LD 58 Silver Linings

Walking back to my car en route for home after the final stage of the second Coronavirus Emergency Bill (and I am grateful to all those who helped to make it happen, most notably the bill team ) I paused  for a moment at this spot.

The slightly bare patches are where a well known Edinburgh rough sleeper was living until the start of the lockdown.  He had previously been in the park on Regent Road but had been moved on.

He was surrounded with plastic bags, and as this is on my way to and from Holyrood  I used to see him lying smoking when I walked past , early in the morning or late in the evening, often in the rain and with an umbrella protecting his head.

I tried to engage him in conversation a few times but he didn't want to talk though I know now that he had a number of people who brought him food and even some small luxuries and to whom he did chat    He survived in his own way. 

However at  the start of the lockdown  it became clear that his informal support network couldn't reach him any more and that meant that , reluctantly, he agreed to take some assistance .   

No one knows if he will now stay in the accommodation that has been found for him and that is one of the sad and difficult issues of rough sleeping - those who actually choose to do so because of their fear of others, or their deep distress and isolation, or for many other reasons.   

Dealing with the pandemic has been extraordinarily hard and those at the very sharp public point have to be open to all sorts of criticism and attack , no matter how unjustified and sometimes manufactured.

But they also help to solve these issues , quietly in the background working with teams of good people from the civil service, the caring professions and the third sector.  

They deserve lots of praise for changes like this.   They make a huge  difference to the lives of real people.  

It is, if you like, a silver lining amongst very dark clouds.