Change from my normal evening routine tonight. Framework – a Nottingham-based charity that works with homeless people – staged a “flash mob” at 6pm this evening.
For 3 minutes a group of people lay down in Nottingham’s market square to raise awareness about homeless people sleeping rough. (The real event is Thursday 25th Nov when there is the challenge to give up our beds for one night and sleep out).
Quite a crowd gathered and we all lay down at 6pm.
Three minutes … thinking about who becomes homeless, about the support that ‘s available for people on the street. Just three minutes – it wasn’t even raining by then, and a really mild evening for November. But even that short time (and it didn’t see that short) gave at least the smallest glimmering of what it is like for those who spend all day and night out on the streets.
More information about the big sleep out is available from the Framework website.