By Emma Tarlo
ESSAY
In April 2020 at the beginning of the first lockdown I met two very unusual men, Nick and Pascal, who for five years had been living and sleeping rough without a tent under some hornbeam trees in a quiet corner of Regent’s Park. They had lived alongside each other without shelter in London’s streets and parks for over 16 years. Nick, in his sixties, and Pascal, in his forties, make an unusual pair – not least because they do not regard themselves as homeless and express positive views about being outside. They appreciate the beauty of a dawn sky and moonlit night. They endure rain, frost and snow with equanimity.
They talk of how the world is their home rather than associating the idea of home with a physical structure and they express a strong love of freedom. Their original perspectives feature in my book, Under the Hornbeams, a True Story of Life in the Open which documents the year in which we became friends.
But although they do not perceive themselves as homeless, Nick and Pascal still have to confront the negative stereotypes attached to homelessness and the hardship, insecurity and lack of privacy. Even if they have made an art of living well in the open, this is not an easy option. When Suella Braverman glibly referred to homelessness as a “lifestyle choice” – a phrase more suited to the big sell of glossy Sunday supplements than to the struggle for survival in Britain’s streets at a time of rising prices and shrinking opportunities – it showed a total ignorance of the many challenges people face living without shelter.
Being outside means confronting the vagaries of the weather, the intervention of the police, the possibilities of violence and the unpredictable attitudes and behaviour of passers-by as well as not knowing where the next meal is coming from. All of these are things Nick and Pascal have confronted in their 20 years of sleeping outside. One of the many things they taught me is the vital importance of conversation for breaking down social barriers and ill-conceived value judgements. Many people who live in the comfort of houses are awkward when they see people lying in the street. They don’t know whether to look or what to say, so often take the easy option of turning the other way and remaining ignorant of how many fellow citizens live.
Nick and Pascal were skilled at breaking through that awkwardness. They would offer a friendly wave to passers-by, get to know their dogs or make an amusing comment which
