I was speaking to a couple of homeless Polish men recently.
One of them said he was very tired: he's working as a porter for a Mayfair hotel, for which he has to get up at 5.30am to receive deliveries. He had been to work on the Friday from 5.30 til the evening, and had then slept for two hours that night because he couldn't get a hostel place and was out sleeping rough, and then went to work from 5.30 all day again. I guess it must be cash in hand, otherwise he'd need a bank account and therefore an address. He said London isn't what he expected. He had a little bit of the dinner the shelter was serving up and then conked out on the camp bed.
I had a much longer conversation with the other guy. He said he's scared of the BNP. Not because of the possibility of them getting some political power (which even he didn't think was going to happen) but because of their influence on the ground. He said he encounters people who, as soon as they hear him speak Polish, or with his accent, they hurl abuse, or their fists, at him. Apparently he's encountered some charities or social services people who won't help him because he's not British.
He said he loves London but London does not love him.
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