Homeless in London

I found this image rather moving. This poor young man is out in the cold December night with nowhere to go. He sits motionless looking across the river at the affluent City of London while the hustle and bustle of city life goes on around him.

The number of rough sleepers in London is rising sharply after several years of small increases, homelessness jumped by 15% in the last year, according to official figures. Eastern Europeans, who have lost jobs and have fewer means of social support, now constitute nearly one in seven of those living without permanent shelter. The annual returns, compiled by the charity Broadway on behalf of the government, show that 4,672 rough sleepers were counted in the capital, up from 4,077 last year.

The rise, it is assumed, is primarily due to the recession. Unemployment can trigger relationship breakdowns, forcing mortgage or rent defaults and driving inviduals on to the street.

The City of London, across the river, is a small area within Greater London. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of the metropolis of London, though it remains a notable part of central London. It is often referred to as the City (often written on maps as "City") or the Square
Mile, as it is just over one square mile (1.12 sq mi/2.90 km2) in area. These terms are also often used as the name for the United Kingdom’s financial services industry, which continues a notable history of being based in the City.

The City is today a major business and financial centre, ranking alongside New York City as the leading centre of global finance; throughout the 19th century, the City served as the world’s primary business centre, and continues to be a major meeting point for businesses to this day. London came top in the Worldwide Centres of Commerce Index, published in 2008. The other major financial district in London is Canary Wharf, 2.5 miles (4.0 km) to the east.

The City has a resident population of a little over 11,000, but around 330,000 people work there, mainly in the financial services sector. The legal profession forms a major component of the western side of the City, especially in the Temple and Chancery Lane areas; these are where the Inns of Court are located, of which two — Inner Temple and Middle Temple — fall within the City of London boundary.

The foot bridge here in between the man and the city is the Millenium Bridge which is a steel suspension bridge for pedestrians crossing the River Thames, linking Bankside with the City. It is located between Southwark Bridge (downstream) and Blackfriars Railway Bridge (upstream). The bridge is owned and maintained by the Bridge House Estates, a charitable trust overseen by the City of London Corporation. Construction of the bridge began in 1998, with the opening on 10 June 2000.

Londoners nicknamed the bridge the "Wobbly Bridge" after participants in a charity walk on behalf of Save the Children to open the bridge felt an unexpected, and, for some, uncomfortable, swaying motion on the first two days after the bridge opened. The bridge was closed later that day, and after two days of limited access the bridge was closed for almost two years while modifications were made to eliminate the wobble entirely. It was reopened in 2002.

This southern end of the bridge is near Globe Theatre, the Bankside Gallery and Tate Modern, the north end opposite is next to the City of London School below St Paul’s Cathedral. The bridge alignment is such that a clear view of St Paul’s south facade is presented from across the river, framed by the bridge supports.

Posted by Beardy Vulcan on 2012-02-10 20:57:49

Tagged: , homeless , vagrant , man , cold , path , City of London , St Paul’s , cathedral , bridge , foot bridge , Millenium Bridge , Thames , Southwark , London , Thames Valley , England , winter , December , 2010