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I've always wondered how homeless people deal with cold when I saw them during winter. It's amazing what our bodies can do.

• buro9 12y ago
  In the most extreme conditions I used to visit building sites as the site offices tended to remain unlocked (there's nothing in there to steal) and they were unattended from 7pm through 5am. They also tended to have a kettle and some enamel cups... usually all dirty at the end of a day but with boiling water to hand that isn't an issue. One can sleep there and actually feel really safe and secure, not just from the harshest conditions but I never saw anyone else in those spaces so I didn't have to fear being mugged either. The very worst thing to do is precisely what you see some homeless people do, which is to drink alcohol. It's temporarily soothing and warming, but your body loses some of it's ability to effectively regulate temperature. The people I saw in the worst trouble when I walked the streets were those who drank heavily. Strange how I didn't comprehend at the time that my extreme hunger over winter could probably be correlated with the cold and burning more calories to deal with it. Thankfully compassion increases during winter and food is slightly more readily available. The only other thing I'll add is shoes. If your feet are warm when you're walking your 30 miles a day (what I believe I averaged through rough calculation) then you feel warm. Cold feet and you feel freezing. Good boots, thick soles, are a blessing and felt more valuable to me than a heavy coat. Actually, another thing. Wisdom says to layer, but if you're not actually mobile much overnight I always found fewer thicker layers to be better. i.e. a thick cable-knit jumper trumped multiple thinner layers. I suspect layers are really the solution for highly active people such as skiers, runners and so on, but if you're immobile in the cold a thick jumper helps more.
  • tmmm 12y ago
    A little bit off-topic, but why were you walking so much? And where did you find so much energy to do so (I presume you would probably need to eat a lot (much more than 2,000 calories) to be able to walk so many miles)?
    • buro9 12y ago
      I'd made myself homeless to move on from a place I didn't want to be. I didn't really see the point in staying in a new place I didn't want to be (sitting on a street). I chose to walk cities, talk to people, hitchhike around the UK, and generally see if I could find a life and place I did want. It also means I avoided getting into a rhythm of hostels, soup kitchens, and charity. I know I was homeless and sleeping rough, but at the time I didn't view it like that. At the time I just viewed myself as a nomad, wandering around with a backpack containing some library books for company.
      • viewer5 12y ago
        What was your mindset like during that time period? It sounds almost adventurous, the way you wrote your post.
        • buro9 12y ago
          I acted like it was an adventure because it was the only way to deal with what I was doing. I left home, to sleep on the street, without any money or possessions, until such a time (for as far as I could see into the future) that I could get my life to a better place. If I hadn't walked around a little in make-believe and "Scout on a quest" type mode, well... maybe I wouldn't be here. During the darkest days on the street I thought I wouldn't live to be 20. It still haunts a little today: perhaps I should have been dead (many times over)? By pretending it was an adventure then, and revising my personal history of it now to sound more adventurous (and less dull, traipsing on my own around cities), helps me to survive now.
          • viewer5 12y ago
            Well I'm glad you're still here. Thanks for sharing.
      • tmmm 12y ago
        What and how much did you eat a day?
  • lojack 12y ago
    > Actually, another thing. Wisdom says to layer, but if you're not actually mobile much overnight I always found fewer thicker layers to be better. i.e. a thick cable-knit jumper trumped multiple thinner layers. I suspect layers are really the solution for highly active people such as skiers, runners and so on, but if you're immobile in the cold a thick jumper helps more. It's a matter of managing the sweat. In the winter you want to be warm up until you start sweating. Sweat in the winter freezes and makes you more cold. Layers help wick away sweat, and are easier to adjust so you don't get too hot. So, yeah, layers are much more important when being active.
• dghughes 12y ago
  I can't imagine how homeless people here in Canada survive -25C or lower temperatures, combined with wind it could feel like -50C.
  • Raphmedia 12y ago
    I know of a guy that lives in the wood next to my town. Even in harsh winter, you can be quite warm if you can have a fire and snow to build shelter. The poor guys in Montréal don't have that luck and sleep in every corner you can find that cuts the wind.
• bjourne 12y ago
  It's also not uncommon for homeless people to freeze to death during the winters.
• billybofh 12y ago
  One of our city-based HPC facilities has had a recurring fault where the aircon goes off for no obvious reason overnight. Eventually we figured out that a homeless guy had realised he could sleep above a vent from the aircon and be relatively warm - and had also realised he could turn off the system (it's not very secure) to cut the noise down but still be warm from the heat coming out. At the moment we're just ignoring it as it's -3C just now in the daytime. Better to loose a few HPC jobs than freeze the poor guy.
  • buro9 12y ago
    This is ace. If I were homeless nowadays this is probably something I would've sought out.