Hi regular readers...... well it was a much less colder one tonight than we first imagined it might be.(though. we are still not ready to switch from our heavy Hi Viz jackets to the more lightweight tabards).
The night began with a bit of an obstacle when we could not access the Pedestrian are via the barrier... we presumed that the code had been changed and we had not been informed...so if anyone who deals with this area is reading this, please let us have an update as it is not the ideal to have to unload a bit away from our site and then have to reverse the car out of the corner of Friary Rd into oncoming traffic. Despite the slight delay, our little 5 person crew, working like some well-oiled machine, duly completed their set up, quick-time.
This was just in time for a lady who was 'out with her friends' in Lichfield and they all thought what we were doing was so lovely (a hint of a theme to come for this particular night).
Our patrols took drinks and biccies to various homeless folk. One of our random patrols came across a group of young adults including a young lady who were having a bit of a joke around. As they had obviously been drinking, it felt to one of our patrol team that there was a hint of the sinister in the actions, attitudes and words of some of the group especially around the young lady. This young lady shared with our team member that she was a police officer and could handle what was going on. A little later on another patrol, we found that the group had moved to Bakers Lane in the Shopping Precinct and this young lady was clearly the worse for drink and was having a bit of an emotional meltdown that was not being acknowledged by the rest of the group. Her boyfriend was there but was having problems trying to isolate himself and her from the group, who were encouraging her to continue drinking as though that would sort out the issues. Fortunately they eventually managed to separate themselves and our two man patrol waited til they had moved off in the opposite direction.
On another patrol the team came across a man who was being very, very sick, thankfully he did have friends around him and we observed them later on passing our table holding him up as they made their way towards the Taxi rank... We pity the poor driver who agrees to take him home!!
Later on came across the BIDs Paul Maddox and let him know about the barrier code issue, he promised to look into it in the week.
Towards the end of the night a lady stopped by the tabel to ask what it is that we were doing. Her questions seemed very particular and when we began to tell her she gradually became more and more emotional over what we did and why we did it. It transpired that she worked for the BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy) and was desperately trying to figure out some way in which she could connect what her organisation did and us. She ended up having a hug from one of our female team members and a contact card as she left telling us that she would be in touch. Just then Bobby, the friendly doorman, brought us sustenance in the form of hot chips and a sudden lull in what had, in general, been a bustling atmosphere gave us the incentive to pack up five mins early.