Dear LPG…

The other day I went to Catford shopping centre.  I was under the tunnel which leads from the shopping island where the drive-in McDonald’s and Lidl’s shops are to be found and making my way over the main road towards Lewisham Town Hall. It was not the warmest of days, but my attention was caught by a beggar who was sitting on the ground and looking up at me with very sad eyes.  I looked in my bag and found 10p which I gave to him and I could almost see the indignation on his face, because that was all I had to offer at the time.  I then crossed over and under the big cat there was a busker playing. I recognised the tune but I cannot remember what it was now.  I passed him and went to Poundstretcher’s and he was still there when I was on the way back.  My trip to that shop had left me with another 10p which I dropped in his trey and he smiled at me and added thanks to what he was singing.

The big questions appear to be how you can tell if, the beggar you pass in a shop doorway, on a street corner or outside one of our borough’s railway stations is really in need of your copper-offering. Or indeed how you can tell if you are giving your money to a ‘real beggar’ at all. 

I had a look on the internet and it appears that in order to qualify as a real beggar you have to be homeless. I have also heard stories about the fact that each beggar has their own patch or area and it can be a very territorial business. It is also rumoured that there is big money to be made from the practice,  but I have to say that it must be a really cold and dreary way to earn a living whatever the reason that they spend long cold days earning their money this way.

There is also the question of what they do with the money they are given. Would it be better to give a beggar a sandwich rather than give money that he may well spend on a bottle of alcohol or some drugs?  That is a good idea but some people can only afford a few coppers; sandwiches are quite expensive these days.

Then I asked myself if I was happier to give my money to the busker because he was offering a form of entertainment in exchange for it.

 I don’t have the answers but, like many Lewisham pensioners, I think of myself as not that rich but a God fearing person who tries to follow the bible.

 So I will continue to give what I can when I can.

MC, Brockley

LPG found some information and points of view online

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