‘Homeless’ – You Keep Using That Word…

…I do not think it means what you think it means:

Homeless people are camping out on a Southend beach because they have nowhere else to go.

Oh noes!

Tents and sleeping bags have been spotted on the beach opposite the Premier Inn on Eastern Esplanade.

Hmmm. Hang on. Doesn’t that happen every summer, when the weather’s nice?

Camping out on the beach were mum and son Jacqueline and Paul Williams, who have come from Northamptonshire.

Paul, 33, said: “My mum was recently made homeless and I’m travelling with her to make sure she’s OK because she’s recently been diagnosed with cancer.

“Everyone’s been cool with us being here, though we had a bit of hassle with someone saying we weren’t allowed to camp on the beach.

“We will probably stay another four or five days, depending what the weather’s like. I want to see all the coasts of the country.”

Right. So that’s more of a camping holiday, isn’t it? Only the mum is supposedly homeless. We have no data about the son.

One of the groups working with people sleeping on the seafront has been Southend Street Spirit. Member Caroline Fricker said: “We go out Saturday nights and we did help one person to move their tent off the beach because everything was wet inside.

“A lot of these people are looking for somewhere to hide because it’s getting very difficult to find anywhere that’s safe and away from the crowds.”

So they come to a crowded beach resort in high summer..?!?

Who is it they are supposed to be ‘hiding’ from, anyway? Is it the JobCentre?