First off allow me to apologise for all spelling and grammar errors, I am far from professional at this. My education was very basic and many years ago.

What you shall read will probably be something along the lines of Diary, Blog and a bit of self therapy.

Who I am and where I was.

Hi, I’m just going to stick on a first name basis and mine is Phil.

I’m in my mid 50’s and a couple of years ago I drove a decent car, lived in a nice riverside apartment and went to the gym most days. I had two small businesses that kept my head above water but would never make me a rich man.

One day after a personal loss and spiralling debts something went click in my head and I sank into a very deep depression(maybe more on this another time). I had a couple of very dark episodes then one day I just had to escape. I walked out of my place with £300 cash and got on a train. I ended up in Newcastle walking the streets and eventually, without realising how far i’d travelled arrived on the coast just North of Whitley Bay.

I booked into a budget hotel with the hope of relaxing and clearing my mind. A few days later funds were low and i had to check out. I made my way to the train station with the intention of going home, knowing that debt and a solitary time lay ahead depression hit me again and I found myself unable to board it.

I spent about 6 days walking and sleeping on benches in parks and cemeteries, fortunately it was summer and a good one it was too. Food was usually the cheapest biscuits I could find and fruit from trees and bushes, cherries, apples and black berries.

Like all blokes my age I grew up in a era where we had to “Man up and deal with it”(it’s a pathetic and dangerous quote leading to too many men not asking for help), so I found a way back home. Within two weeks the darkness in my mind had returned, worse than ever!.

Once again I walked away, I headed north and began sleeping rough again. The apartment and car that I couldn’t afford have gone, bailiff’s have claimed my possessions and I’m left with nothing of value.

Sleeping rough on the streets of the North East as mad as it may sound to you, is giving my mind some peace from a world I felt trapped in. There are other issues, but for now that’s really as much as I want to share.

Now that I have introduced myself to you and given you a bit of background on how I ended up on the streets I will be using this Blog to highlight homelessness, share things I’ve learnt, services that are available and possibly small things everyone can do to make life a little easier for those on the streets.

I’m doing this pretty much as self therapy, I’m not part of any organisation or receiving any kind of financial reward or assistance(otherwise they’d have found someone that knows what they are doing).

You can contact me on here or Twitter { @HomelessNorth

Thanks for reading (if anyone does)

Phil.