Tom the Tramp

When I was 17 a mate and I used to work at Domino’s pizza ( I got to drive the dodgy Honda Cup 90’s before they got rid of them) in my home town Welwyn Garden City (Hertfordshire) which is quite a middle class town.
My mate and I used to walk through the shopping centre to the shop and one day this guy appeared at the bottom of the slopes of the centre asking for money, we ignored him a few times but every day he was there with his sign and sleeping bag.
He looked in a sorry state and us being inquisitive 17 year olds looking to skive out of a bit of work, we decided/dared each other to talk to him (having never seen a homeless guy before). Turned out his name was Tom and he had just been kicked out of his house by his missus, it was her house so he had no way of getting a share of it, then he lost his job so he ended up on the streets.
We felt really sorry for him so instead of giving him money, we used to take him a pizza everyday and a cuppa, and have a chat with him.
We must have looked really odd, sitting with this homeless guy in our uniforms esp as WGC doesn’t really do tramps. He used to tell us what he did for a living and we felt really sorry for him. He used to disappear every night but be back in the morning. A few months later he got himself a dog and then started selling the big issue and a room at the local YMCA. My mate and I were chuffed that he was starting to turn his life around. He used to thank us a lot for helping him out when he needed it most.
Sadly a few months after that, he was back to his begging cup. He didn’t really talk much after that. Shame.
I’ve not lived there for 5 years but I’ve been told that there hasn’t been anymore tramps there. They all go to Stevenage instead to pick on the emo kids.
(Soaps Roller derbying your way since, Fri 3 Jul 2009, 14:03, Reply)