Taking a little break from stockpiling to write this. Since Dominic Raab and Theresa May gave us the nod that post-Brexit we’d be best to have a few things in – food, medicines, enough livestock to build a small, totally self-sufficient, off-grid smallholding – I’ve been going crazy for processed peas and tinned ham and Elastoplasts. So, if it all goes no deal and there are 30-mile tailbacks heading into Calais full of rotting food, and the pound has plummeted and it’s a bit, you know, uncertain, all round to mine. Bring your goat.
Last week, in the midst of the heatwave, a plan was launched to keep homeless people warm. It won’t always be this hot. Friends of the late Kevin Headley are fundraising to finance the manufacture of Kevin’s innovative design – the Hottie.
This is terrific https://t.co/yUWgwUbobe
— Paul McNamee (@PauldMcNamee) July 26, 2018
Kevin was a Big Issue vendor in Hackney Wick. He died in May. A popular man, Kevin was always coming up with schemes and wheezes to help the homeless. One of these was his Hottie. It’s a design that makes a hot water bottle into a backpack, by way of a few straps and bits of Velcro, that allows those outside to keep warm when the weather turns.
As a tribute to Kevin, and also as a way to try to come up with an innovative, simple, cheap solution to help those at risk on the streets, his friends are fundraising to make a lot of these and make them available to those who need them.
It’s a fairly primitive device but it illustrates a few wonderful things. Primarily that The Big Issue vendors are resourceful. Having to make your living on the street makes you street smart. Stop and speak to any Big Issue vendor and you’ll come away with all sorts of ideas they have.
