Bethany Sleepout '08 aftermath
Well, I survived. I did pretty well for myself too. I arrived quite early at the City Chambers on the Royal Mile and immediately snagged enough heavy cardboard (there was a massive pile of broken down boxes) to build a solid shelter. I used the corner of a bench to provide a starting point for the structure and I progressively added segments, bracing them against each other and locking them together so that it was pretty solid. In the end I was completely enclosed in interlocked heavy cardboard on all four sides and with the benefit of the bench and wall providing extra support. There was a 'hatch' down one end that I covered with a large golf umbrella should it start raining. I had plenty of space and as part of it was a very thick box turned on its side and locked into the first segment, I could could stretch out fully as it was easily big enough for two people. Here's a picture (missing the umbrella):
As to how it went, you could pretty much tell who was from the christian side of things (generally the nicer people) and who were the student wankers. There were also quite a few young kids who I think had been roped in via Scouts or the Boys Brigade. I kept pretty much to myself; read a little bit, wrote a little bit. Being inside something you've constructed from trash and being very aware of how vulnerable you are both from the elements and from other people was quite sobering. Incidentally on the people front, it seems I can be pretty f*cking intimidating when I need to be. Heh heh.
Here are a few pics of me actually inside it (taken around 0.30):
You'll have to excuse the funny angle. You can see I'm totally enclosed and protected by heavy card (which was underneath me too). As well as the clothing I mentioned in the other post and that you can see, I had a camping mat, heavy sleeping bag, thick car blanket and (pre-filled) hot water bottle which kept my feet warm. I took it pretty seriously and preparation was everything.
I didn't sleep much at all; I couldn't. The wanker students were a bit ridiculous and stayed up all night playing music and screaming at each other. It was pretty amusing when the heavy rain started at 3am and didn't stop. ;-)
What was actually getting me through the experience personally was a few screengrabs on my phone from Brokeback Mountain and, and this will sound hokey but there you are, the promise of holding someone and being held. The conceptual promise since I'm not seeing anyone at the moment. I think I looked at the pictures every half hour or so through the night.
So around 6.30 I got up officially (the rain was still on), used the bathroom and started dismantling the shelter. Although it had been raining for most of the night, I'd been warm and totally dry. Here's a pic of the partially dismantled shelter in the light:
I could not believe the stupidity of the student wankers who seemingly hadn't bothered building anything at all: they'd just sat out in sleeping bags in the pouring rain all night! In the picture above, the sort of shape on the left is one of the smarter (!) students who had at least covered himself with a bit of cardboard. Absolute idiots. They were just wearing jeans and T's as well. More fool them.
It hit 7am and the free bacon rolls came out. I snagged one and a banana and started off home. If I'm sounding a bit weird it's because I'm not long out of bed.
Anyway, importantly.. I managed to raise roughly £100 so far and the event as a whole, if I've got it right, raised around £18k to help homeless people around Scotland. Thanks for your support!
Right.. dinner! :-)
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Special thanks to eduardgreen for the late night texts and guyinahat for the offer of emergency rations!