar circumstances today, though, I would have nothing to give. Like most people today I rarely carry cash anymore, which probably makes it harder for anyone begging whether for genuine or illicit reasons. 

I have noticed the change in retail these past ten years. When I started working in this sector in 2012, at least half of my customers still paid in cash. Now I would guess that it is only about 1 in 20 who do. The only time I ever have cash on me is when I get my mum's cat food and she pays me in cash for it.

Cash is fundamentally wastefull. If you break into a note you get given some loose change back, the smaller bits of which never get spent. Use a tenner to buy something for £9.85 and you get 15p back in mickey mouse money which you never spend and often just dump in a charity box. If you pay the same amount by debit card you only pay the exact amount. Cash thus tends to be inherently more costly than card in practice, because of the mickey mouse money change you get that you never faff about spending.

[Borchester]

We shouldn't give cash anyway. Buy them a meal or a drink. Before there's a wag attack - not alcohol.

Before the arrival of the Chink Cough I would hand over my loose change and beg them to spend it on drink and drugs

"Dope will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no dope."

Freewheelin' Franklin

[T00ts]

We shouldn't give cash anyway. Buy them a meal or a drink. Before there's a wag attack - not alcohol.

[Barry]

You could still write him a cheque, Borky. 

[cromwell]

I have just been stopped by a beggar who asked if I could spare some change, and I was forced to reply that I was very sorry but since the start of this flu nonsense I have stopped using cash and now rely exclusively on my debit card.

How many more of our traditional industries will fall before the Peking Pox?

Well those little card readers are getting cheaper by the day 

[Borchester]

 I have just been stopped by a beggar who asked if I could spare some change, and I was forced to reply that I was very sorry but since the start of this flu nonsense I have stopped using cash and now rely exclusively on my debit card.

How many more of our traditional industries will fall before the Peking Pox?