Page 248 - down-and-out-in-paris-and-london

XXXVII

word about the sleeping accommodation open to a
A homeless person in London. At present it is impossible
to get a BED in any non-charitable institution in London
for less than sevenpence a night. If you cannot afford seven-
pence for a bed, you must put up with one of the following
substitutes:
1. The Embankment. Here is the account that Paddy gave
me of sleeping on the Embankment:
‘De whole t’ing wid de Embankment is gettin’ to sleep
early. You got to be on your bench by eight o’clock, because
dere ain’t too many benches and sometimes dey’re all taken.
And you got to try to get to sleep at once. ‘Tis too cold to
sleep much after twelve o’clock, an’ de police turns you off
at four in de mornin’. It ain’t easy to sleep, dough, wid dem
bloody trams flyin’ past your head all de time, an’ dem sky-
signs across de river flickin’ on an’ off in your eyes. De cold’s
cruel. Dem as sleeps dere generally wraps demselves up in
newspaper, but it don’t do much good. You’d be bloody
lucky if you got t’ree hours’ sleep.’
I have slept on the Embankment and found that it corre-
sponded to Paddy’s description. It is, however, much better
than not sleeping at all, which is the alternative if you spend
the night in the streets, elsewhere than on the Embank-
ment. According to the law in London, you may sit down